Moose Shot And Left To Rot Stumps Agents

The sight of a huge antlered mammal raises strong emotions in people.

A bull elk or moose could cause you to reach for binoculars, a rifle or maybe a typewriter.

Two bull elk in a field off Starr Road apparently short-circuited the common sense of Spokane hunters Kraig Wise, 37, and Jeff Belknap, 38.

Wise was cited for not having a tag when he killed one of the elk. He also was charged with shooting before legal hours and shooting from a county road.

Washington Fish and Wildlife Department agents confiscated the carcass and donated the meat to a local mission.

Belknap was cited for shooting before hours. Because he had an elk tag, he was allowed to keep his bull.

“We confiscate a big game animal if it’s shot out of season or without a valid tag,” said enforcement agent Rod Bliss.

In lesser violations, the shooter can keep the carcass, partly because agents don’t have the time or facilities for tending confiscated game in every case.

Belknap had no prior game violations, Bliss said. “His was just a major case of bad judgment.”

Shooting a little bit before official hunting hours is low on the worry list of agents.

Among the most perplexing of current cases is the rampant illegal killing of moose.

At least seven moose have been shot and left to rot in northeastern Washington this fall. In Idaho, at least 25 moose have been illegally killed.

Enforcement agents are stumped. They believe that a hunter motivated to illegally shoot a moose would at least try to take some meat.

“Maybe it’s joy-riding kids popping them for the fun of it,” Bliss said.

“We’re offering rewards for tips to solve these cases because we know from experience that there often is at least two people in a rig when these shootings occur,” Bliss said.

Idaho issued 100 moose permits for the Panhandle region this year. Washington issued only 19 moose permits statewide.

“The number of permits certainly could be higher if we would get a handle on the poaching,” Bliss said.

A different reaction to the sight of a dead elk on the cover of a recent Outdoors page was received from Deborah Silver of Moses Lake.

In The Spokesman-Review’s Roundtable page Wednesday, Silver wrote to say the story about the world-record tule elk was offensive.

The story reported that the hunter had killed the largest bull on record, and paid $18,000 for the privilege California offers to only a few hunters each year.

The bulk of the story told how the money paid by hunters has helped finance the relocations that revived tule elk from the brink of extinction.

Silver said she finds hunting “morally and ethically wrong.” That’s her right, but such sentiment wasn’t working to save the tule elk.

When efforts to create a sanctuary for the species failed in the California Legislature in the 1970s, hunters continued their efforts to boost the tule elk while answering the demands of landowners to protect their crops.

Once the herd grew to more than 2,000 in 1989, state officials began issuing a few hunting tags - some to reduce crop damage and some to raise money for more habitat and relocation projects.

Last year, the $70,000 raised from sales of elk tags was the main source of funding for the state’s tule elk program, which includes enforcement to protect the animals. The herds have stayed stable at their carrying capacity, state officials said Wednesday.

Total protection isn’t possible without a sanctuary, they said. Indeed, a lawsuit is pending against the state for damage the elk have cause to one farmer’s crops.

Silver was particularly disturbed that the hunter who bagged the world-record elk had eliminated the large bull from the gene pool.

The bull, however, had contributed to the gene pool for many years. He had the same genes when he was a little rag-horn as he did when he was a massive seven-pointer.

By the time the bull had reached world-record trophy stage, he was within a year or two of his useful breeding career.

Indeed, with only 3,000 tule elk in existence, the argument could be made that killing an old dominant bull can improve the genetics of a herd by allowing other bulls to provide more breeding diversity.

You can contact Rich Landers by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5508.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review