WA: Man sentenced for illegal national park hunt

January 25, 2010

Wash. man sentenced for illegal national park hunt 

TACOMA, Wash. -- A 38-year-old Woodland man has been sentenced to three years probation and ordered to forfeit his hunting licenses after pleading guilty to illegally killing a trophy Roosevelt bull elk in Olympic National Park.

Magistrate Judge J. Richard Creatura also ordered Robert Hurst to perform 80 hours of community service.

The magistrate said Monday that the elk Hurst killed had been "a prize possession of each and every citizen who enjoys the park." Protection of the Roosevelt Elk was one of the primary forces behind the establishment of first Olympic National Monument and later Olympic National Park.

The U.S. attorney's office says Hurst hiked about a mile into the park and lured the elk within bow range by bugling, killing it in September 2007. State Fish and Wildlife agents later contacted Hurst and forensic analysis tied the elk parts in his possession to the kill site within the park.

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