Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers took their show on the road in an effort to track down the alleged shooter in an egregious act of poaching.
Hunting the hills north of Divide, Colorado in 2021, Steven Samuelson, 33, took it upon himself to go full draw and let it go at an unsuspecting bull moose. The animal folded shortly thereafter.
In an effort to try and cover his tracks, Samuelson attempted to cover up the animal with brush and skip town but wasn’t aware that he was being watched. With a number of trail cameras slung among the trees in the area, a number of local hunters were able to piece together the crime and report it to wildlife officials.
Camera evidence reveals that Samuelson attempted to remove the head of the moose, but quickly realized he either didn’t have the tools or stomach for it. For his second act, he piled up the carcass behind a tree and attempted to cover it up with some branches from the local foliage.
It was a piss-poor cover up at best and kicked off an investigation that would lead wildlife officers on a multi-state expedition to find their man. Using good old fashioned police work, CPW officers tracked Samuelson back to his home state of Kansas and hit the road to execute their warrant and put him in handcuffs.
The pair of officers executed the warrant at Samuelson’s home, confiscating his bow, cell phone and a number of other items to help with the investigation.
The accused was in a Teller County District Court earlier this month where he entered his guilty plea in front of a judge. He faced charges including felony willful destruction of wildlife, as well as misdemeanor charges of hunting without a proper and valid big game license, aggravated illegal possession of wildlife, failure to prepare wildlife for human consumption, hunting in a careless manner, and illegal take of wildlife.
Samuelson was sentenced to a two-year deferred jail term for the felony charge, meaning he won’t have to actually serve the sentence so long as he meets all the terms of his plea bargain.
He was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and lost 65 points against his hunting license. For clarification, only 20 points are necessary to suspend his hunting privileges. He’s got some digging to do to get himself out of this hole.
Colorado wildlife officers are thanking the hunting and outdoors community for answering the call on another senseless act of poaching.
“This moose was treated unethically and that is something we take very seriously,” said CPW officer and assistant area wildlife manager Travis Sauder. “We are fortunate members of the public share our passion for wildlife and helped us catch the poacher. We rely on honest sportspeople to help us solve these types of cases.”
