Photo credit: Juan Puente Jr./Idaho Statesman
It would never have been sporting to shoot the Rock Creek Monster. The people of Twin Falls, Idaho, named the heavy-massed mule deer that for his antlers and the river that ran nearby, but the “monster” was so gentle it would come up to residents’ apple trees to feed. People could look out of their windows and see him grazing along the Rock Creek River with a small herd of other mule deer. He was semi-wild at best, which means he was completely tame to true sportsmen. Rack or no rack, he couldn’t be considered an ethical trophy.
That didn’t deter alleged poacher Jacob Pool, 33, from taking a shot. According to the Idaho Statesman, Pool is suspected of shooting RCM and has been officially charged with felony killing or wasting a trophy mule deer during a closed season, concealing evidence, and hunting big game with an unlawful weapon.
An under-powered weapon at that. Pool allegedly told authorities he shot the buck with his daughter’s .22 rifle for meat.
“I saw the big one and [expletive] shot him,” he told detectives, according to the Twin Falls Times-News, which reviewed the investigation report. “I’ve never seen a deer that big.”
After he took a portion of the meat, Pool allegedly cut the rest of the deer up—including the antlers—and put it in dufflebags weighed down with dumbbells. Then he chucked them into the Snake River.
Officials aren’t entirely sure it’s RCM, but from the description it seems likely. Only a leg was recovered from the river where Pool told authorities he threw the body.
“Everything we hear makes us think it probably is, but we always err on the side of caution,” Conservation Officer Jim Stirling said in a telephone interview, according to the Statesman. “That big buck featured in the papers was basically a community member.”
Pool reportedly apologized to officials after detailing the crime.
“You guys, I’m [expletive] sorry, man,” Pool told investigators, according to the Times-News. “I feel like I robbed the community of that deer.”
“People watched that buck grow,” Forest Anderson said.
Anderson is the manager of Washington Street Pawn Shop; he donated nearly half of a $2,800 reward for information leading to an arrest in the RCM case, according the Statesman.
“You could walk out the back door of the taco shop and just see him there at the river in all his glory,” Anderson said.
Pool is scheduled to appear for trial August 3.
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