What killed this elk?

[AMann]

I came across this cow last week. There were fresh coyote and lion tracks around as well as an old set of horse and boot tracks. I studied predator kills in college as a wildlife biology major but can’t recall a lion only eating the backstraps. If a hunter shot it and had access to a horse why not pack out the meat?

 

[Beastmode]

What if it was a poacher that didn't have a horse? I have never seen a predator eat only the backstrap. My guess is a POS 2 legged predator.

 

[Jeff Martin]

Human scum

 

[Ross]

Two legged dirt bag hangmhigh!

 

[justin davis]

Hard to tell. Doubt lion. But never know. I have a buddy who was part of a lion study in Cali back in the day. Said one of the cats was a big male and it would kill a deer or a sheep every day or every other day and eat only the liver and leave the rest. Obviously this was not the norm. But and interesting cat.

 

[El Gavilan]

Any bullet holes? Most likely a poacher as most predators go for the guts first.

 

[RamDreamer]

Hard to tell with just one photo and not being there, but if both backstraps were taken I would say there is a good chance it was from an individual who has only bad intentions. Since the hind end doesn't appear to be torn out and it wasn't moved or covered as a cache it appears highly unlikely that a predator is the culprit unless it was scared off by the guy on the horse shortly after the kill.

 

[johnnylaw]

i recently watched a documentary on lions and there research showed that the mountain lions always ate the vitals first. i would bet on a person doing something that sick. a hungry predator would work way to hard for the kill to be that wasteful.

 

[Bar]

I say poacher too, but why didn't the predators eat the rest of it?

 

[Rizzy]

That looks like a human kill to me.

 

[StrutNut]

I would think any predator kill should show signs of the attack. Hair missing, bloodied rear end. If that was the final resting place of the attack that ground would be trampled with blood everywhere. Based on that photo, human scum bag.

 

[justin davis]

How far from nearest road?

 

[brettb]

yep, definitely a worthless pos. why kill something with that much meat and only take 20 or so lbs of meat and let the rest rot. Maybe keep an eye on the carcass and see if the dumbass is using it for coyote bait.

 

[tttoadman]

I wonder if they shot the cow high in the shoulder, and dug the evidence out. Who would take shoulder and neck meat and not a hind quarter.

 

[Nalgene]

Squatch

 

[justin davis]

Looks like coyotes ate the meat off the top. Could have been hit by a car and traveled a ways and died. Can't always say a poacher killed it just because an elk is dead. I have found a few elk dead before were unexplainable but definitely not human poacher related.

 

[tttoadman]

good point.

My doctor lives up in some elk country. She had a crew of guys putting a roof on her house. They watched a herd of elk run across the field early in the morning and jump the fence. One of the cows tripped on the fence and went over on her face breaking her neck. They all sat for awhile and pondered the situation. They then promptly cooked up the backstrap for lunch and split the rest up to put in their freezers. Not a bad day on the job from the sounds of it.

 

[AMann]

It wasn't a car. The nearest road is three or four miles away. What's also interesting is there's an outfitter camp half a mile from where I found her.

 

[JG358]

It wasn't a car. The nearest road is three or four miles away. What's also interesting is there's an outfitter camp half a mile from where I found her.

Hurt elk can go a long ways so being that far from the nearest road doesnt rule it out. Who knows, it could have had a heart atack. Just because an elk died doesnt mean foul play is involved.

 

[LostArra]

that backstrap removal looks like a human but beyond that, who knows how it died?

could have been a predator or bullet or arrow or an automobile with a long time period before death

could just be a simple cast of wanton waste and/or poaching

I've seen deer like that on the side of the road: some poached and some simple road kills followed by backstrap removal