Hunter describes controversial elk hunt

A controversial elk hunt east of Helena is generating disagreement over what actually took place, as well as heated debate over hunting ethics and what constitutes “fair chase.”

On Oct. 26, a large group of hunters gathered near White Gulch, where a herd of hundreds of elk had congregated in a large open area of grazing land interspersed with irrigated fields.

Various observers reported seeing hunters shooting directly into the herd without regard to the potential to injure untargeted elk that crossed their line of fire. As the day progressed, more and more hunters arrived. Some allegedly used trucks or four-wheelers to block the herd’s escape, or used cellphones to coordinate with other hunters. Both practices are illegal.

By day’s end, some 30 elk had been killed, an unknown number were wounded and one bull elk was seized. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wardens issued numerous warnings, and three hunters were cited for hunting without landowner permission.

One of those hunters said he is frustrated with news reports connecting him to the alleged unethical hunting practices that likely took place that day. Brett McMurphey of Great Falls said he did received a trespass hunting citation in the mail but was never given an equal opportunity to tell his side of the story to the game warden.

He said the citation was based solely upon a complaint lodged by Kelly Flynn, a White Gulch-area property owner and outfitter who confronted McMurphey that afternoon. Flynn is also a state representative who sits on the Fish, Wildlife and Parks committee.

McMurphey said that Flynn confronted him that morning and told him he was on his property, but much of the land in that area is unfenced or poorly marked. McMurphey is convinced that he was on property he had received permission to hunt on, and that even if he unintentionally strayed out of bounds, he never fired a shot while he was there.

Flynn was not immediately available for comment for this story, but told the Helena Independent Record that either McMurphey or the other hunter he was with, Robert McCaslin, continued to shoot after he was told not to.

McMurphey denies Flynn’s claim and said he plans to contest the ticket in court. He also said the whole incident began when hunters on Flynn’s property began shooting at the elk, driving the herd onto public land where dozens of hunters were waiting.

“The whole herd came down the valley and was pushed right into us,” McMurphey said. “I’ve never gotten that close to that many elk. I was surrounded by cows, bulls, spikes, calves. From as close as I was, if I would have shot my bullet would have gone clear through and hit another animal.”

McMurphey said he didn’t fire a single shot during the stampede of elk but remembers hearing at least 90 other shots go off as the elk came pouring out of Flynn’s property.

“It sounded like a world war going on,” he said. “We saw a cow go down, we saw a calf get wounded and then get back up.”

Much of the conversation following reports on the White Gulch hunt have focused on hunter ethics, and the possibility of expanding regulations to address situations like these. According to FWP Warden Sgt. Dave Loewen, more regulation would be difficult to interpret or enforce.

“It’s not illegal to fire into a herd, but should it be?” Loewen asked. “If you answer that a certain way then you have to ask yourself, ‘What do you mean by herd? Is five animals a herd? Do they have to be close together or are they strung out? It really starts to get difficult to try to deal with.”

The use of cellphones and geo-tracking to coordinate a hunt is also a growing problem.

“It’s absolutely illegal,” Loewen said. “You can’t use two-way communications to aid your hunt in any way, shape or form, and the use of cellphones falls into that category. If you’re using cellphones to call each other and talk about the hunt, which way the elk are going or where you need to be to get in the best position to shoot the elk — anything like that, it’s illegal.”

“The problem is how do we as law enforcement monitor that? We can’t scan for cellphones, so it really puts us in a very difficult position to even enforce that.”

Loewen said the real solution is greater ethical awareness, and for hunters to embrace the philosophy of “fair chase.”

“When we start talking about cellphone use, radio use, things like that — you’re taking the fair chase out of it,” he said. “When you start surrounding a herd of animals that are caught on a piece of public ground and start shooting at them and start wounding a bunch of animals — it clearly doesn’t demonstrate the proper or the ethical way to hunt.”