'Celebrity' Elk Poached On Protected Tahlequah Land

Oklahoma game wardens are hunting a poacher after a beloved 8.5-year-old elk was killed and decapitated on protected land.

The elk at the J.T. Nickel preserve are typically elusive, staying hidden away in timber, but the elk that was killed wasn't like that - he liked open spaces and he like people.

He's the bull elk known by most everyone who has ever visited the J.T. Nickel Preserve, according to manager Jeremy Tubbs.

“He's been around for a while,” he said. “This elk was born on the preserve…He was a local celebrity to me.”

Tubbs saw the elk almost every day – always on the same corner.

“It wasn't uncommon to drive by and he might just be laying off the side of the road, 30 feet, sunning,” he said.

Unlike the other 50 or so wild elk in the herd, people didn't scare this one. His accessibility and trust made him famous around these parts.

Visitors always stopped for pictures or videos, which is why Tubbs called him Hollywood.

“He would just hang out and let you take as many photos as you wanted,” Tubbs said.

Hollywood wasn't trained to be tamed, it was just his character. He was the one animal Tubbs could count on when a visitor came through hoping to see an elk in the wild.

“He was kind of like my go-to elk,” he said.

It's illegal to hunt on the preserve’s 17,000 acres, but because there aren’t any high fences, the elk do sometimes wander off the property and onto private land where hunting is legal.

“We do lose elk, it's the fact that it was this elk and how many people was familiar with this elk and actually being on the preserve where it's prohibited,” Tubbs said.

Hollywood didn't roam much, so he was safe from hunters, but not from poachers.

“It's sad to know he's not here anymore,” Tubbs said.

Over the weekend, Hollywood's body was found on his corner. He'd been shot with a crossbow, then a rifle. His head had been cut off and only a very small portion of meat taken.

Tubbs said, “It's unethical, and it's disrespectful to the animal and disrespectful to the hunting community.”

But more than anything, Tubbs said it's a hit to the people who loved Hollywood - those who saw him as much more than a pair of antlers.

“I'm gonna miss seeing him out here. And I'm gonna miss being able to direct people up here to see him,” Tubbs said.

There is a $4,000 reward being offered for any information that leads to the conviction of the person or persons who killed Hollywood.

You can make an anonymous report by calling Operation Game Thief at 1-800-522-8039.