Local Fish, Wildlife & Parks officials are investigating two recent poaching incidents involving a black bear and a bull elk.
Officials found a black bear that had been shot and dumped off the Belton Stage Road near Coram between Oct. 12-13.
Just over a week later, on Oct. 22, officials found a bull elk that was shot and left on the west side of Hungry Horse Reservoir Road.
Columbia Falls game warden Perry Brown is seeking information on the violations. Anyone with information can call 250-2097, or 1-800-TIP-MONT. Cash rewards are available for information that leads to a conviction.
With general rifle season ongoing, FWP officials are also urging hunters to properly dispose of carcasses at approved sites. The Flathead County Landfill will take bones and scraps, FWP said. It is illegal to leave carcasses on public land or within a road right-of-way.
Through Oct. 30, a total of 5,783 hunters checked 207 white-tailed deer (155 or 75% of these were bucks), 22 mule deer, and 37 elk for a 4.6 percent rate of hunters with game, according to the FWP. The counts at the six northwest Montana check stations represent a sampling of the first two weekends of the harvest and do not represent the complete number of animals taken.
The second weekend of the season had a similar number of hunters afield and animals harvested as compared to last year, FWP said.