WOLVERINE, Mich. (AP) — A man has been arrested in connection with the poaching of a cow elk in a northern Michigan state forest.
Jakob Gagnon, 21, was arraigned Aug. 28 in Cheboygan County District Court on misdemeanor taking an elk without a license and possessing stolen property charges, according to the state’s Natural Resources department.
Gagnon also is charged with felony cocaine possession.
An investigation was started in 2018 following an anonymous tip to a poaching hotline that an elk had been shot in the Pigeon River Country State Forest, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Traverse City.
Evidence later was seized from a home.
Gagnon is accused of shooting and later processing the elk. He fled the state after the home was searched. He recently turned himself in to authorities, according to the DNR.
He was released on bond and faces a Sept. 9 preliminary hearing. The Associated Press left a message Thursday seeking comment from the public defender’s office which is representing Gagnon.
Logan Turbin, 22, was accused of helping process the elk meat. He pleaded guilty last year to a general wildlife crime and paid court fines and restitution. His hunting privileges were revoked for one year.
Gagnon and Turbin live in Cheboygan County’s Wolverine, northwest of the state forest.
Authorities continue to investigate the poaching of five elk in late 2019.
