Game and Fish Needs Your Help to Solve Poaching
This crap makes me so furious that I can hardly think straight. Not only because of the waste, but because people associate this kind of activity with hunters. I don’t think penalties are harsh enough. Maybe hunters should push for penalties that will indeed be a real deterrent.
Information needed to solve elk poaching
The Arizona Game and Fish Department is asking for the public’s help to catch a poacher who killed three elk just south of Mormon Lake, in the Gash Flat area southeast of Flagstaff, on Aug. 31.
The poacher killed a young bull, a cow, and an adult bull with 5×6 antlers. The animals were discovered in Game Management Unit 6A along a three-mile stretch of Forest Service Road 127, which is approximately five miles south of Mormon Lake. Wildlife officers suspect one poacher shot all three animals, which were left in the field to waste. At the time of the poaching, no elk season was underway in that unit; the archery deer season started the following day.
“This is a blatant example of poachers’ disrespect for wildlife and the laws and seasons that are established to protect our wildlife resources,” says Wildlife Manager Dan Caputo. “We need help from the public in catching the poacher. If you were in the area recently, please think back about anything you might have seen or heard or any conversations you might have had. Maybe someone doesn’t realize he or she has the key to solving this case. The poached animals are considered a major loss for the residents of Arizona and our wildlife resources.”
Anyone with information about this poaching can call the department’s Operation Game Thief hotline toll-free at (800) 352-0700. A timely report of any poaching case to the department is important to preserve any evidence. Callers may be eligible for a reward up to $1,000 in this case. All calls may remain confidential upon request.
