One recreation warden’s affidavit says the person killed dozens of elk in orchards close to his dwelling and bought the meat to a “Russian dude in Portland”
The poacher was allegedly killing elk within the orchards and fields close to his dwelling exterior of Yakima. {Photograph} by Tom Reichner / Adobe Inventory
A multi-year investigation by the Washington Division of Fish and Wildlife has culminated in a court summons for a person who lives exterior of Yakima and who has allegedly been poaching elk and anadromous fish, and promoting the meat for years.
Braden Takheal, 42, has been requested to seem in Kittitas County Superior Courtroom on March 18 and is being accused of unlawful wildlife trafficking, in accordance with court docket paperwork obtained by Outside Life. The accusation stems from a sting operation through which a number of undercover WDFW brokers bought elk meat from Takheal in 2021. Takheal claimed {that a} good friend killed the elk close to Takheal’s dwelling, and that he can “get an elk anytime as there are a bunch of them that hang around proper by his home,” in accordance with WDFW detective Lenny Hahn’s affidavit.
Takheal is a member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, which has its personal tribal wildlife administration and searching legal guidelines on reservation land. However Takheal bought the elk meat to the undercover officers at a Flying J journey cease in Ellensburg roughly 30 miles north of the reservation. The officers initially received in contact with Takheal by way of Fb Market, the place they responded to Takheal’s publish in search of a Stihl chainsaw bar with a message from a faux account. They obtained his cellphone quantity on Aug. 3, 2020; by Feb. 28, 2021, he had supplied to promote an entire elk and a few 1,000 kilos of smelt to the undercover officer for a complete of $2,200.
Trafficking edible elements of wildlife with a price of over $250 is a class B felony within the state of Washington and punishable by as much as 10 years in state jail and a positive of $20,000.
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The tip about Takheal’s elk meat enterprise got here from an nameless supply who advised officers Takheal killed roughly 42 elk and bought them to a “Russian dude over in Portland” all through the 2019 searching season, as reported in Big Country News. He charged $1,000 for bulls and $800 for cows. In keeping with court docket paperwork, the supply urged that Takheal didn’t have permission to hunt within the orchards and fields the place he often goes, although they’re supposedly on reservation land.
Detective Hahn’s affidavit additionally particulars feedback Takheal made about promoting 1000’s of {dollars} value of chinook salmon and catching sturgeon within the Columbia River to sell their highly desirable eggs. Hahn additionally alleges that Takheal made a “snarky comment” about how conservationists “don’t know what they’re speaking about,” claiming that lots of of 1000’s of sturgeon live in the Columbia, and that he loves killing elk and finds it enjoyable.
