Elk rancher arrested again

IDAHO FALLS – An elk rancher whose animals escaped earlier this year has paid a $5,000 bond and been released from jail after being arrested for failing to appear on a misdemeanor charge.

Rex Rammell, 45, was arrested Monday and released later that day.

“They didn’t make any attempt to contact me,” Rammell told the Post Register. “I was at home. I did not know I was supposed to be there.”

Court officials say that they notified Rammell by mail, but that Rammell did not respond.

Rammell was scheduled to appear in Fremont County Court Nov. 22 on a misdemeanor charge filed in September that accused him of resisting or obstructing officers.

That stemmed from a September incident where he confronted two state sharpshooters who killed two of his escaped elk.

Rammell has pleaded not guilty.

After Rammell didn’t appear for the Nov. 22 court date, a warrant was issued for his arrest on Nov. 24. A new date for a jury trial has been set for Dec. 19 at the Fremont County Courthouse.

In August, as many as 160 elk fled Rammell’s Chief Joseph hunting preserve near Rexburg. That prompted Gov. Jim Risch to order an emergency hunt.