On The Jeff King Trial

On The Jeff King Trial
Aug 23rd 2008
wolfmoonsleddog
Midwest
Location: Finland, MN
Time - 8:35am
Temperature: 59 degrees F
Conditions: Mostly cloudy, windy
Forecast: Partly sunny today, highs in the 60s, lows in the 40s. Sunny tomorrow, highs in the 60s, lows in the 30s


Jeff King runs out of his dogyard with a young team hooked to an ATV. August 2007

Well, a lot of you have probably heard that 4-time Iditarod champion, Jeff King, has been on trial for allegedly shooting a moose within the borders of Denali National Park. I’m not going to repost all the details here - you can follow the link to read about it if you don’t already know. I’m writing MY thoughts on the case.

I know some people don’t like Jeff King at all. I’ve written before on mushers vs. mushers and I’m not going to go into that again either. I don’t know exactly what happened because I was not there when the moose was shot but I have trouble believing that he knowingly shot a moose on National Park land. I met Jeff about a year ago at his Husky Homestead kennel and had a very enjoyable time. He is a very nice guy and can be hysterically funny.

I hope that it is a fair trial and that Jeff is treated as any other person would be. It’s too bad that it’s gotten to be “oh my gosh, they’re trying JEFF KING!!!” The fact that he is Jeff King is really quite irrelevent and the fact that he is a musher at all, much less a 4-time Iditarod champion, has very little to do with the case. It would be nice if they didn’t know who he was. Unfortunately it’s kind of hard to ignore that fact. So, like I said - I hope that Jeff is tried as anyone would be and that anyone else would be treated the same as Jeff.

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6 Responses to “On The Jeff King Trial”
David Lukosik on 23 Aug 2008 at 8:05 pm # edit this

Hi Alice, I have been following the Jeff King/Moose case on the adn.com website along with all the bear attacks in Anchorage this Summer. I think Jeff and the Moose were at the wrong place at the wrong time! Denali Nat Park is so big and there are few fences to seperate it from the surrounding land. I don’t know if a GPS would have helped. Jeff will learn something from all this mess, give Park land a wide berth when you go hunting! Hopefully he will come out of this with a fine and suspended sentence. Don’t know, I’m not a lawyer, but hopefully he has a good one to represent him. Looks like the weather is getting cooler where you are now. Tropical Storm Fay is flooding Florida and hopefully the reminants will bring some needed rain to Georgia and North Carolina. Did you read about the BigFoot hoax in Northern Georgia? Happy trails and best wishes to Jeff King! Dave and the fur kids

wolfmoonsleddog on 25 Aug 2008 at 7:19 am # edit this

I have heard nothing new on the case…

My parents tell me they are feeling some of the effects of Fay, although obviously not as much as Florida.

We did hear about the Bigfoot hoax, even here in Minnesota. It’s provided us with a lot of funny conversation. Apparently there were two people involved and three stories. That has to be some kind of record!

Alice

Loon on 26 Aug 2008 at 11:16 am # edit this

I only know Jeff King from watching and reading about him, but it seems to me that a couple of things are clear:

He was obviously too close to the boundary, he had to have known that. However, there is a condition known as “buck fever” in which a hunter gets crazy over his prey. I’m sure it’s the same thing with a moose.

The ranger was definitely over-zealous. He had “caught” a celebrity and was determined to bring him to court.

Jeff’s livelihood is indeed tied to his reputation, and he did what I think he had to - attempt to be exonerated in a public court. Otherwise, he could have paid the fine and hoped it went away, but in today’s society, these things take on a life of their own and become a scandal. Imagine the uproar if it came out in March that he had been charged with a crime in the summer?

Anyway, I hope that the charges are dropped and the negative attention on a champion musher will fade away.

wolfmoonsleddog on 27 Aug 2008 at 6:42 pm # edit this

Thanks for your thoughts, Loon. Always interested in what others have to say. I am sure that in this, as with any other issue, nothing is black and white.

Loon on 28 Aug 2008 at 9:26 am # edit this

So true!

PS: I am a “wannabe musher” from Iowa. Discovered your Dog & Sled magazine through Mushing Magazine. Very cool! I started my mushing blog because my family and friends were sick of hearing me talk about it all the time. Welcome to the Midwest. Hope you get lots of snow this winter.

wolfmoonsleddog on 31 Aug 2008 at 8:38 am # edit this

Thanks! I’m glad you enjoy “Dog & Sled” - I really enjoy writing it.

I know how it can be with people getting tired of endless sled dog chatter…LOL. My family is pretty used to it by now.

Cool blog, by the way!