After a jury of his peers convicted him back in June, 62-year-old Joel Rose of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho has been patiently awaiting his fate. After poaching an easily-recognizable, and dare we say, semi-famous bull elk in northern Idaho, he wasn’t the only one awaiting the much-anticipated sentencing hearing.
Well, we all got what we were waiting for last week when First District Judge Casey Simmons did what we all wish we’d had the opportunity to do, and handed our man a taste of jail time and some heavy-handed fines and restitution for his crimes.
For those of you that missed our coverage of the incident back in early July, this case kicked off on a beautiful day back in September of 2024. According to reports from Idaho officials, Rose took aim at the beautiful bull during the archery-only hunting season on a piece of private property near his residence in the Wolf Lodge area. While pulling back the bow strings would have been a permissible action, unfortunately Rose chose an alternative method of dispatch on that fateful September day. Rather than peering through sight pins, Rose took a look through a serious piece of glass mounted atop a suppressed 6.5 Creedmore rifle.
Rose’s poaching rig | IDFG
As anyone would have guessed, the bull toppled after Rose landed a couple of shots - one of which ended up lodged in the animal's hide and eventually led investigators to Rose and his trusty rifle. Following the kill, Rose staged photographs of the carcass with an arrow protruding from it, attempting to make it appear as though the kill was made with a bow.
And while his attempt at concealment was commendable (I guess?!?), questions about the legality of the kill came to light when Rose brought the elk's head, hide, and antlers to a local taxidermist for mounting. A bullet lodged in the hide raised suspicions, as it indicated the use of a firearm rather than archery equipment. Prosecutors from the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office detailed that forensic analysis of the hide revealed two distinct bullet entrance wounds and only one exit wound. Although the hide showed what appeared to be an arrow wound, the lack of tissue trauma confirmed it was inflicted after the elk's death.
“Additional evidence revealed that Rose had been specifically targeting the trophy-class bull elk during the archery-only season, which overlaps the rutting period for elk in North Idaho,” a news release said. “After the elk was killed with a rifle, Rose posed in photos with the elk with an arrow protruding from the carcass.”
Idaho Department of Fish and Game conservation officers obtained a search warrant for Rose's residence, where they discovered the rifle in question. Ballistic testing matched the rifle's rifling characteristics to the bullet recovered from the elk, providing key evidence of Rose's involvement.
In June, Rose had his first brush with a jury, who wasted no time convicting Rose of unlawful killing, possession, or wasting of wildlife - which just so happens to be a felony under Idaho law, as the elk's assessed value exceeded $1,000.
Just a couple of months later Rose found himself in court, once again. This time awaiting his sentencing, the Judge imposed the maximum penalty of five years in prison, which was suspended in favor of three years of supervised probation. As a condition of probation, Rose must serve 30 days in the Kootenai County Jail and faces a $30,000 fine and is required to pay $5,000 in restitution to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
In addition to the jail time and fines, Judge Simmons finished off the sentencing hearing with a lifetime revocation of Rose's hunting privileges, ensuring he can never legally hunt in Idaho again.
