Elk report released: Report gives timelines, outlines discrepancies by investigators
An unidentified enforcement officer of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe handcuffs Danny Phipps, son of elk hunter Don Phipps. Next to the truck is 2-year-old Taylor Boling and his father, Adam Boling. Another tribal officer is at far right. Photo by Jay Cline
At left, two unidentified bystanders talk to a tribal officer (back to camera). To the right is a park ranger. Kneeling with his hands on his head is C.J. Schafer, who helped load the elk into the truck. At right are two more bystanders. Photo by Jay Cline
"Based on all the information I had gathered to that point, I felt that the suspects involved had poached the elk."
Gus Goller Captain, Port Gamble S'Klallam Natural Resources Department
"I have known Mr. Phipps for several years and have no reason to think in any way that he is not a safe and responsible hunter."
Paul Golden Detective, Washington Fish and Wildlife
View the slideshow of photos taken by the Sequim Gazette's Jay Cline here.
By Barney Burke of The Leader
Jefferson County Prosecutor Juelie Dalzell released 168 pages of documents concerning an Oct. 3 elk hunt in Brinnon last week but still has not decided whether she will file charges against officers from the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe who detained hunters at gunpoint.
Compiled by several state agencies, the tribe, and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, the reports contain some discrepancies but also clear up questions involving the incident. Hunter Don Phipps of Shelton had legally downed a bull elk across the road from the Bayshore Motel.
When Phipps shot the elk with a muzzle-loading rifle at 2:50 p.m. that Saturday, two off-duty law enforcement officers from Oregon happened to be staying at the motel. And two rangers at Dosewallips State Park, previously told to expect an elk hunt, had taken up positions in a wildlife-viewing platform to make sure no hunters entered the park.
The first call came in to JeffCom dispatch at 2:59 p.m. from a civilian, who said she thought there was a shooting zone violation. Moments later, the two park rangers called. Ranger Doug Hinton told the dispatcher that he thought it might be a legal hunt but wanted to know if it might have violated a no-shooting zone, county records show.
A dispatcher broadcasted that a caller believed there was a shooting zone violation. Captain Gus Goller of the tribe's Natural Resources Department heard the call and said he and officer Dale Clark would respond. They arrived at the scene at 3:09.
At 3:16, Goller reported that he had several people at gunpoint. The two rangers arrived at 3:22. State Fish and Wildlife agents were not available to respond, but one county deputy and one state trooper arrived to back Goller at 3:26.
One of the off-duty officers from Oregon spoke with the park rangers as they arrived, telling them: "You better get down there. Those guys are not doing what they say." The second off-duty officer later expressed a similar concern to investigators, saying the hunters were giving conflicting stories and not being cooperative.
Goller cleared the scene at 4:17, indicating the hunters were handcuffed and held at gunpoint for no more than an hour, concluded Chief Criminal Deputy Joe Nole. The hunters had recalled being held for about two hours.
The reports don't appear to contain any evidence suggesting that Phipps broke hunting or shooting laws. He had a state hunting license and a special tag for taking an elk during the limited muzzle-loading season, and he did it in an area of Jefferson County where shooting is allowed, according to state and county reports.
In fact, a report from Fish and Wildlife Detective Paul Golden states that Phipps had contacted him in September about hunting regulations in Brinnon. Golden told Phipps he knew of no shooting restrictions in the area, but advised him to check with the sheriff's office. "I have known Mr. Phipps for several years and have no reason to think in any way that he is not a safe and responsible hunter," Golden wrote.
In his report, Captain Goller described arriving at the scene, seeing the dead elk near some homes, and signs that indicated "no hunting" and "no trespassing."
"At that point, based on all the information I had gathered to that point, I felt that the suspects involved had poached the elk." He wrote of slinging his rifle over his shoulder as he approached the hunting party.
Goller said he and Clark ordered the men to put their hands up. "The subjects were not complying," he wrote. "I thought the subjects may have been trying to flee."
When Goller determined that they were not tribal members, he asked JeffCom to send a state Fish and Wildlife officer, but none was available.
In a written statement, Phipps said he asked tribal officers why the hunters were being detained and they responded, "because you are trespassing and were shooting in a no-shooting zone." The officers also said they had been told that a high-powered rifle had been used, not a muzzle-loader. The muzzle-loader looked similar to a modern rifle.
All were released, and none were cited or charged. The men in the hunting party told investigators they were cooperative, and they complained that tribal officers at first would not tell them why they were being detained at gunpoint.
Also in dispute, at least early on in the investigation, was whether the men had permission to shoot the elk on private property. The hunters said they had the permission of Martin Lorenzen, who owns vacant land between U.S. 101 and Hood Canal. He lives across the street and told investigators that he had given the men permission to hunt.
When tribal officers investigated, they looked at matted, blood-stained grass from where the elk had fallen and concluded that it had been felled on the property owned by Keith and Tammy Berry. When contacted by tribal officers, she said she had told the hunters they could not use her land; the hunters later confirmed that statement. She asked that the hunters be prosecuted for trespassing.
But when deputy Nole and Fish and Wildlife Detective Golden looked at the same evidence, they concluded that the boundary between the two properties, which was not marked, was about 50 yards from where Berry and tribal officers had estimated. Nole and Golden then contacted Berry, and she agreed that the hunters had not trespassed after all.
