Accused poacher charged years after moose was found left to rot, Colorado officials say

Helena Wegner
·2 min read

A 33-year-old man accused of poaching a moose in Colorado in 2021 was charged nearly two years after he left the animal to rot, wildlife officials said.

An Oakley, Kansas, man pleaded guilty to several charges on July 10, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a July 19 news release.

He is accused of shooting a bull moose with an arrow in September 2021 north of Divide, Colorado, wildlife officials said.

He tried to remove its head, and then covered it with branches and sticks before leaving it, officials said.

“This moose was treated unethically and that is something we take very seriously,” said Travis Sauder, assistant area wildlife manager for the Pikes Peak region.

Officers find accused poacher in Kansas

For years officers weren’t able to find who illegally killed the animal.

Wildlife officers said they reviewed evidence from the scene and photos taken at the time of the poaching suggested they had found a suspect.

The officers drove to his work in Kansas and executed a search warrant on his home, where they found evidence, officials said.

He then pleaded guilty to a felony charge of willful destruction of wildlife and misdemeanor charges of hunting without a proper and valid big game license, aggravated illegal possession of wildlife, failure to prepare wildlife for human consumption, hunting in a careless manner and illegal take of wildlife.

The man was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine and received two years of unsupervised probation, officials said. He also had to surrender his bow and “other property that contained evidence of the crime including his cellphone.”

He was “assessed 65 points against his hunting license, with just 20 needed to suspend his hunting privileges,” officials said.

“Our officers are determined to stop people like (him) who think they can simply go kill any animal they like. I want to make it clear: (He) was not a hunter. He is a poacher,” Area Wildlife Manager for the Pikes Peak region Tim Kroening said in the release.

Divide is about 25 miles northwest of Colorado Springs.

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