The elk hunting season adjacent to Grand Teton opened on September 20th and rangers have been busy making sure hunters are not taking animals from within the park. Information was received on the morning of the 20th that a hunter had fired a shot within the park north of the Bailey Creek Road. Rangers contacted a guided hunting party that was packing out a killed elk from that area. The rangers retraced the party's path and employed tracking skills to determine that the elk was killed legally, but that the shot was taken from right on the park boundary. Around 6 p.m. that evening, dispatch received a phone call regarding a hunter removing a dead elk from the Arizona Creek trail. Investigating rangers found an Oregon man packing out the very large bull elk and determined that the animal had been taken within the park. The elk was seized and the antlers measured. They were found to be just short of qualifying for the Boone & Crockett trophy class. The man received a mandatory appearance citation. On September 29th, two rangers on a routine backcountry patrol near Mount Reid on the Arizona Creek Trail heard a gunshot just after 10 a.m. While investigating the source, they encountered a hunting guide who reported that his client had shot a bull elk in the park. The guide was on his way up a hill to place a call notifying authorities of the incident when the rangers met him. The guide then took the investigating rangers to the location of the elk kill, and rangers determined the elk had been taken 40 yards inside of the park boundary. All parties involved fully cooperated with rangers. The man who shot the elk was also issued a mandatory citation.
