A Highlands Ranch man was fined and sentenced to three years probation after he failed to report shooting a moose he thought was an elk.
On April 1, Joel D. Eady, 30, admitted he shot the moose during an October 2010 hunting trip in the Missouri Creek Basin, about 30 miles east of Meeker, according to a news release from the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
Witnesses reported that Eady admitted to them that he shot the cow moose after mistaking it for an elk. He told witnesses that he would turn himself in but never did.
“We understand that mistakes happen and we will usually be more lenient with someone who reports an accident right away, but failing to report this incident turned a careless mistake into a felony,” Jon Wangnild, district wildlife manager and lead investigator, said in a statement.
Eady was charged willful destruction of wildlife, hunting out of season, illegal possession of wildlife and failing to properly care for a harvested animal. He was sentenced to three years of supervised probation and a $5,177 fine.
A review by DOW could result in Eady losing his Colorado hunting privileges for life.
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