COEUR d’ALENE — Two men are facing felony charges after a witness discovered them gutting a bull moose they had allegedly poached.

Tommy G. Brunett, 76, and Donnie D. Murphy, 54, are each charged with unlawful killing, possessing or wasting of a wild animal and concealment of evidence, all felonies. 

The charges stem from Nov. 26, 2025, when a forester reported to the Idaho Fish and Game that he had come across Brunett and Murphy “gutting a moose they claimed to have shot in Washington” on Inland Empire Paper Company land near Twin Lakes, according to court records. 

Fish and Game officers responded to the area the same day and encountered Murphy “on an ATV, pulling a sled with half a moose in it,” which “smelled awful and was covered in rumen.” 

When the officers questioned Murphy, he allegedly said that Brunett had shot the moose Nov. 25 on the Washington side of Mount Spokane. Murphy said the pair used a game cart to drag the moose for approximately 3 miles before leaving it for the night, according to court records, and returned the next day. 

Upon finding Brunett and the other half of the moose, Brunett allegedly told the officers he had killed the moose in Washington and had a Washington moose tag. 

He showed a photo of himself sitting on the bull moose, which an officer noted: “appeared to be in a recent clear cut.” 

“The area we were standing in was recently logged and known as a clear cut, but on the Washington side of the mountain, it was mostly standing timber,” the officer wrote in a report. 

According to court records, Brunett soon admitted to killing the moose in the clear cut and showed the officers a spot about 200 meters away, where he said he shot the moose. 

Brunett allegedly told officers that he and Murphy were riding their ATVs when they saw the moose about 20 yards off the Inland Empire Paper Company. He said he shot the moose, which “ran about 20 yards and died.” 

Brunett said he didn’t realize he was still in Idaho until the forester told him so, according to court records.

After shooting the moose, Brunett and Murphy allegedly removed the stomach but left the vital organs inside the moose, then removed the head and hid it in the brush near the body, according to court records. They returned the next day, finished gutting the moose and then cut it in half for transport. 

The moose “was emitting an extremely foul odor” and was turning green, according to court records. A local butcher later examined the moose and told officers the meat was inedible. 

Prosecutors filed charges in the case in December, and a judge issued $35,000 arrest warrants for Brunett and Murphy. 

Brunett was arrested in January and posted bail. Murphy was arrested Thursday and remained in the Kootenai County jail as of Monday afternoon.