Elk Decomposition (poaching?)

[GunsAreFun]

Found this kill site yesterday in Colorado. It seemed to fresh to be from last year but way too old to be from the last ten days. Clearly a human kill with head missing and knife cuts along the legs to take the caps off.

Granted I’m not accustomed to what snow pack can do to preserve and all that. This is in the Gunnison area.

Thoughts? Is this normal for this time of year?

 

[LongWayAround]

Looks like a normal boned out killsite to me. Why do you think it was nefarious?

 

[idelkslayer]

Bleached and cracked bones. Even the hair is bleached out. That's pretty old. At least a year.

 

[GunsAreFun]

Looks like a normal boned out killsite to me. Why do you think it was nefarious?

Surprised the fur and some of the other soft tissue was still there.

 

[Trr15]

Certainly appears that it could be a year old or more

 

[dirt_nap]

I've gone back to our old kill sites a year after, and seen the lower legs look just like that. Looks like a kill site from last year.

 

[dreamingbig]

Surprised the fur and some of the other soft tissue was still there.

Snow preserves. No issue there.


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[robby denning]

Looks like a normal boned out killsite to me. Why do you think it was nefarious?

my thoughts too.

 

[intunegp]

Surprised the fur and some of the other soft tissue was still there.

Especially on lower legs, fur and soft tissue will stick around for a long time if it isn't scavenged fresh. Those small/thin pieces freeze easily. A group I used to hunt with would mark where last year's shitter hole was dug with the lower legs of a kill so they didn't dig it right in the same place next time and they often looked just like this a year or two into the future.

 

[butcherboy]

Yep. It’s old.

 

[3forks]

Agree with others that it’s old. Also, as mentioned above, deer and elk have very little tissue in their lower legs and rely on countercurrent exchange of blood to keep their legs from freezing. Skin and fur on a lower leg basically dry out and turn into rawhide.

 

[huntsman22]

An old indian told me one time to honor the elk, you tie their feet up facing the direction they were going so that their soul could put them on and get to safety in the everafter. I tied a set up with poly baler twine like he said, and 3 years later they were still there with a little hair and the hooves still intact. The fourth year they were gone, whether the twine rotted or a critter pulled them down.....

 

[TaperPin]

In some high elevation areas that could be two years old. After being under the snow until June, they come out and start the summer looking quite fresh.

 

[Jethro]

An old indian told me one time to honor the elk, you tie their feet up facing the direction they were going so that their soul could put them on and get to safety in the everafter. I tied a set up with poly baler twine like he said, and 3 years later they were still there with a little hair and the hooves still intact. The fourth year they were gone, whether the twine rotted or a critter pulled them down.....



I heard you plant the lower legs, hooves up. Releases their spirit

Edit: @huntsman22 , sorry I messed up quoting you format.