Geeeeeeeeeeeeesh Jerry, that type of common sense requires thinking I challenge anybody (Especially Mr McCollum) to find the phone number listing of that Tribe's LE/Game Enforcement LE in under a day or three Especially anybody driving by on 101 with a cell phone. I wonder if Mr McCollum will be willing to produce any electronic communications records (cell, email, dispatcher, etc.) records of that bunch of asshats receivinmg a complaint???? I think not.

I guess the next step for us pissed off folks will be to determine that Tribe's Economic Interests (businesses) and boycott the crap outta them until they say they are very sorry and it won't even remotely happen again. The Pocket Book is a very harsh teacher folks.

Actually the officers involved direct numbers are listed on their web site and quite easy to find. Just sayin' In case anybody wanted to call them and ask them any questions. like "WHAT THE HELL DUDE!"

If they were concerned about a crime outside of their jurisdiction, why couldn't they have taken pictures, recorded license plate numbers, and reported it to the PROPER AUTHORITIES like you or I would have. Especially with a little kid involved! Really?! Did they think that dangerous, cop-shooting poachers were going to bring their toddler along and shoot an elk in plain site of the whole world? What idiots! I hope they and other LE learn a lesson from this.

I served as a reserve county deputy sheriff here in Mason County for four years after my military service in later eighties. Even then, communication was good along the Canal up toward Triton Head. Contacts were always less than half an hour back before the newer, upgraded cellular coverage.

I'm concerned as a blackmouth fisher, towards the upper canal. Are the tribal law enforcement going to waste my time for close to two hours because I landed a legal fish come springtime???

even if they did i dont understand how it could be legal, they had to renegotiate a treaty to give the tribal members the power and i thought that could only be done on a federal level ?

shut up boater, you are an idiot

Boys, boys...

...simmer down, eh?

Per this Sunday Morning PDN, The Tribal 's thought those evil muzzle loading hunters were TRESPASSING Heaven forbid Trespassing Seems the Tribe and various Tribal Reps are just digging themselves deeper and deeper If them Evil Muzzle Loading Hunters were Trespassing Yah thunk that within the 2 hours in question, one of those DipWads would've walked across the road and asked the Land Owner if those Evil Muzzle Loading Hunters were in FACT trespassing Or were they tooooooooooooooooooo Skeeeeerid of that 2 year old running around crying might jump them and beat them up

I keep saying folks, grab them by the Economic Shorthairs, and their Hearts & Minds Will soon follow.

Anyone heard any recent updates on this ???

Port Gamble S'Klallam Natural Resources Director Paul McCollum has said that his officers were acting properly.

McCollum has said the two officers were working as game agents under his department and not as tribal police.

someone help me understand. i always thought that the department of fish and game appointed game wardens not the port gamble s'kallam natural resource director.
so if i understand what mccollum is saying is that the tribe can appoint game wardens to act off the rez without an ok from anyone else.

It kind of sounds that way, doesn't it? I'll be interested reading the report from WDFW and Jefferson County SO when the investigation is completed.

Do Game Agents do trespassing if there aren't any complaints?

Your a little confused my friend. WDFW officers work for the state, those are the people we call game wardens. Since tribes are considered their own government/nation they too have their own fish & wildlife enforcement officers, they police tribal members. WDFW enforce non-tribal members, and tribal members when they go outside of their hunting/fishing areas

I think we may discover, eventually, that the so-called "hunt" took place on private property... the owner of which had not given permission. In fact, the owner may hve expressly forbibben these people from tresspassing on her property.

When they wound up taking the elk on her property she called all the enforcement help she could reach, including Port Gamble S'Klallam. No one else showed up but them.

Not at all sure they should have taken 2 hours to sort it out but we may discover the answer to that problem as well.

I am not a hunter but just what about the conditions, that were so well captured in photos by the reporter, resemble a real "hunt" anyway? If anyone is familiar with this location it is a small piece of land between the highway and the shoreline of Hood Canal. These elk wil graze this patch of land several times a year. Every time they do a line of cars pulls over and the lookie-lou's and touristies all get out and a line of vehicles forms along the highway.

