Moose Hunting in Montana
Moose Hunting in Montana
Late last year in November two young men poached possibly the largest bull moose in Montana, along with a cow they had spotted after the killing of the bull. The young men Cyrus Hogard and Chad Darington, of the Kalispell area were near Twin Creek over by McGregor Lake, west of Kalispell, when it happened. They drove around a locked gate to get to the area. Hogard admitted shooting the bull 26 times, taking its 48 inch-wide rack and then gunning down the cow. Darrington shot 16 bullets from a 22 caliber rifle into the bull moose, it was injured, but still walking. Hogard said he shot a 7 millimeter rifle at it, which knocked the moose over. Sadly the animal was still alive, so Darrington shot another eight round load of 22 caliber bullets into him before finally killing the bull. The men took the head, the backstrap and the inner loins, before turning the animal over so the planes couldn’t see the stripped carcass.
Hogard said they ran into the cow on their way out. Darrington loaded up his gun again, and shot off a load of 22’s at the cow, knocking her over. He then shot off another eight shots. “She was still alive. We covered it with trees while it was still alive and breathing,” Hogard said.
On the way back to their truck the men ran into a woman with a moose permit. The men tried to talk the women out of it, but she resisted.
The men returned about seven hours later, at about midnight to load up both of the moose. They took them home to divide the meat and butcher it. They later dumped the skin and bones at a trash site in Canada, but Hogard kept the horns. He knows about poaching. He has already been in trouble with the law when it comes to illegally killing animal.. He lost his hunting privileges for two years, when he was involved with an outing where his brother shot and killed a baby mountain lion.
He was arrested after an informant notified police that he was showing off the moose rack. Judge Ortly imposed a $6000 reimbursement cost for illegally killing a trophy animal. He also fined Hogard $3000 and suspended $2500 for unlawfully taking the bull. Hogard was sentenced to six months in jail, his hunting, fishing and trapping...