I had the opportunity to hunt a private ranch for Elk 2nd season in Colorado, outside Steamboat. It is 15,000 acres and guided hunts are a big part of their business. They had donated the hunt to the local small hospital foundation to raise funds, I was lucky enough to have won it at the auction. It was a crazy first two days of my 4-day hunt. The first afternoon we were in the middle of the ranch and came across a lone hunter who was pretending to be lost. There is a finger of BLM boundary that was less than a mile from where he was. The gentleman was in his 60's, had OnX up on his phone and had a Garmin 650 in his chest pocket - it was a little hard to understand how he was lost, but nonetheless he got read the riot act and was told to immediately exit the property. He had his picture taken by us, gave us his name (he had conveniently forgotten his ID and Hunting License at the trail head which was 3.5 miles away. We sent him on his way as we had glassed a large heard about a mile in the other direction and wanted to go after them. In the initial conversation, he was told he would be reported to the DOW for trespassing, and oddly he kept saying "well just take me back to the ranch HQ and let the GW's handle me." The HQ was in the opposite direction of where he knew we were walking to.... (this makes sense later) We said no, and watched him disappear over the hill towards the BLM land.
Here is where it gets interesting... We get about 70 yards up the hill and around the corner and there are three dead bulls in a clearing about 100ft x 100ft (no wonder he wanted to lead us the other direction). They had been quartered and two of them had their antlers cut off - the third was a rag horn that was barely legal. At that point we decided the hunt was off for 4-legged creatures and on for 2-legged. We hustled around the ridge to cut him off, and we were able to intersect him - at which time he surrendered his rifle to us and showed us he was not carrying a pistol. We already had GW's and State Patrol headed to their trailhead anyway. We knew others were with him as he wasn't carrying any meat and was alone. He would not tell us where the others were, or how many. We had him turn off his GPS as that model allows you to connect with others in your party. We told him we were walking him to the trailhead to meet GW's. At one point he offered us $18k to "make this go away"... it was a hard no... we kept asking him how he got that far in and how they were getting the meat out. Turns out, he was on horseback, and said he tied his horse to a tree up on the ridge and had stayed back to track a wounded cow. At this point we are nearly two miles away from where they killed 4 elk... and he is not in great shape. Told him if he had just been honest this would be going a different way. At one point, we get him to admit to what all went down (all on video) and he pulled out his wallet with license and handed it to us. He (age 65) confesses that he did not tie a horse up, that his brother (age 68) and another guy (mid-60's) (both on horses) were packing all three quartered elk out on three horses. The gentleman we had was from Texas, the other two hunters were from Colorado, and one..... turns out to be an acquaintance of the ranch owner..... We were in a spot where we had cell coverage so the owner called the older brother, who knew they had already been busted... and told him to bring all the horses and meet us before his brother dies (he literally did not look good, was grey and ashy, his adrenaline dump was terrible, and he was barely able to walk 20yds without stopping... and as a former paramedic, I was pretty sure if we kept on going, i'd be pumping his chest in the middle of the woods). So the two others arrive, tail between their legs, we secured their rifles and took them all to the GW's who were waiting.
Lots of other details, but long story short.... it is one of the biggest poaching cases in the county, and the GW said it was the largest fine, by 2-3x, of anything he had written in his 20 year career. We hiked the GW's back in the next day and helped them with all the work to process the scene. We actually found the cow about a 1/4 mile away, gut shot. They did a terrible job of quartering, left a ton of meat... the charges were lengthy and the DOW intends to pursue loss of hunting privileges in all 48 compact states.
Here is where it gets interesting... We get about 70 yards up the hill and around the corner and there are three dead bulls in a clearing about 100ft x 100ft (no wonder he wanted to lead us the other direction). They had been quartered and two of them had their antlers cut off - the third was a rag horn that was barely legal. At that point we decided the hunt was off for 4-legged creatures and on for 2-legged. We hustled around the ridge to cut him off, and we were able to intersect him - at which time he surrendered his rifle to us and showed us he was not carrying a pistol. We already had GW's and State Patrol headed to their trailhead anyway. We knew others were with him as he wasn't carrying any meat and was alone. He would not tell us where the others were, or how many. We had him turn off his GPS as that model allows you to connect with others in your party. We told him we were walking him to the trailhead to meet GW's. At one point he offered us $18k to "make this go away"... it was a hard no... we kept asking him how he got that far in and how they were getting the meat out. Turns out, he was on horseback, and said he tied his horse to a tree up on the ridge and had stayed back to track a wounded cow. At this point we are nearly two miles away from where they killed 4 elk... and he is not in great shape. Told him if he had just been honest this would be going a different way. At one point, we get him to admit to what all went down (all on video) and he pulled out his wallet with license and handed it to us. He (age 65) confesses that he did not tie a horse up, that his brother (age 68) and another guy (mid-60's) (both on horses) were packing all three quartered elk out on three horses. The gentleman we had was from Texas, the other two hunters were from Colorado, and one..... turns out to be an acquaintance of the ranch owner..... We were in a spot where we had cell coverage so the owner called the older brother, who knew they had already been busted... and told him to bring all the horses and meet us before his brother dies (he literally did not look good, was grey and ashy, his adrenaline dump was terrible, and he was barely able to walk 20yds without stopping... and as a former paramedic, I was pretty sure if we kept on going, i'd be pumping his chest in the middle of the woods). So the two others arrive, tail between their legs, we secured their rifles and took them all to the GW's who were waiting.
Lots of other details, but long story short.... it is one of the biggest poaching cases in the county, and the GW said it was the largest fine, by 2-3x, of anything he had written in his 20 year career. We hiked the GW's back in the next day and helped them with all the work to process the scene. We actually found the cow about a 1/4 mile away, gut shot. They did a terrible job of quartering, left a ton of meat... the charges were lengthy and the DOW intends to pursue loss of hunting privileges in all 48 compact states.
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