Montana’s game wardens are actively investigating several poaching incidents involving abandoned wildlife carcasses as the general hunting season concludes. A significant case involves four whitetail bucks discovered on Bureau of Land Management property between Bridger and Belfry, with only their heads taken and the rest of the meat left to spoil. This act violates state law, which prohibits wasting edible parts of animals and dumping animal remains.
The discovery was made in the Cub Creek area on December 6, and the deer are suspected to have been poached towards the hunting season’s close. Nearby, three turkey carcasses were also found. Another poaching case in Region 1 involves a white-tailed deer shot on Eastside Road, west of Troy in Lincoln County, believed to have occurred on December 5, after hunting season ended.
In Region 3, near Toston, an investigation is underway regarding a bull elk killed on November 30. Game wardens are seeking information about a hunting party that harvested and removed a bull elk on the final day of the season. They believe this group might have insights on a second, unclaimed elk carcass found in the same vicinity, near Bonneville Power Administration transmission lines.
The untouched elk was located near a Bureau of Land Management access road, known as Dandy Road, situated between Johnny’s Gulch Road and North Fork of Lone Mountain Road. Anyone with knowledge on these poaching incidents is encouraged to contact local game wardens via tipmont.mt.gov.
