Steven Samuelson, 33, of Oakley, Kan., guilty of poaching in Colorado

After almost two years Colorado Parks and Wildlife investigation, a Kansas man has pleaded guilty to poaching a bull moose he illegally killed and left to rot in Teller County.

On July 10, 33-year-old Steven Samuelson of Oakley, Kan Teller County District Court to the willful destruction of wildlife, a felony, as well as felony charges of hunting without a proper and valid big game permit, aggravated illegal possession of wildlife, failure to prepare wildlife for human consumption, careless hunting and illegal capture of wildlife, according to a press release from CPW.

Samuelson, who was fined approximately $20,000, received a two-year suspended sentence on the misdemeanor charge. It will be waived if he meets the terms of the plea deal and up to two years of unsupervised probation. He handed over the bow he used to poach the moose, as well as other property containing evidence of the crime, including his cell phone.

“As the agency responsible for conserving the state’s wildlife, Colorado Parks and Wildlife does not tolerate poaching,” Tim Kroening, CPW Area Wildlife Manager for the Pikes Peak region, said in the release. “Our officers are determined to stop people like Mr. Samuelson who think they can just kill any animal they want. I want to be clear: Mr. Samuelson was not a hunter. He’s a poacher.”

Samuelson was awarded 65 points on his hunting license, only 20 of which were needed to suspend hunting privileges.

The investigation began in September 2021 when CPW’s Colorado Springs office received a report that someone illegally shot a bull moose with an arrow in the woods north of Divide.