it sounds to me, that he saw a wounded elk wandering around during a drive, and decided to get rid of its misery per say, and dropped it.. and got caught...

what if when he saw it, and when he shot it, it was facing broadside, and the arrow was on the other side? he would never have seen it being previously wounded...the WDFW nor any judge would say otherwise, common sense rules that aspect..

animals also dont last long with arrows in them... after a week, if they make it, they wont be trotting around in the woods like nothing happened...

your buddy messed up and got nailed... sorry he lost his rights, but thats the rules of the game if you do stupid things...