MDC is investigating the death of a bull elk that appears to have been shot and had its skull plate and antlers removed.
SHANNON COUNTY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is investigating a dead bull elk recently found along the Current River in Shannon County and asks the public to report any related information to the Department’s Operation Game Thief hotline at 1-800-392-1111.
According to MDC preliminary information, the elk appears to have been shot and the skull plate and antlers were removed with a chainsaw. The rest of the carcass was left intact.
Conservation agents were informed of the dead elk on Tuesday, Dec. 29, by a hiker on an area along the Current River. MDC agents went to the location and confirmed the report.
MDC staff have transported the carcass to the Department’s Conservation Research Center in Columbia for further investigation, including a necropsy, which is an autopsy of an animal.
Any and all information that could assist in this investigation is welcomed by MDC. Calls can be made to local MDC agents or to the Operation Game Thief hotline. Information can be given anonymously or a name maybe be given for a possible reward of up to $1,000 in the case of criminal activity.
The dead bull elk was one of approximately 130 animals that are part of the Department’s elk restoration and management efforts. The remaining elk can be seen at the Department’s Current River Conservation Area and Peck Ranch Conservation Area in the Missouri Ozarks. Learn more about Missouri’s elk at mdc.mo.gov/node/10141.
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