idahofishnhunt
Well-known member
Quite an interesting mix today of ethics, politics, and the law. I'll be interested in others opinions on this matter for sure. All I can do is give the facts on how it played out for me today, and the choices I made.
My daughter has a tag for a doe antelope so we were out today looking for one. Fast forward to us driving down the road and there was a cow elk bedded alongside the road in the ditch, as I slowed down it stood up...I thought it odd it didn't run away, but I snapped a picture of it, and as I started to drive away...it started to run, that's when I noticed it's leg was broke. The shock on my daughters face pretty much told me that besides knowing I needed to do something...now I really needed to do something.
I already knew the answer but I tried to call Idaho Fish & Game....closed...how convenient. I figured the Citizens Against Poaching must be open 7 days a week, and I have their number in my phone...so I gave them a call. Someone did answer, and when I told them about the elk...guess what they said? We are not involved with injured or distressed animals, just ones that have been poached. Oh my...gotta love these agencies. So they gave me another number of a place called Animals in Distress. I called this place and got a lady on there...with after much talking with her she tried to convince me that she was authorized and licensed by Idaho Fish and Game to tell me I can shoot the elk, but she wasn't sure about harvesting the meat afterwords.
Hmm...ok, no way am I just taking someones word for something like that. She said she was going to try and find some IDFG peoples names she had and call them to ask. As she was doing that I looked her up...she was who she said she was, but I could not find anything to do about her being licensed to tell me to shoot something. So I call my wife, and she is back home and sluething around on the internet for any IDFG contacts or hotlines. She ends up sending a message to them on their Facebook page. They respond back and tell her that they have contacted the Sheriff's office and the Sheriff acts as a conservation officer in leu of IDFG when they cannot be reached or make it to the scene. So I'm there waiting for the Sheriff when I get a call from an IDFG officer out of Twin Falls. I tell him what is going on, and the location and I can tell he knows the area I am talking about. He is going to get in touch with IDFG officers, and take care of it.
So I part ways with the elk....that is now bedded back down out in the grass with her head down. A few hours later when I come back through the area she is still in the same spot...who knows what IDFG will do...hopefully they will check it out Monday.
Fact of the matter is...as much as ethically the right decision would be to put her down, and harvest the meat. Because of unclear laws, and politics...that just wasn't going to happen, all I could do is walk away. No way I would consider harvesting that animal unless the Sheriff or IDFG officer was right there and put it down, and then told me I could do so. Just too many horror stories out there.
Anyways...that's how it played out, and those are the decisions I made. Seems like there should be some more clear cut policies on that...but then you have the human factor, and either you shoot it to put it out of it's misery and leave it...whereas someone comes along and thinks someone poached it. Or you shoot it and harvest it...and someone comes along and thinks you are really poaching it and harvesting it. Not really a win, win scenario here. I think I made the only choice I could legally make...my daughter understood, and we are both without regrets because we tried to do as much as we could...it's just sad that poor elk is probably still out there suffering unless the coyotes or wolves get it tonight.
Here is a link to the video.
http://vid1311.photobucket.com/albums/s666/idfishnhunt/Videos/IMG_4154.mp4
My daughter has a tag for a doe antelope so we were out today looking for one. Fast forward to us driving down the road and there was a cow elk bedded alongside the road in the ditch, as I slowed down it stood up...I thought it odd it didn't run away, but I snapped a picture of it, and as I started to drive away...it started to run, that's when I noticed it's leg was broke. The shock on my daughters face pretty much told me that besides knowing I needed to do something...now I really needed to do something.
I already knew the answer but I tried to call Idaho Fish & Game....closed...how convenient. I figured the Citizens Against Poaching must be open 7 days a week, and I have their number in my phone...so I gave them a call. Someone did answer, and when I told them about the elk...guess what they said? We are not involved with injured or distressed animals, just ones that have been poached. Oh my...gotta love these agencies. So they gave me another number of a place called Animals in Distress. I called this place and got a lady on there...with after much talking with her she tried to convince me that she was authorized and licensed by Idaho Fish and Game to tell me I can shoot the elk, but she wasn't sure about harvesting the meat afterwords.
Hmm...ok, no way am I just taking someones word for something like that. She said she was going to try and find some IDFG peoples names she had and call them to ask. As she was doing that I looked her up...she was who she said she was, but I could not find anything to do about her being licensed to tell me to shoot something. So I call my wife, and she is back home and sluething around on the internet for any IDFG contacts or hotlines. She ends up sending a message to them on their Facebook page. They respond back and tell her that they have contacted the Sheriff's office and the Sheriff acts as a conservation officer in leu of IDFG when they cannot be reached or make it to the scene. So I'm there waiting for the Sheriff when I get a call from an IDFG officer out of Twin Falls. I tell him what is going on, and the location and I can tell he knows the area I am talking about. He is going to get in touch with IDFG officers, and take care of it.
So I part ways with the elk....that is now bedded back down out in the grass with her head down. A few hours later when I come back through the area she is still in the same spot...who knows what IDFG will do...hopefully they will check it out Monday.
Fact of the matter is...as much as ethically the right decision would be to put her down, and harvest the meat. Because of unclear laws, and politics...that just wasn't going to happen, all I could do is walk away. No way I would consider harvesting that animal unless the Sheriff or IDFG officer was right there and put it down, and then told me I could do so. Just too many horror stories out there.
Anyways...that's how it played out, and those are the decisions I made. Seems like there should be some more clear cut policies on that...but then you have the human factor, and either you shoot it to put it out of it's misery and leave it...whereas someone comes along and thinks someone poached it. Or you shoot it and harvest it...and someone comes along and thinks you are really poaching it and harvesting it. Not really a win, win scenario here. I think I made the only choice I could legally make...my daughter understood, and we are both without regrets because we tried to do as much as we could...it's just sad that poor elk is probably still out there suffering unless the coyotes or wolves get it tonight.
Here is a link to the video.
http://vid1311.photobucket.com/albums/s666/idfishnhunt/Videos/IMG_4154.mp4
