Powell couple kills trophy bull elk with car

[Battlespace]

Not sure if this belongs here or not, moderator - please move if necessary.


This article was in the Casper Star Tribune this morning.

By JOHN MORGAN

A massive, record-book sized bull elk met its match late last month when it was hit by a vehicle at night.

Marge and Mark Zupan of Powell struck the 700- to 800-pound animal Nov. 29 about a mile north of Meeteetse on Wyoming Highway 120, according to a story in the Powell Tribune.

"All of a sudden I see this big, black animal," said Marge Zupan, who was driving. "Then all I could see was horns everywhere."

The crash crumpled the front of the 3,200-pound Toyota Camry, folding in the right headlight corner and smashing the windshield on the passenger side. The elk was killed instantly, according to Game Warden Jerry Longobardi.

"Mark, I think we hit a moose," Zupan told her husband, who had been asleep. Mark Zupan was bleeding from the nose, mouth and chin from glass cuts, Marge said. Both the Zupans were wearing their seat belts and were not seriously injured.

Longobardi loaded the carcass into the back of his Game and Fish Department pickup with the help of a deputy sheriff and four Meeteetse firemen. Longobardi called the kill "a shame" for the magnificent bull to perish in such an unfortunate and undignified manner.

"It's pushin' the record book probably," he said.

Because state law does not allow him to award the trophy head to the Zupans, Longobardi gave the prize to the local firemen.

 

[Matt G]

While hunting near Pagosa Springs, CO a few years ago, my dad and I dropped by a taxidermy/butcher stand off the highway at Chimney Rock. Hunters were flocking there during the midday to drop off their kills. One guy had a monster. I asked him where he had gotten it, and he said the highway. I glanced questioningly at him, and he said that he tried to swerve around it, but in the end he "dodged it". He then pointed to the front of his Dodge one-ton pickup, which showed evidence of a recent front-end collision. The game warden had let him harvest the meat, to recoup some of the hassle of the damage to his truck.

 

[armedcitizen]

Because state law does not allow him to award the trophy head to the Zupans, Longobardi gave the prize to the local firemen.

That sounds kind've arbitrary, doesn't it? Why can he give it to some people but not the driver?

 

[Cindog]

Armedcitizen,

Sadly, I think the theory in not awarding it to the driver is that some people would actually try and deliberately hit the animal.

 

[critter]

Not too long ago, I 'bred' my wife's Buick LaSabre to a whitetail deer at night with the cruise control set on a little over 70 mph. BELIEVE ME I DO NOT want to hit an elk!!-or a moose!

Nobody hurt but the Buick was a mess all the way to the rear of the radiator! Plus deer (you know what!) was hosed all over the front of the car and all under the hood. Quite 'ripe' smelling on a hot engine! Deer even spun and put hoofprints in the passenger side door!

 

[Art Eatman]

years ago I saw a Ford Mustang which had hit a deer. The carcass flipped up and over the hood, hitting the top of the windshielf frame.

Instant convertible. Top down.

Art

 

[HSMITH]

They are LUCKY. Years ago about 15 miles east of the little store Matt mentions I helped haul out a Camaro as part of a tow truck crew that a couple had been driving on their honeymoon, they hit a big cow elk pretty much centerline on the car. The car took the legs out from under the cow and she slid up the hood, through the windshield and killed them both. Horrific and grisly, terribly sad too.

A couple years ago my dad hit an elk, a 4 pt bull, in mom's minivan. He pretty much centered it, and the antler on the right side of the bull came through the windshield and hit the seat on the passenger side. Thank God mom wasn't sitting there beside him......

Elk are BIG animals and it can be a lot worse than a few cuts.

Matt, I grew up in Pagosa. Hard to make a living there but a better place to starve to death would be hard to find.......

 

[Kingcreek]

Years ago I came up on a bad accident where a lady in a sedan hit 4 mules on a dark highway. One dead lady and 2 dead mules and 2 mules with thier legs out- ugly mess like I hope to never see again.

 

[Rich K]

Last year,one of our ambulances hit a whitetail doe while going to a call.No one was hurt,the rig wasn't too bad,but the guy in the right lane who was chasing the rig got a big messy surprise all over the front of his car.

 

[TallPine]

The moral of the story is: "Use enough car"

Them little bitty caliber cars just ain't no good on big game.

One time when I was up in Alaska, I nearly hit a moose at night while driving a friend's Toyota Corolla. I honestly thought I was dead for a moment as I tried to decide whether to hit the legs or go between them. Somehow at the last minute we got out of each others way.

There are only two kinds of drivers in Montana ... those who have hit a deer and those who WILL hit a deer.

 

[Mornard]

I held the record of anyone I knew personally (5 deer, lifetime total) and then my stepmom tied my record one dark, snowy night in central Iowa. - 5 with one bump...

Used to work as an insurance adjuster, and it was quite common to have to allow for a carb rebuild after a deer hit. The air horn on the air cleaner just sucks them innards on down, and carbs don't meter fuel too well when they're clogged with suet...

 

[Kingcreek]

YUCK!
Mornard, I hit a deer in my F250 SD with my cruise set at 78 mph. the air cleaner was about the only place I didn't have deer parts. I was 4x4 high and the deer went low and hit the bumper and front axle housing. I had deer parts strung out thru the wheels and hangin from the outside rearview mirrors. amazingly only $1200 damage. a front bumper, steering stabilizer, one tire (gored by the corner of bumper) and a small ding in the front fender splash rim. Wild ride since I went into a skid and spun, backwards thru the median of I-90 (South Dakota), and stopped with my front wheels on the shouder of the opposite lanes and my backend in the ditch.

 

[Mornard]

Yup - those city folk can't ever know what fun really is...

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Some Kansas Geological Survey grad students hit an elk with a state owned van out in Colorado.The front of the van looked like on of those Pug dogs after the hit.You definatly want a vehicle with plenty of front end length out west.

 

[Itote]

Ya'll check this out! Happened near South River,Ontario. Female driver with only a broken wrist.Probably really needed a shower and change of underware.