Wisconsin has someone on the loose poaching elk, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is ready to do something about it. To catch the perpetrator who recently killed one of the state’s transplanted elk herd, the Foundation is putting up a $5,000 reward.
While Wisconsin might not be the sort of place you typically consider as elk habitat, the reality is that these massive members of the deer family were once widespread across a much greater range in the U.S., including Wisconsin. In recent years, the state’s conservation officials have tried to rebuild the herd that was wiped out in the 1880s. In 1995, these efforts started with a trap-and-transplant release of 25 animals in the Clam Lake area. More releases followed over the decades afterwards.
In March, an elk from one of the more recent releases, a 2016 trap-and-transplant from Kentucky, was found dead on private property, killed by a gunshot wound. Known as #244, it wore a radio collar to help researchers keep track of its movements. This bull had been an important member of the Central Elk Herd and its growth efforts, and state fish-and-game authorities initially reacted with a plea for information from the public.
“The illegal shooting of bull 244 is a tremendous loss for the central elk herd and citizens of Wisconsin. The illegal harvest of a bull of this magnitude reduces opportunity to the hunting community and to recreationalists attempting to photograph or see elk within Jackson County,” said Christina Kizewski, a state wildlife biologist. “Bull 244 was one of the largest and most photographed bulls in the state and has contributed to the successful growth of the newly established herd through his breeding efforts.”
Now, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is taking this investigation to the next level, with the following post to their social media in late April:
RMEF is offering a $5,000 reward to help solve this Wisconsin elk poaching case north of Black River Falls. Someone illegally killed a collared elk – one of the last breeding bulls brought in from Kentucky in 2016, and one that played a key role in establishing Wisconsin’s central elk herd. It died from a gunshot wound.
If you have any info, call 1-800-847-9367.
Along with the autopsy on the elk and data from its radio collar, the Wisconsin wildlife authorities also say they gathered data from cellular trailcams in the area that provided evidence in this case, although obviously not enough to lay charges, if they’re still looking for information.
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