We recently lost a treasured member of our community. I am speaking of course of the magnificent six-point bull elk that was shot and killed right here in the city limits of Buckley, the very elk that has been watched and admired by residents for years. I myself have pictures that I have taken of him right out of my living room window. Those pictures are all that are left for my family and I of what was probably the most striking elk I have ever seen.

On Oct. 8, James Hall also decided this elk was quite a treasure. The difference between him and the rest of us is that he decided this treasure should belong to him and only him, and killing the animal was the only way he could see to make that happen. So kill it he did, in a field, in city limits, surrounded by roads and houses and people. He must have stalked it for minutes. So much for the Great White Hunter.

Now the Elk is gone, dead. That’s it and it cannot be brought back. And with it something even bigger is gone as well. The many of us that live around the fields that this animal called home will never marvel at him again. This elk was a topic of conversation among my friends and coworkers well before the shooting, and today not one of them has anything but disgust for what happened. We may never have such an animal living in our midst again.

Animals of this magnitude are increasingly rare and should be left to provide a strong future for the herd. This elk was an asset in many ways, but now it is only an asset to the selfish ego of a single man. A man who shot this elk strictly as a trophy that he could hang on his wall, as though this elk belonged solely to him and him alone. He must have pulled the trigger thinking, “This is the best possible place for this beautiful elk, dead and in my house.” That’s the sort of selfish ignorance that can only make decisions based on it’s own greedy desires, even if that means endangering all of us to do it. We all support Mr. Maas for pressing charges.

Dwight Baity

Buckley