montana_hunter_16

Last fall this guy was going around town with this big elk in the back of his truck, showing it off and bragging about how he' s got a bull every year since he was 12(he' s over 50.) Well, excuse my language, but the jackass is one of the most unethical, crude, and just plain ignorant people I' ve ever met. Just listening to him made me mad, and the sad thing was people were falling for it. My dad' s buddy was hunting over near the preserve(NOT ON IT) and heard a few gun shots. A little while later, here comes this guy flying out of the preserve with a bull elk in the back of his truck. When they found out about his bragging, they talked to the game warden and told them what they had witnessed. Well, a few weeks later they found the gut pile, and used DNA testing to confirm it was the *******' s bull. He finally got what he deserved, but the publicity he got gives hunters a bad name and I hate to see this happen.
Here' s the article:

Pride in trophy elk brings fine, charges

HELENA (AP) -- A Cut Bank man has lost his hunting privileges, drawn a whopping fine and is facing more criminal charges, all because he couldn' t resist boasting about the six-point trophy elk he killed last fall.

A photo of Gary Motarie and his prize elk appeared last November in his hometown newspaper, the Western Breeze, and some local residents suspected that he didn' t kill it where he claimed.

They called the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks hotline, 1-800-TIP-MONT.

Game warden Sgt. Gary Benson and others used the modern science of DNA, standard police work and old-fashioned tracking skills to prove that Motarie killed the elk the weekend of Nov. 9-10 in the Sun River Wildlife Management Area, nine miles northwest of Augusta.

Only cow elk or deer can be taken legally there.

Motarie pleaded guilty April 24 to hunting during a closed season and illegal possession of a bull elk.

" It' s a massive elk," Benson told the Independent Record in a story Friday. " It was so big he got hit with paying trophy restitution -- about $8,000 instead of $1,000."

Prosecutor Barbara Harris recommended revoking Motarie' s hunting privileges for 10 years, but Justice of the Peace Wally Jewell decided that wasn' t enough. He said Motarie was convicted of a similar offense in 1987.

Jewell suspended Motarie' s hunting privileges for 20 years and fined him about $9,000.

Some of the tipsters gave investigators a general direction of where they had heard gunshots on the wildlife management area.

Rick Bryant, who manages the wildlife area, found some unusual markers on a road that led him to a pile of fresh elk intestines. Investigators took samples for DNA tests, then got a series of search warrants to find Motarie' s elk, its meat and its skull.

The DNA tests proved that the intestines came from Motarie' s animal.

" That placed him on the wildlife management area," Benson said. " It was a real good deal, because it' s hard to argue with DNA. And in this case, we also had people who could place him there."

The minimum standard for a trophy elk is six points on one antler, and Motarie' s had six points on both sides. The main beam spread must be at least 43 inches, and this one was more than 48 inches. The antlers' inside spread must be at least 36 inches, and this one was 46-1/2 inches.



This isn' t the first time that this has happened either, the guy has been caught 3 other times doing similar crimes. Do you have any stories about this kind of stuff happening?

mathewsarcher

I knew of a guy in Alaska that used his float plane to spot a moose, landed, shot the moose (on the same day) loaded the moose into his plane, flew to Anchorage, loaded the Moose into his 1 ton Ford, drove to his house and unloaded the moose into the house. Alaska fish and game came along.........................

They seized the Moose, the plane, the ford, AND the house! Oh yeah bad guy lost hunting privileges for life, and did a month in jail. Don' t mess with Alaska F&W!!!!

ahunter55

I am sure there are a lot more than any of us will ever know-we had a local, very well to do in the Bowhunting field, Video maker, & so on that got busted (a few years back)with shooting a Penned deer in Mo. (no kill-no pay operation) & trying to check it in Illinois as a WILD BOW KILL( P&Y wild deer shot on video sells). Well, much investigating later he was fined, lost all hunting privilages for 3 years, had Illigal Goat, Deer Racks & other things confiscated-got out of fines for over the deer limit in Texas (stat of limitations past, we heard). Withdrew ALL his P&Y Registered animals (REGULAR MEMBERSHIP). Local archers knew he was crooked but no one could ever prove anything till this-his name was Noel Feather & he was from Sterling, Ill.. These are things that you wonder about with many other hunters who take TROPHY animals on a regular basis-it is just bad advertising for all hunting. The unfortunate thing is that many go unpunished & are in some areas looked upon as Knowlegable hunters when in fact they are just plain law breakers that will do almost anything to kill an animal for the publicity or a few dollars.

121553

That was a costly moose trip Mathews. Montana hunter I didn' t hear of that story but it doesn' t surprise me as it is heavily poached, even for antler sheds when the preserve is closed, these antler poachers tresspass on to the preserve and then pull sheds up into the trees and then come back when its open, I believe May 15 and on opening day its every man for himself as its a dog eat dog madhouse and people search for sheds and cash them in for big $$$ as vendors are set up along the highway in tents with signs saying " Highest $ paid per pound," and then if you got a matched set the price goes up. Good luck, Bobby