FWP asking for tips on several elk shot and left to waste

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials are asking for tips on who shot four elk near Anaconda, and one in Musselshell County, and left them all to waste.

FWP is characterizing the killings on the Ueland Ranch and ARCO Block Management Area, near Anaconda, as poaching.

A spokesperson said all four elk were killed in close proximity sometime between Saturday, Nov. 18 and Sunday, Nov. 19. Whoever was responsible for the killings took the animals’ heads and backstraps and left the rest to waste.

The elk wasted in Musselshell County was shot and killed somewhere along Fattig Creek Road on private land, as it was found with a gunshot wound 30 yards off the road, FWP said.

The department said the elk was likely shot on the night of Nov. 24 or the next morning, as hunters reported it the next day.

Montana law prohibits hunters from wasting any part of a game animal that is suitable for eating, including the tenderloins, backstraps and the four quarters.

“FWP game wardens say that wildlife crimes like this one are often solved because of leads from the public and encourage anyone with information to make a report,” FWP Region 2 spokesperson Vivaca Crowser said in a statement.

Anyone with information on either case is asked to submit tips online or on FWP’s violation hotline at 1-800-847-6668. Tipsters could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.