Tennessee Man Found Guilty of Illegally Killing Two Elk

A poacher has been convicted of illegally killing two elk in Tennessee’s Cumberland Wildlife Management Area.

Preston William Douglas, 34, of Jacksboro, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to two counts of illegally taking big game.

According to a press release issued by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), Douglas’ hunting license has been revoked for five years, and he is banned from North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area for five years. He has been placed on supervised probation for three years, has forfeited two firearms, and was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution, as well as fines and court costs.

In November 2023, wildlife officials were told of a hunter who claimed to have shot one doe and one six-point buck in North Cumberland WMA when the limit was one per person. Officials investigated and identified Douglas through vehicle tag information. But he claimed he didn’t kill anything.

The TWRA press release states that wildlife officers returned to the location where the killings supposedly had occurred and discovered the carcasses of a bull and a cow elk with bullet wounds to the bodies and heads. They also discovered casings from a .40 caliber handgun and a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle, as well as a bullet inside a gut pile.

After the evidence was discovered, Douglas admitted to killing and not retrieving both elk. The officers confiscated a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle and a .40 caliber handgun from him.

Since the reintroduction of elk into Tennessee began in 2000, TWRA is aware of 14 cases where elk have been poached. So far, eight of those cases have been solved. Elk hunting in Tennessee is only legal for a limited number of participants through the annual quota hunt system.