Montana hunters outraged over incident that saw 100 hunters shoot into elk herd.
Local hunters are up in arms over an October 25 incident that saw 100 hunters fire into a herd in Montana's Meagher County. The incident left 50 elk dead and one human hunter died of a heart condition in yet another weird story for 2020.
The Great Falls Tribune reports that officials with the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department handed out six citations in the elk herd shooting, which took place on block management land.
Other than the misdemeanor citations, which included four for shooting from the road, one for failure to validate a license and a citation for using a license from another district, the FWP says the incident was legal. Fines for these violations are between $50 and $100 at most.
When the news first broke, details were somewhat sketchy. The FWP had to clarify that of the 50 elk that were killed, only one went unclaimed by hunters. Two other animals were confiscated by FWP for the earlier-mentioned violations. These animals went to a local food bank. While the FWP says most of the incident was legal, FWP spokesperson Greg Lemon was quick to tell reporters it was also not ethical.
"If they miss they might hit the elk they're not intending to hit, or if they do hit the elk the bullet might pass through and wound the elk that's behind it," Lemon told KULR 8 News. "And then obviously if there are hunters on three sides of these elk then it's really challenging not to have hunters not be shooting at each other."
While many residents want some harsher punishments handed down, Lemon told KULR 8 that simply isn't in the cards because of the way the laws are written.
"The statues sort of outline what penalties these sorts of violations are," Lemon said.
KTVH News out of Helena, Montana caught up with Bill Galt, the owner of the land where the shooting took place. Neither is happy about what happened.
"Truthfully, you really want to just vomit, when you heart it," Galt told the news station. "I mean, it makes you sick to your stomach and I think the community, in general, is that way. It's just like somebody punched in the belly when you see that happening or hear about that happening."
The two brothers, owners of Galt Ranch, are now reconsidering keeping their block management areas according to the station.
Helenair.com was the first site to report the incident. In that initial report, an unnamed hunter was said to have died from a heart complication during the hunt according to the Meagher County Sheriff. No other information on that appears to have been released.
We have seen a lot of strange stories so far in 2020, but this one may be one of the weirdest yet. We will keep an eye on this story and bring you any new developments on it as they come in right here at Wide Open Spaces.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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