Stemming from an incident that took place last November, a Tennessee man has been slapped with big fines, suspensions and probation after being found guilty for illegally killing two elk.
On November 19, 2023, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) Wildlife Manager Darrell England was contacted by an informant reporting that he had heard a number of shots while deer hunting in Tennessee’s North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area (NCWMA). The informant said he went to investigate the shots and came across another hunter who claimed he had shot two deer, a doe and a small buck. Knowing full well that the limit inside the NCWMA at that time was only one deer per person, the informant placed the call to TWRA.
Responding to the call, England was able to get vehicle tag information to help identify the guilty party, later named as 34-year-old Preston William Douglas. Interviewing Douglas in his home, investigators were able to get the accused to admit to firing shots, while claiming that he didn’t hit anything.
Having hit a wall with the suspect, the investigating officer turned back to his informant for additional information. The pair decided the best course of action would be to revisit the scene of the incident and see if there was anything they might be missing. Upon arriving, they quickly located not one, but two decomposing elk carcasses. One of the carcasses was that of a cow elk and the other a bull, both of which had bullet holes to their bodies and heads.
The carcasses were promptly removed from the woods and taken to UT College of Veterinary Medicine for necropsy. Returning to the scene to gather additional evidence, officers soon recovered shell casings from a .40 caliber handgun and a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle along with a bullet found in the gut pile.
With two bodies, spent shell casings and a pending necropsy, England and his team went back to Douglas to present their findings. With seemingly nowhere else to turn, Douglas gave a full confession of the incident, admitting to illegally killing both animals and leaving them to rot.
He was charged with two violations each of hunting and killing big game in closed season, illegally taking big game, tagging violations, and failure to retrieve big game. His 6.5 Creedmoor rifle and .40 caliber handgun were also confiscated as part of the investigation.
Douglas was finally in court last week where he was found guilty on a pair of counts of illegally taking big game. As part of his plea deal, Douglas lost his hunting privileges for five years, was banned from the NCWMA for three years and was put on supervised probation for three years. In addition, he has been ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution, plus fines and court costs.
