# Elk killed during gun season



## ohiohunter43015 (Feb 23, 2009)

If there is a thread about this already I couldn't find it. I am just completely dumbfounded. 


When the pickup truck rolled into the parking lot of the deer check-in station, clerk Joe Glick didn't even get all the way out of the store before he knew that was no Bambi in the bed. 

"All we had to do was see the horns sticking up over the side of the truck," said Glick, who checks deer that hunters bring to Scott's Sporting Goods during deer gun season. "We knew that wasn't no deer." 

The consensus was that the animal -- much larger than a deer -- was an elk. 

So Glick sent hunter Todd Tomlin on his way, and he called Christopher Rice, the Ohio Division of Wildlife officer assigned to Union County. 

"I didn't believe it," Rice said. "I thought Joe was messing with me." 

But Rice knew Tomlin was an experienced, skilled hunter. If he had something out of the ordinary, it was worth a look. Rice met Tomlin at his Milford Center home. 

"Sure enough, it was a bull elk," Rice said. "A big one." 

Rice called his supervisor, who called his supervisor. Everyone tried to figure out what to do with it. 

Turns out, Tomlin gets to eat it. 

Tomlin, a 45-year-old truck driver who's been hunting for more than 30 years, was hunting with permission on private property along Inskeep-Cratty Road in the southwestern corner of Union County about 8:30 Monday morning when he saw three does in the distance, followed by a small buck. 

He couldn't get a shot. Then, he saw something brown, with a big set of antlers under cover of the brush and weeds. 

He fired once with his 12-gauge shotgun and hit his mark. 

"It was trotting, its head up, like it had been spooked," Tomlin said. "I had just a split second to fire." 

He saw the dark hair on the animal's belly, and no white on the tail, and knew he had something that would turn into the hunting tale of his life. 

Rice said there are no regulations that prevent Tomlin from keeping the meat. 

Every December, one or two hunters bag something that's not quite a deer, said Lindsay Linkhart, Wildlife Division spokeswoman. She said the animals usually are a mix of a deer bred with something else. 

Elk aren't native to Ohio, and obviously they aren't regularly roaming the state's farm fields and wetlands. So the animal most likely was either purchased and then brought to an area farm or bred locally and then escaped from a pen, Rice said. 

The elk was shot near the Logan-Champaign county line. Local authorities say a man who lives just across the county line in Champaign County raises elk, but he could not be reached yesterday. 

The kill didn't count toward Tomlin's bag limit; he gets to shoot and tag a deer during the remainder of the season if he can, Rice said. 

The head of the animal has been sent to the Ohio Department of Agriculture for disease testing as a precaution. If there's any way to get the head back to Tomlin, they will, Rice said. 

Tomlin wants to have the 9-point rack mounted, and he's having the rest of the animal processed for the meat. 

It dressed out at 350 to 400 pounds, Rice said: "I just told him to cook it to the right temperature, just like he would hamburger from Kroger." - Columbus Dispatch

 


How do you kill an elk thinking it's a whitetail? I have hunted this property before and I am pretty sure the deer aren't even close to that big. How is this guy not in trouble?


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

My buddy called me as they take their deer to the same processor that's doing this Elk. I was in disbeleif when he first told me. After seeing that picture and hearing that the Elk was in weeds/grass/brush I can see how it would be taken for a buck from a distance.


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## jeffmo (Apr 7, 2004)

well there's no season on elk in ohio so i guess it's legal to harvest them.but i doubt that he mistook it for a deer though.
a fews year ago close to where i hunt in vinton county there was one that got loss from a private hunting operation and ended up being shot in a farmyard.i guess they were pretty sure it'd end up at a feed lot and from what i was told that's what happened.


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## Toxic (May 13, 2006)

I doubt the guy thought it was a deer. If he did he shouldn't be hunting. He was legal on taking it. 

What I don't understand is this comment from ODNR spokesperson Lindsay Linkhart:


> Every December, one or two hunters bag something that's not quite a deer, said Lindsay Linkhart, Wildlife Division spokeswoman. She said the animals usually are a mix of a deer bred with something else.


What else breeds with a deer? It's not like a dog, it's impossible? And she's a spokesperson? Someone help me out here and explain that to me.


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## fishintechnician (Jul 20, 2007)

yeah he said he knew that it wasn't a deer in the article. i work with his nephew and he said that he was pretty stoked about it they think it came from a farm that raises them he gets afree kill as there are no regulations on elk in ohio and I'm pretty sure the dnr doesn't want one just running around, although I bet that the farmer would have liked to have it back though.

Your right toxic I don't get that either maybe breeding with other farm raised deer? don't know. On a side note i saw pick of a donkey that was checked in in WV that the guy thought was a big doe they took a polaroid of it and had it hanging in the shop. He had it loaded in the trucj and was posing with it like it was a trophy kill.


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## ohiohunter43015 (Feb 23, 2009)

He couldn't get a shot. Then, he saw something brown, with a big set of antlers under cover of the brush and weeds. 


Sounds to me like this was before legal shooting light.... IMO.

And yea that quote by the DNR lady makes me sleep easy.


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## Toxic (May 13, 2006)

fishintechnician said:


> Your right toxic I don't get that either maybe breeding with other farm raised deer? don't know. On a side note i saw pick of a donkey that was checked in in WV that the guy thought was a big doe they took a polaroid of it and had it hanging in the shop. He had it loaded in the trucj and was posing with it like it was a trophy kill.


