CAMPBELL COUNTY, Tenn. — A Jacksboro man was charged for illegally shooting two elk in the Campbell County area in late November 2023, according to records from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Preston Douglass, 34, pleaded guilty in court on April 4, TWRA said.
In the plea agreement, Douglas appeared in Campbell County General Sessions Court and was found guilty on two counts of illegally taking big game. His license was revoked for five years, he has been banned from NCWMA for three years and was put on supervised probation for three years, the TWRA said.
Douglas also forfeited a rifle and a handgun and was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution plus fines and court costs, according to the TWRA.
Douglas was accused of shooting two elk in the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area on November 19, 2023. Wildlife Manager Darrell England received a report from another hunter who reached out about multiple gunshots near their location, the hunter then made contact with Douglass who said he had, "shot two "deer," one being a doe and the other a six-point buck."
The TWRA said the limit for deer on NCWMA at the time was one per person.
"Using vehicle tag information, England identified Douglas and he and Wildlife Sgt. Dustin Burke visited him at his home the following day where he admitted to firing shots, but claimed he didn't kill anything," TWRA said.
Officers then returned to NCWMA and searched the area where Douglas's vehicle had been parked while he was hunting. TWRA said the officers were unable to locate any evidence, but after searching the woods where the shots had been reported, found the "decomposing carcasses of a bull and a cow elk, both with bullet wounds to the bodies and heads."
TWRA said both of the carcasses were removed from the woods and taken to UT College of Veterinary Medicine for a forensics test.
"Further investigation over the following days produced shell casings from a .40 caliber handgun and a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle, as well as a bullet inside a gut pile. The officers also located one unspent rifle cartridge from a 6.5 Creedmoor," According to TWRA.
Officers then once again met with Douglas who confessed to hunting, killing and then not retrieving both of the elk, the TWRA said.
"He was charged with two violations each of hunting and killing big game in closed season, illegally taking big game, tagging violations, and failure to retrieve big game. The officers also seized a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle and a .40 caliber handgun," the TWRA said.
The TWRA also said in a release about the case that there have been 14 instances of Elk being poached since their reintroduction in 2000. Eight of those cases have been solved, with Elk hunting in Tennessee only being legal for a limited number of participants through the annual quota hunt system.
To legally hunt elk, hunters in Tennessee need to apply for an "elk quota permit," which effectively allows a hunter to bag a single elk from specific areas, including in NCWMA. Elk season is also relatively short in Tennessee, lasting from late September until mid-October in 2023.