Tundra versus bull elk (pics)

[azhuntnut]

We find this truck parked along highway 87 north of Happy Jack Sunday morning. My buddy drove by about an hour later and somebody had already cut the horns off the bull. David

[Elkaddict]

Passed this at 5:15 AM and thought it was someone parked along hwy for the hunt, didn't see the elk. Truck was there till probably 4:00 PM. Never saw highway patrol or anyone investigating. Both airbags are deployed, have no idea where everyone went.

[Couestracker]

Wonder why no one called for a salvage tag? What a shame......

[Havasuhunter]

Drunk driver the night before? Didn't want to report it until sobered up? Seems like they would have had it towed earlier, otherwise. That's pretty scary hitting a bull elk.

[Elkaddict]

 

Drunk driver the night before? Didn't want to report it until sobered up? Seems like they would have had it towed earlier, otherwise. That's pretty scary hitting a bull elk.

That's exactly what I thought. As for a salvage tag, the only person that can get that is the one that hit it. I can see the reasoning, but still it's a shame.

[Xnt]

Its not that hard to get a salvage tag. You call and talk with someone almost instantly. For a nice bull elk like this you can probably expect to need to remain on scene for a gamie to look things over and say "yeah, he dead" and issue you a tag, or they may just give you a number over the telephone in case you get pulled over by an other agency to account for the useable portions of the animal sticking out of your vehicle until a tag can be mailed to you at home.

[bonecollector]

On the way back from NM this past week, around forrest lakes area 2 vehicles in front of me hit a cow elk. The truck in front of me finished her off. There wasnt damage to the first vehicle like the picture above.

[Non-Typical Solutions]

So in the truck vs. elk the tundra rates pretty high.....hit the critter full bore, air bags deployed and the driver lived.....not a bad review right there.

 

Open area looks like.....those dang elk scare the heal out of me.........

[rossislider]

Headed up through unit 1 a few years back a mini van ahead of me hit a cow. By the time I got there the van had just pulled out and left. Probably not a lot of damage to the van but the cow's hind legs were either broken or there was spinal damage because they were immobile. She kept lifting her head and kicking her front legs but couldn't get up. I shot her to put her out of her suffering and called Game and Fish. I asked about keeping her but was told that was not possible and that they would send someone to get her. On my way home 4 days later she was still on the side of the road rotting and had been chewed on. It really upset me. Even if I was not able to keep it, I would have gladly quartered it and delivered it somewhere where it could have been used.

[Will K]

Ouch.

[Millhouse]

How does one go about getting a salvage tag?

[IA Born]

How does one go about getting a salvage tag?

 

You have to be the one to hit the animal. I was in a similar situation as Rossislider a few years ago. We came up on a nice 3x3 muley that had hit a minivan in the side door. No vehicle was around (turning around and drove back to the scene). I called 911 to try and get permission to dispatch it and try to not waste the meet, identifying myself as a Federal wildlife agent/biologist. The lady got real snippy with me emphasizing that I could not be issued a salvage tag because I didn't hit it. I explained that I was well aware of the laws, I just wanted to put it out of its misery properly and requested a DPS officer or AGFD officer on scene since I was without my pistol and with my family. She didn't appreciate me snapping back at her, but said an officer was en route. Right after that the buck got off and ran off. Last I saw, he was cranking south. One heck of a bell ringing. DPS arrived and I left a statement if he needed info for AGFD, but we talked about salvage tags. They can only be issued to the person who hit the animal, but that person can then sign them over to someone else.

[CouesPursuit]

They can only be issued to the person who hit the animal, but that person can then sign them over to someone else.

So you're saying be reeaaaal nice to anyone that you see just hit a big tasty critter.. Making sure they're ok first, of course.

[hoghntr]

Yes whoever hit animal can sign it over to you. Trick is they must wait on side of road with you until highway patrol arrives and issues pernit. I lived in Christopher Creek 23 years back way before overpass and high fences and such. People would walk into restaurant i worked at and call police to report elk car accident and ladies that worked up fromt would run back and tell me.. I would then ask owner to take over the grill and i would go make new friends.

[PatrickJr]

You are correct, someone did take off the antlers before we went through. I hope whoever was driving is ok. That truck tossed the elk a good 40 yards. Sad to see an animal go out like that.