Deer and elk cannot breed, they are two different species. 

Maybe the guy in WV that it was a "mule" deer lol


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

cross breeding between deer and other species has been well documented..................................


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## Toxic (May 13, 2006)

misfit said:


> cross breeding between deer and other species has been well documented..................................


Your right Rick. I found another one as well. This is what came out after a donkey, wild boar, and an ape got drunk one night.....


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

now there's the perfect argument against genetic engineering.


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

When I was a kid (I'm guessing I was 10 years old or so) but I remember someone checked in a goat. Yes... a goat. As memory serves me correct it was checked in at somewhere near Old Man's Cave, possible Grandma Faye's carryout.


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

I started deer hunting back in 1975 and was lucky enough to take a nice buck at 8:30 on opening day. Went right to the check station and while there a character came in with a pretty large reddish brown goat  tied to the top of his station wagon. He actually thought it was a deer!


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## sporty (Apr 6, 2004)

H2O Mellon said:


> When I was a kid (I'm guessing I was 10 years old or so) but I remember someone checked in a goat. Yes... a goat. As memory serves me correct it was checked in at somewhere near Old Man's Cave, possible Grandma Faye's carryout.



I grew up in that area. I heard a story about someone bringing a goat to Grandma Faye's. Quite a many years ago.


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

The article also said Elk are not native to Ohio....LOL


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Pretty cool though, that's a lot of meat! Coming from Ohio and being corn fed has to make the meat even better.


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## NLC25 (Jan 21, 2008)

Now I want to know about the non-deer that are checked each year. Deer bred with what??


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## FSHNERIE (Mar 5, 2005)

Toxic...You hit the nail on the head.


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## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

> Then, he saw something brown, with a big set of antlers under cover of the brush and weeds.



lol... amazing story... pretty bad write up


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## River Anglin (Feb 18, 2008)

I'm surprised nobody is concerned that this guy took a shot at something he could not identify. He obviously couldn't see it very well and he admitted that. 

Sure, everybody is supposed to be wearing orange but what about the poor fellow looking for his lost dog, etc?


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

Toxic said:


> I doubt the guy thought it was a deer. If he did he shouldn't be hunting. He was legal on taking it.
> 
> What I don't understand is this comment from ODNR spokesperson Lindsay Linkhart:
> 
> What else breeds with a deer? It's not like a dog, it's impossible? And she's a spokesperson? Someone help me out here and explain that to me.


Maybe a fallow deer breeding with a whitetail?


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## WLB (Apr 6, 2004)

Deer do breed with other animals...
or at least try 
http://fishtalkfishingreports.yuku.com/topic/6426


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## jeffmo (Apr 7, 2004)

River Anglin said:


> I'm surprised nobody is concerned that this guy took a shot at something he could not identify. He obviously couldn't see it very well and he admitted that.
> 
> Sure, everybody is supposed to be wearing orange but what about the poor fellow looking for his lost dog, etc?


i'd say he knew darn well what he was shooting at.rumors are that there were pics of this bull on a trail cam.


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

This guy knew what he was doing. News just took the typical slant of making everything a surprise. I'm guessing there was no question of what it was, as the article said the people at the check in station conveyed. Another tactic of creating excitement in readers. He knew he was about to blast an elk, and you better believe I would have done the same thing


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## River Anglin (Feb 18, 2008)

Mushijobah said:


> This guy knew what he was doing. News just took the typical slant of making everything a surprise. I'm guessing there was no question of what it was, as the article said the people at the check in station conveyed. Another tactic of creating excitement in readers. He knew he was about to blast an elk, and you better believe I would have done the same thing


Yeah, I didn't do much thinking before posting


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## Huntinbull (Apr 10, 2004)

Any non native species found in Ohio is shoot on sight. Elk, any kind of exotic ram, fallow and axis deer, etc.. The unfortunate thing is he burned a tag. I am assuming (yes I know that could be a bad thing) that he tagged it before having several friends help him load it into a pickup or other vehicle. Wonder how he dragged it out of the woods? It does seem in the story as if he did not fully identify his target before shooting.


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## Fishpro (Apr 6, 2004)

Umm...thats not an elk. And I would have dropped it on the spot.!%


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## Flathead King 06 (Feb 26, 2006)

Huntinbull said:


> Any non native species found in Ohio is shoot on sight. Elk, any kind of exotic ram, fallow and axis deer, etc.. The unfortunate thing is he burned a tag. I am assuming (yes I know that could be a bad thing) that he tagged it before having several friends help him load it into a pickup or other vehicle. Wonder how he dragged it out of the woods? It does seem in the story as if he did not fully identify his target before shooting.


The article said it didn't count against his yearly bag limit


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## lg_mouth (Jun 7, 2004)

...Fishpro, but it doesn't look like an elk to me. It resembles a red stag more than an elk. Either way, free trophy for the guy.

Lg_mouth


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## beetlebailey (May 26, 2009)

Ive heard a story about someone shooting someones goat and took it to a check in station. Dont know what state, wv!!!!


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## FISHERBALL (Apr 7, 2004)

WLB- Talk about some strange!


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## Fishpro (Apr 6, 2004)

lg_mouth said:


> ...Fishpro, but it doesn't look like an elk to me. It resembles a red stag more than an elk. Either way, free trophy for the guy.
> 
> Lg_mouth


Yes, thats where I was going with that. Its a red stag, not an elk.


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