Bull Elk Poached Near Falkland, B.C.

[britman101]

Did anyone else hear about the bull elk that was poached near Falkland on Oct. 5th? Was talking to my brother who lives in the interior and some folks are still talking about it. You can do a search on the net to read the story as it is written up in the newspapers but this individual sees a 6 x7 bull elk in a field just off of Highway 97 as he is travelling from Kamloops to Falkland. Incredibly he has a rifle with him, and pulls off the highway and takes a shot at the bull and severely wounds it. The bull runs off and of course the shooter takes off. Fish and Wildlife tried to find the wounded bull but were unable to find it. Incredibly the poacher emailed the local F&W office to apologize and to provide other details which leave you shaking your head. However at this point, it looks like they are still looking for this guy. Unfortunately, it is disturbing incidents like this that makes all hunters look bad. I mean shooting off the side of a public highway with a high powered rifle, shooting a protected animal as there is no elk season in that region, and wounding an animal and leaving it to suffer and die.
If anyone knows anything about this poacher, do all the honest and ethical hunters of this province a big favour and call into RAPP and turn this fellow in; before he tries to poach another animal or worse yet hurts an innocent bystander.

[Dirty Steve]

Aparently there are 17 animals in that heard. Probably one of the only 2 bulls in the heard.
He hit it in the hind quarter and it crashed through 2 or 3 barbed wire fences. Aparently there was a witness, a flagger that said it was a white ford with a quad in the back.
It was in the local papers here. He called his buddy to see if it was legal but shot it before his buddy told him it was illegal.

What an idiot!

They're trying to track his IP address, I hope they get him, ban him from hunting for life and take all his guns away.

What a complete idiot!

[Alpine85]

Hopefully they find him. I say put him in a field, shoot him in the hind quarters and make him run through some barbwire fences.

[boxhitch]

Yeah, something has to be done

shooting off the side of a public highway with a high powered riflespeculation

shooting a protected animal
wounding an animal and leaving it to suffer and dieWho's creating hysteria ?

Article says the elk are of a conservation concern.
Not sure how that fits, as they are naturally populating where numbers have been seen for years.
Are they a conservation concern until they reach a target population number ? How many crop munchers ? Then what ? LEH ?


Aparently there are 17 animals in that heard. Probably one of the only 2 bulls in the heard.
There are other reasons the numbers haven't increased over the years, and its not all natural causes, I presume ;)

[ufishifish2]

As much as I'd like to hang this a-hole by his nuts from a telephone pole, the truth is that it is LEGAL to shoot a "high powered" rifle from the highway in Falkland. I have done it many times in a completely safe and legal manner.

[Matty_ola]

As much as I'd like to hang this a-hole by his nuts from a telephone pole, the truth is that it is LEGAL to shoot a "high powered" rifle from the highway in Falkland. I have done it many times in a completely safe and legal manner.


Please explain?

[ufishifish2]

There is a lot more to the story...... as usual.
A friend of mine actually owns the ranch who's property that the Elk was on, and also died on. The Bull was definately the biggest in the valley, and we had been watching it almost every day for 2 years. Wasn't overly hard to find this Elk as he often stood on the side of the highway.

[ufishifish2]

Please explain?

It's quite simple Matty,
Check out your regs. It is completely legal to shoot from Hwy 97 in the Falkland area.
Shooting restrictions/setbacks like that currently are in place on the Coquihalla Hwy, Hwy#1, etc...., but not here in Falkland. I am too lazy to get up right now and grab the regs to quote the exact laws, so don't take my word for it. Check it out for yourself before shooting, but I am right!! :-D:-D:-D

[boxhitch]

the truth is that it is LEGAL to shoot a "high powered" rifle from the highway in Falkland. I have done it many times in a completely safe and legal manner.Not legal to shoot from any numbered highway or two lane road maintained by MOT. I wouldn't brag about doing it, even in Falkland
there is no 400 m. closed zone.

[ufishifish2]

I know where the Elk died, but I'll be damned if I can find it. It's really thick in there.
My friend who owns the property was also there when the event occured. A genius RCMP officer showed up and decided to finish the Elk off. It was lying in the field. It was very tame. You could drive right up to it. My friend told the officer that he could finish it off with his rifle which was in his truck. The officer told him "No" and that he would finish it off himself. The officer then grabbed his shotgun from his vehicle and decided to stalk up on the Elk. My friend again said "I can shoot it quite easily from here. If you walk up on it with that shotgun, the Elk will just run away before you get within range." Again he was told "No." Five minutes later the Elk was running deep into the brushiest crap around, never to be seen again. A really unfortunate turn of events for our pride of the valley!!