These animals essentially became trpaped between the growing human/vehicle wall and the shoreline. The phots showed several elk standing in saltwater, cowering on the edge of the area they had to move around in. Even after the "hunt" took place the animals were still pressed up against the shoreline and trying to get out of there... to no avail. The area they can move around in is probably about the size of a football field. This was the condition that existed. What about this resembles a fair hunt in anyone's mind?

No way does this get confused with what the officers did or didn't do... but what the hell were these guys doing "harvesting" wild game like it was a beef cow in the pasture?

The following paragraph was taken out of the newspaper article linked in one of the first posts on this thread.

"But then, Boling said, they were told they were in a "no-shooting" zone and perhaps "recklessly" shooting. The hunting party had received permission from the property owner, Boling said, and he'd been hunting there for years."

One person's hunt is another person's harvest. From what I've gathered this season is designed as a control "hunt" with restrictions on firearms allowed. It is not much different than the efforts to control the Sequim elk herd with limited license distribution and the state utilizing a "hunt master" to "guide" the "hunter" so that elk are harvested on specific properties where the landowner allows harvest.

Compared to a "canned" hunt inside a fence on a game farm, in this situation the elk could have moved. It appears, though, that this herd is habituated to human presence and doesn't move unless a person approaches inside the elk "comfort zone" as evidenced by the picture of the elk standing in the background.

That's exactly what they were doing. It was legal, and while it may not fit your description of fair chase, it sounds as if it was a humane harvest. Which is the point of the controlled hunt.

There is also no description of the hunt leading up to the harvest itself. It is easy to infer from the pictures that the guy walked out there, pinned the elk on a peninsula and then shot the bull. But the reality could be much different. The elk could have been feeding in a normal pattern, the hunter used the wind, and available cover to get within range undetected by the animals, and then made his kill. Thus, the harvest was as humane and sporting as lots of other hunts that happen in our state. They just don't normally happen with audiences.

Guess what, I am going duck hunting on Saturday. We use decoys to trick the ducks into thinking they are landing with their friends, then we blast the sh!t out of them and laugh and hoot like slack jawed yokuls while they flap around on the water taking their last breaths, or wait to be executed by having their necks broken in our hands. I think that Elk died a much more humane death than what I just described, your idea of sporting or not, by the sounds of it the hunter did his job at the time of the kill.

I don't think I saw any stuffed elk (decoys) in the photos.

"Shooters" used the shoreline, high tide and the civilian population with cars, trucks and RV's to corral the elk before they rolled in to make the kill. Nope, no fair hunt there, no sportsmanship, no nothing. Just pull the trigger and punch the tag. If this is what hunting has come to in WA state I am glad I am not involved.

There are more than one pieces of property involved... different owners. May have had permission to enter one piece of property... but were stricltly forbidden to be on the piece where the elk was when shot... based on what I was told. If this is true, and it will come out in the wash one way or another, it may just prove the old adage... about 1/2 of what you read in the "news" might actually be true.

If what you said is true, I agree it was just a harvest, not a sporting hunt. I wasn't there and there have not been many eyewitness reports of the actual kill that I have heard yet. The only thing I read is that the guys in the truck stayed back, and the shooter walked out there by himself to make the kill, then they drove out into the field. That kind of hunt I just described happens everywhere, all season long.

If they trespassed (which has not came out officially yet) then they are in the wrong, and should be treated as such.

from above article,

McCollum has said the two officers were working as game agents under his department and not as tribal police.

from the Port Gamble S'Klallam tribal page,

http://www.pgst.nsn.us/natural-resources/hunting

Tribal hunting laws are jointly enforced by Tribal police departments, Tribal fisheries enforcement officers, and Point No Point Treaty council enforcement officers.

They still have no authority over non-tribal hunters in any way, shape, or form.

Damage hunts put meat on the table. If you don't like them, don't apply.