MONTROSE, Colo.—A Texas man has been fined nearly $12,000 for illegally killing a trophy-class bull elk outside the area covered by his license.
Mitchell Phelps, 46, of Athens, Texas, shot the six-point elk while archery hunting Sept. 16 in western Colorado in an area that he wasn’t licensed for, the Colorado Division of Wildlife said.
Officials said hunters wait for years to draw licenses for the area where the elk was shot.
Ryan Swygman, a district wildlife manager, said he was on routine patrol when he saw an elk rack in the back of a pick-up truck. He said he stopped to inspect the elk and became suspicious because the animal wasn’t properly tagged.
Swygman said Phelps told him that he shot the elk in the area he was licensed for, but the bull ran more than a mile into a different hunting area.
Swygman said the arrow pierced the elk’s lungs and heart. “When an animal gets shot in the heart and lungs, it usually can’t run very far,” he said.
Phelps did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
After meeting with wildlife officers and sheriff’s officials, Phelps agreed to plead guilty to illegal possession of wildlife and failing to tag the animal properly.
The maximum penalty was a $20,000 fine and time in jail.
Phelps was also assessed 35 penalty points against his hunting privileges. He could lose the right to hunt for up to five years in Colorado and possibly 24 other states because of an interstate compact agreement.
Texas isn’t a member of the compact.
State wildlife officials will decide the length of his suspension later this year.
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