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Article comment by:
Randy
To R Perish if you were to look aside from calling a community, basically "racist" if you checked closer the name started out due to the color of the pants the football players wore,and how they looked on them. It sounds like you might want to change it to the dove's or something like that. But then there would be someone else not happy with that. So get back on course, if it were you I'm sure you would "CRY" bloody murder. they were wrong! they were not in their juristiction and should have thought about what they were doing and not going "RAMBO"!!!. Remember Americans are Americans, and EQUAL RIGHTS are not Speacial for some!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Article comment by:
TK
I don't agree with what happened ether and oh brother don't make me open this can of worms on what I think, but what I am curious is how many of all you people are going to celebrate Thanksgiving?!
Posted: Saturday, November 07, 2009
Article comment by:
bob bryan
As much as I would like to hope there is a good solution for this kind of thing the facts are this. Fish&game sold out our wildlife years ago. I have read many theory's on why from simple "we might as well let the tribes do what they want as the courts wont supportus" to involved dealings using the wildlife in exchange for a better deal for the timber companies, Doesnt really matter now as it has been a done deal for 20 years anyway.Between the mollcoddiling from the state to the silly ignorant "if you dont want to give all there is to the poor indian your a racist" crowd. the fish and game has not a chance. That is state of things and it wont change. At least in the PC world of today in western washington. Wish I saw some hope but I have been here from the start and it has just gotten worse and worse. You give anyone of any group a free hand with no rules and any of them will be out jacklighting the herds till they are wiped out. Happened here in Darrington about 1990..took 2 years to destroy what were the best deer herds in WW. Not their fault our state government let them. Sorry boys it aint getting any better
Posted: Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Article comment by:
Joni
To further clarify the situation Boling and his two year old son watched the elk hunt and were going to assist the hunter in loading the elk for transport. Additionally these same lowland elk are hunted by the tribes in much the same manner as this elk was taken, however the tribes are allowed to annually kill many more elk from this herd.
Posted: Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Article comment by:
Nate
Andrew- YES, "Our resources". Tribes claim "Sovereign Nation" status, do they not? Whereas the Tribal Resource Officers were not on Tribal property and had No Authority to act in the manner in which they did,Assault With a Firearm and Unlawful Detainment Charges should be carefully considered against them by the Jefferson County Prosecutors Office.Those Hunters , lawfully hunting ,were faced with but 2 choices that day: Obey or Die.In the minimum , the Tribal Resource Officers need to be sent for some additional training, to include sensitivity training and be trained on who they may, and who they may not point Military Style guns at.
Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Article comment by:
Archie C Tweedie
Andrew go ahead and call me a racist too as I see nothing Ada said that has racist tones. She just stated the facts. Th two non native tribal game officers overstepped their authority and broke the law plain and simple and both they and the tribe need to admit their guilt and try and mend fences with the non indian population of the peninsula. After seeing rooting fish in the native gill nets at both the Dosi, Duck and almost every river on the Olympic Peninsula.
Over the years I and many other hunters have put in special draw permits for Elk out here on the Olympic Peninsula where it takes a lifetime to draw a Dickey Bull permit and then when do draw one and you go out to find a herd you've been keeping an eye on for months and you have and Indian tell when you find the herd oh you're wasting your time looking for that herd as they've killed all the bulls out of that herd. You don't get to much sympathy from the non Indians as we have to pay exorbitant prices for the privilege to hunt Elk in Hunting/Fishing Licenses Elk Tags and Fees just for the privilege of putting in for the draw of a special hunt tag and it takes ten or twelve years sometimes to just to draw a special hunt tag.
Posted: Sunday, November 01, 2009
Article comment by:
mike watkins
the officers should have the ability. to disarm and control the hunter in 5 minutes.two hours at gunpoint is abuse or incompetence even if his demeanor was bad which is unknown. the hunters will recoup a small part of the billions in foreign aid spent on these lil soverigns. i feel no guilt over the indian wars of the 19th century and am glad my school mates in the tribes have improved their condition over what it was in the 70's
Posted: Saturday, October 31, 2009
Article comment by:
Andrew
And another thing,
I suggest you take the time to sit in on Mr. Pierson's English class at PTHS sometime. There you'll have the opportunity to read Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror.
You'll get a chance to find out just how badly Native Americans got hosed by manifest destiny, and why they are in the dire circumstances they are in now.
Then maybe you'll learn to be a little bit more sensitive to those of us who are not Caucasian that are part of this community and area of WA state as well.
Posted: Saturday, October 31, 2009
Article comment by:
Andrew
In response to Ada -
I'm sorry, 'our' resources?
Last time I checked, NATIVE AMERICAS lived here first and were entitled to use the resources that were in place here for their people however they damn well please.
I am sidetracking from the issue at hand, but I cannot believe how blatantly racist and insensitive your comment is.
I'm no tree-huger, but I'm sure you're no saint either when it comes to the environment and resources that we all use.
So who do you think you are to pass judgment on others in such a derogatory way? Shame on you.
Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Article comment by:
Ada
Ok: To the people who don't understand. The two yr old was spending a day with his father, not actually hunting. Parent's take their 2 yr olds fishing with them, why not hunting. It's not like the kid was going to shoot the elk. Get a grip. Im married to an avid hunter and fisherman who works for Fish & Wildlife and we know first hand all the wonderfull things Tribal members get to do with our resources and it's not pretty. My two girls went hunting and fishing with their father all the time(yes even at 2yrs old) and they relish those memories, so BRAVO to the dad for spending time with his son.
For "the rest of the story" and full coverage of all Port Townsend and Jefferson County news, events and people, subscribe to our award-winning weekly newspaper.
