Two men and a 17-year-old boy from Alberta have been charged with hunting elk at night after receiving a tip about a suspicious truck, Rimbey RCMP said.
“Officers quickly responded to the scene as this is known to be a highly targeted area by poachers who hunt at night,” police said in a statement.
Officers came upon a vehicle equipped with spotlights and high-powered rifles. The occupants had allegedly been drinking and police accused the driver of shooting at a bull elk. It’s not clear whether the animal was wounded.
The arrest occurred not far from where two large bull moose were shot, their antlers taken and their carcasses left last November. That case is still open.
Police laid 14 charges for Wildlife Act, Traffic Safety Act and Liquor Act violations including hunting in a dangerous manner, hunting at night, discharging a firearm from a roadway, hunting while impaired and hunting on occupied land without permission.
h/t Edmonton Journal Photo Alberta Sustainable Resource Development