Elk with a radio collar

Cammy

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Can/should you shoot an animal with a radio collar? What do you do with the collar if you do? I personnaly have never hear this discussed.
 
Can/should you shoot an animal with a radio collar? What do you do with the collar if you do? I personnaly have never hear this discussed.

In MT you can shoot them. Return the collar to MTFWP. From the regs page 112:

Marked or Radio-Collared Animals It is legal to shoot big game animals that have radio collars, neck bands, ear tags and/or other markers, but markers and radio collars must be returned to FWP. Please report the killing of a marked animal to the local FWP Office.
 
MI DNR collars bears that can be legally taken.

A good friend of mine shot a ruffed grouse w/ a radio collar the year after the MI DNR completed a research project on grouse predation. Talk about a once in a lifetime bird!

Ten plus years ago there was doe whitetail hanging around in a cedar swamp near my grandmother's cabin that had what looked to be a dog collar on it. She was the wariest doe in the herd. Although I had a doe tag in my pocket (and that doe in the crosshairs mutliple times over two years) I just didn't want to explain to my grandmother why I shot the one with the collar. We asked around and to this day have no idea who put the collar on that deer.
 
You can shoot them in CO. They would really prefer that you don't cut the collar off. Remove it the same way it went on and return it to the wildlife agency so that it can be reconditioned and reused. They are not cheap, and it's your money at work.
 
I personally have never seen an animal with a radio collar. In fact I have never heard of anyone shooting something with a collar. Pouring through the various states regulations I can't recall seeing any prohabition on shooting collared animals but thought I would throw it out to see if other states discouraged it.

I guess if you took it leagally it is ok.
 
It's a wild animal and legal in Montana. Hunter mortality is also something that biologists track and is valuable information. Would I personally shoot a collared animal? I don't know, probably not if I had an opportunity at the same time to shoot an non-collared animal in the case of antlerless. Probably so if it was a buck or bull that I would normally shoot. Just make sure to return the collar as mentioned before and as required by law.
 
They would really prefer that you don't cut the collar off. Remove it the same way it went on and return it to the wildlife agency so that it can be reconditioned and reused.

That's right.

If I had the choice between a collared elk and one without, I'd shoot the one without the collar. If I had to choose between a collared elk, and no elk, I'd shoot the collared elk no question, but would return the collar to the CDWL.
 
My first elk had a collar on it. Just returned it to fish and game and they really appreciated the harvest info. They also told me where and when it was collared, was interesting to see how far it had moved.
 
Maybe they will give you a dummy collar for the mount?

IMG_0628.jpg
 
Don't give the collar back. Instead start a collection by putting it around your call lanyard just as you would with waterfowl bands.
 
Don't give the collar back. Instead start a collection by putting it around your call lanyard just as you would with waterfowl bands.

Fed Ex it to Canada then to Alaska and then to Russia. Must have crossed the land bridge or made a swim for it. LOL!!
 
2Rocky that must have an interesting story with it. Cool mount!
 
I saw a collared cow elk in the Thorofare a number of years ago. In 2007 while hunting green Mtn, I saw a cow elk with a toilet seat around its neck. Always wondered how it got there...
 
Just remember that a lot of time and your money (hunter dollars) likely went into that collared animal. Not only the cost of the collar, but all of the capture logistics and time spent tracking that animal. In most cases harvesting the animal will not screw up the study and will fit into the biologists models just fine, but it can be quite the bummer to lose collared animal only a short while into the study.
 
In 2012 in the Sierra Madres I had a little band of cows come within 5' of me led by a cow with a white collar. I'd read about the study they were doing about elk movement in the beetle kill. I let her go.
 
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