Rammell loses Supreme Court appeal
The Idaho Supreme Court upheld the legality of then-Gov. Jim Risch’s shoot-to-kill order in 2006 after a herd of domestic elk escaped from an eastern Idaho hunting farm.
Friday’s unanimous decision likely marks the end of former elk rancher Rex Rammell’s legal fight.
He had challenged the state’s right to shoot a person’s private property – in this case, dozens of trophy bull elk that Rammell had been saving for paying hunters, before they bolted through a fence.
Justices unanimously found the state was legally authorized to take Rammell’s escaped elk without liability.
Rammell unsuccessfully sought to capitalize on the furor in the case to launch a political career.
He lost his 2008 run against Risch for U.S. Senate, as well as a subsequent run to be Idaho’s governor.
