In Rhea County, Tennessee, a rare Rocky Mountain elk that had become a local celebrity after wandering roughly 30 miles south from the managed herd near Crab Orchard was illegally killed on Evensville Mountain near Summer City Road.

Although Tennessee law allows deer hunters to take elk incidentally outside the five core elk-management counties (and Rhea County is not one of them), any such harvest must be reported to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) the same day for inspection.

In this case, the animal was shot, left to waste without recovering meat or antlers, and never reported, prompting outrage across the community. TWRA and Rhea County Sheriff Mike Neal have jointly posted a $2,000 reward for information leading to the perpetrator.

Residents who had quietly enjoyed seeing and photographing the elk on trail cameras and along roadsides expressed fury and sadness, with many, including sportsmen Bill Newman and professional bass angler Wesley Strader, calling the act selfish and wasteful and demanding changes to the law that currently permits incidental elk kills in most of the state.

(Trail Camera photo by Bill Newman.)