A Cody bowhunter freely acknowledged to authorities that he took only the head of a bull elk that he killed in the Sunlight area last fall.

But Ron Niziolek said he had good reason to leave the meat in the field: The veteran hunter and his companions were certain a grizzly bear had been feeding on the elk’s carcass — and they believed the predator had spoiled the meat and might return at any time.

Niziolek’s explanation did not dissuade a game warden, who issued Niziolek two citations related to wasting meat, or the Park County Attorney’s Office, which took the case to trial late last month. However, it did persuade a jury of his peers.

Following roughly a day of testimony and argument, the six-member panel cleared Niziolek of the misdemeanor charges, unanimously finding him not guilty.

His defense attorney, Sarah Miles, said Niziolek was steadfast in his belief “that he had done what Game and Fish had instructed him and his hunting party to do in prior situations just like this.”

Miles added that her client “was honest and cooperative with Game and Fish wardens and that left him sitting before a jury of his peers.”

Niziolek has been bowhunting for four decades and he told jurors that he takes pride in being an ethical hunter.

“[I] never thought it would come to this,” he said during the Aug. 27-28 trial, adding, “Never in a million years.”

Investigating a headless elk

For the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the case began with a tip in late September 2025. A hunter who’d been tracking a big elk told Powell/Sunlight Game Warden Jordan Winter that he’d found the animal’s headless carcass on Sept. 21, 2025, above the Switchback Ranch.

Winter visited the scene on Oct. 1, but the investigation didn’t get rolling until he happened to flip through one of Bowhunters of Wyoming’s quarterly magazines. On a page that featured photos of members’ successful hunts, Winter spotted Niziolek posing with the dead elk.

The warden then interviewed Niziolek, who immediately confirmed that he’d killed the big game.

Niziolek shared that on the evening of Sept. 19, 2025, he’d shot the bull with an arrow from 50 or 60 yards away. He and his hunting companion Adam Miles — who is a manager at the Switchback Ranch and Sarah Miles’s brother — watched the wounded, bedded-down animal until it was dark, then went back to the ranch. They and Adam’s wife Mary returned to the spot the following morning with packs and knives, expecting to cut up and pack out the elk meat. But Mary Miles said they immediately noticed that “the entire midsection was gone and eaten out.” 

Further, right next to the carcass “there was a fresh pile of poop that was, from our experience, looked like grizzly poop,” she testified.

The group then made the decision to leave the meat there. Niziolek testified it was disappointing, as he generally lives off game meat.

However, Mary Miles said she was advised by Winter’s predecessor to leave behind the meat of an elk she killed in 2016, after a grizzly got on the carcass.

“I was told by the Game and Fish game warden that once a bear bites into an elk … — and they urinate and sometimes defecate on the carcasses as well to claim it — ... the risk of disease is so high, you don’t want to take any of the meat,” she testified.

In addition, the group was concerned about the risk of the bear returning.

“Do you spend the extra time and try to remove all the quarters that are most likely contaminated?” Mary Miles said of the dilemma. “Or do you try to do what you can and get out so you’re reducing the risk of a conflict with a bear?”

The group took the elk’s head — Niziolek would later show Winter the European-style mount — and left the rest.

The trio spent about 40 minutes at the scene, judging by the photos they took, and Niziolek estimated that field dressing the elk would have taken more like 90 minutes. 

A different take

As for Winter, he had a different perspective on the situation. He said the only time he’s told someone they can leave meat behind is when there’s a wolf or grizzly bear actually on the carcass.

“I will never tell anybody that they have to fight a bear to retrieve their animal,” Winter said. “Now, when they go there and there’s no bear there, they are required to retrieve the edible portions — the front shoulders, the back straps, the tenderloins, the hindquarters — because that’s what the law states.”

Whether meat has gone sour, gotten dirty, been infiltrated by bugs, soaked in stomach bile or suspected to be contaminated with chronic wasting disease, “the standard is, they have to retrieve it from the field,” Winter said. Then, once a hunter has retrieved the meat, they can decide what to do with it, he said.

Warden Winter also questioned if a grizzly had actually been on the carcass. Bears typically begin feeding in the groin area, but based on Niziolek’s photo, Winter said it looked like the wound was in the rib cage or chest; he said he didn’t know of any predators that would enter through that area.

However, presiding Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah barred the warden from offering an expert opinion about whether the damage was from a grizzly. Additionally, the judge barred the prosecution from referencing an interview that Winter conducted with Adam and Mary Miles, as the Game and Fish failed to provide a copy of the recording to the county attorney’s office — and, in turn, the defense — until two days before the trial.

Debating the law

Ultimately, the trial hinged on whether Niziolek broke the law by abandoning the meat.

Wyoming State Statute bars hunters from leaving, abandoning or allowing any edible portions of a big game animal “to intentionally or needlessly go to waste.” The law also prohibits people from keeping any parts of an animal that has been wasted, which is why Niziolek received a second citation for taking the mount.

“It doesn’t really matter if it was a grizzly bear or not,” Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Eichele told the jury, adding, “What if it was a bird? What if somebody was afraid of bird flu? What if it was a weasel or a skunk? ‘I don't want to get rabies.’ What if it was a fox or a coyote [with] canine distemper, a wolf, a black bear, a grizzly bear?”

In any of those cases, he said an individual isn’t allowed to choose whether to take the harvested animal’s meat.

“It’s clear in the law that the Legislature debated and passed and has been enacted for a long time,” Eichele said, “all edible portions must be retrieved.”

However, defense attorney Sarah Miles countered that the case involved “shades of gray, like many situations in life.” She specifically emphasized that the law prevents hunters from intentionally and needlessly wasting meat.

“Does this elk look to you like it intentionally and needlessly went to waste?” she said, pointing to a photo of the open elk. Sarah Miles added that, “After listening to everything you heard here [during the trial], would you have taken that meat home and fed it to your family?”

Jurors returned a not guilty verdict after roughly an hour of deliberations

Niziolek had testified that he always seeks to comply with the Game and Fish’s regulations and believes he did.

He added that, “I believe there’s nowhere near enough information provided, especially with the amount of grizzly bear activity around and the amount of hunters.”

Niziolek is both an accomplished and prominent bowhunter: In an unwitting coincidence, the Powell Tribune featured Niziolek in its annual “Sportsman’s Guide” the same day his trial began.