[Gateholio]

If there are no further restrictions, it's legal to shoot 15M from the centerline

[Matty_ola]

Not legal to shoot from any numbered highway or two lane road maintained by MOT. I wouldn't brag about doing it, even in Falkland
there is no 400 m. closed zone.


So NOT Legal????

[britman101]

Well that is unfortunate the animal could not have been put down humanely, however there is no open season for Elk in that region. The shot should never have been taken in the first place.

[yiorgo3]

Not legal to shoot from any numbered highway or two lane road maintained by MOT. I wouldn't brag about doing it, even in Falkland
there is no 400 m. closed zone.
Read the reg again if it is not listed then (a) (b) or (c) applies for no shooting. only listed highways or roads for 400m. Read the Rules. UFISHIFISH2 has done nothing wrong IMO.

[ufishifish2]

Not legal to shoot from any numbered highway or two lane road maintained by MOT. I wouldn't brag about doing it, even in Falkland
there is no 400 m. closed zone.

Hey Boxhitch, I figured you'd weigh in here and am glad you did.
For the record, I'm not trying to be argumentative or anything like that. I consider this an open discussion for us all to learn from.
History: For 7 years I lived on the side of the Hwy in Westwold. I am friends with many of the RCMP officers in these parts. I called the police a number of times due to "Medallion Meats" which used to be right across the Hwy from my home. Cows and Buffalo used to escape on a regular basis. They would regularly shoot these animals 30m from the hwy. It concerned me to say the least.....
The RCMP told me that they were powerless to stop this due to the fact that it was totally legal. Granted, they confiscated many unregistered guns from crack addicts that didn't have their PAL's.

[ufishifish2]

Thanks guys for agreeing with me. Feels good to be right for once!!

[ufishifish2]

Well that is unfortunate the animal could not have been put down humanely, however there is no open season for Elk in that region. The shot should never have been taken in the first place.

Yup, agreed. Unfortunately, the natives have repetitively taken the herd bull out of the herd year after year. Eventually it will probably catch up with the Falkland Elk.:cry:

[boxhitch]

Just to be clear...........
it reads shot from the highway
So the ?? is in the definition
'From the highway' doesn't say 'from the ditch', 'from the fence', 'from the road allowance edge'
IMO the highway has pavement on it, not legal.

[boxhitch]

A really unfortunate turn of events for our pride of the valley!!Hope you mean the bull........elk that is :)

First I heard of elk near Falkland was about 25 yrs ago. A logger buddy spotted one just east of the rest stop.

[ufishifish2]

Hope you mean the bull........elk that is :)

First I heard of elk near Falkland was about 25 yrs ago. A logger buddy spotted one just east of the rest stop.

Guess I should be careful throwing that "Pride" word around so loosely nowadays. Yeah, I meant the elk Bill!!:-D:-D:-D

[troutseeker]

And I thought the "pride" of Falkland was all the BC bud being grown in that valley?

[Gunner Staal]

HAHAHA! Now I dont need to see the regs on that one......I know thats accurate!!!


And I thought the "pride" of Falkland was all the BC bud being grown in that valley?

[balian]

There are other areas of region 3 that hold elk. I would not mention the region but there were 2 elk taken by the natives this year and a third one taken on a private land ( only the gut pile found) would not like to make presumptions but i have a pretty good guess who it might be . It is unfortunate that this is happening since there is so much deer and moose in that region for the natives to take.
Btw. came across with the herd twice this year while hunting there and manage to snap some photos. will try to dig them out and post. Such a magnificent animals.

[M@B]

If you have to "call and buddy to see if it's legal". you obviously don't have a tag for that animal!! making it illegal anyway. hope they catch this guy.

[ufishifish2]

If you have to "call and buddy to see if it's legal" you are an idiot!

[M@B]

If you have to "call and buddy to see if it's legal" you are an idiot!
Roger that.

[abbyfireguy]

If you have to "call and buddy to see if it's legal" you are an idiot!


Well said Dad!!:mrgreen:

[Junorr500]

Its back in the news, the local paper. The Co's are fishing for more info from the public.

[Darksith]

again? Kind of a cold case now, which paper? I almost hate to see these old posts brought back to life, so obvious that hunting season is over