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Californian Abandons Elk To Rot!
By Todd Helms
As if folks from Wyoming needed more of a reason to raise an eyebrow at Californians, Lewis Cornell of Fullerton, California was recently cited $6,750 and had his hunting privileges revoked in the entire United States for two years. Fullerton killed a bull elk close to Wapiti, Wyoming last fall and after removing only the head and antlers made a return trip and recovered a single backstrap and one hind quarter. The rest of the meat he failed to recover, claiming it was spoiled. Wyoming law is quite clear on wanton waste of game animals and Cornell’s lack of “reasonable effort” merited a wanton waste citation.
I applaud this citation and echo the sentiments of Muley Fanatics president Josh Coursey, ““That’s sending a message. It’s saying, ‘We’re not messing around. We value our wildlife resources in Wyoming and we have laws on the books to enforce that,”.
It’s incumbent upon each of us who choose to pursue big game such as elk to be able to remove all meat from the field as expeditiously as possible. Elk are large and unfortunately I’ve seen many people woefully underestimate the amount of effort required to reduce an elk to possession.
Know before you go and have an extraction plan in place before you tip over a 600+ lb bull this fall and you’ll avoid Mr. Cornell’s mistake.
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As a hunter stuck in California for work, this makes me sick on two levels. The major one is some idiot wasting some of the best meat on the planet. The second being it labels California hunters as unethical once again. If I don’t think I can salvage all of the animal due to temperature or distance I’m not hunting there.
Agreed Gary, ethical removal of the meat is always the most important piece of the equation!