If Your Going to Poach Elk, Don’t Get Your Truck Stuck in the Process

While I’ll never advocate for the illegal taking of wildlife, I suppose if I were to, I’d offer up the suggestion of ensuring that you have some sort of reliable method of escape. And I wouldn’t recommend boasting about it on social media either.

But as with most criminals, thinking things through doesn’t always land high up on the list of priorities, and for that, we’re thankful. 

This was the case in an elk poaching investigation that kicked off last fall in Carbon County, Wyoming, just south of Rawlins. It was the first of November and search and rescue officers received a call from a group of hunters reporting that one of their friends had gone missing. 

“Carbon County Dispatch Center received a call from another elk hunter just after daybreak on Nov. 1, 2023, who reported finding a disoriented individual near Miller Hill who matched the description of the missing individual,” according to Game and Fish.

It turns out the missing individual had gotten his truck stuck and wandered off to try and find some help. As search and rescue officials descended on the scene, they noticed a couple of things that didn’t quite add up, including “blood and other indications” of a big game kill.

The following day, state game wardens were on-scene to continue the investigation and soon located a gut pile about 100 yards from the stuck truck. Without the carcass, head and antlers present, wardens began to ask questions. 

The accused, Corey Cruze of Rawlins, had previously stated to search and rescue that he had, in fact, shot a bull in Hunt Area 21, which was about two miles away from where the truck was found.  And while Cruze had a general tag for 21, he did not have one for Hunt Area 108, a limited quota hunting area, where the truck and gut pile was found.

As the investigation went on, officials had a hard time pinning any crime on Cruze, despite some of the obvious evidence previously collected from the scene. But then Cruze went and did the unthinkable expected and posted his kill to social media. 

The image of him and his bull was soon circulated and ended up in the hands of Fish and Game wardens. They immediately went back to the truck where they were able to match the surroundings with what was depicted in the image now making him Instafamous.

Cruz was officially charged in February and later pleaded guilty in May to a charge of intentionally taking an antlered elk without a proper license.

He was fined $1,570 and sentenced to 90 days in jail, with 82 days suspended. His hunting and fishing privileges have been suspended for five years across 49 states as part of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact.