Authorities say man killed cow before poaching nine deer in Cody area

POWELL — A young Michigan man who allegedly poached nine mule deer in Cody over the summer is now facing more legal trouble, as investigators say they’ve also tied him to the killing of a cow last year. 

Twenty-year-old Josh Wielhouwer was already facing 18 misdemeanor counts in connection with deer that were killed and left to waste in Cody in August and early September. 

Last week, prosecutors added a felony count of property destruction for a cow that was killed north of the city in 2023. Like the deer, the domestic animal was apparently slain with some kind of bow and arrow, charging documents say. 

Wielhouwer has been held in the Park County Detention Center since early September, unable to post a $36,000 cash bond. 

Following the new allegations, Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah upped that bail on Friday. He ruled that Wielhouwer must post a $7,500 cash or surety bond on top of the $36,000 if he wants to go free while the cases are pending. 

“I do take into account that the defendant had previously turned himself in, but now we have a felony charge,” Darrah said. “It’s a whole different ball game.” 

An unnatural death

The cow in question was found dead at a ranch on Rattlesnake Mountain on Sept. 13, 2023. Mooncrest Ranch personnel initially contacted the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, believing the animal might have been killed by predators, charging documents say. However, a responding game warden instead “found holes in the carcass that appeared to be from an arrowhead.” 

An affidavit submitted by Park County Sheriff’s Investigator Clayton Creel says the cow appeared to have been shot twice in the stomach; the animal made it about 300 yards before dying. 

A ranch employee estimated the cow was worth anywhere between $2,500 and $2,800, which is above the felony threshold of $1,000. 

The employee provided descriptions of the vehicles he’d seen along Monument Hill Road that day, but the case went cold until this summer’s killing spree in Cody. 

Dead deer in Cody

Starting on Aug. 27 and continuing through Sept. 3, eight deer — does, bucks and a fawn — turned up dead on the grounds of the Park County Complex and in the surrounding Cody neighborhoods. 

Game wardens gathered security footage from surrounding businesses and residences, and concluded that their suspect was driving a silver sedan and bow hunting at night. 

Then, while patrolling the area around the complex on the night of Sept. 4, game wardens Spencer Carstens and Grant Gerharter allegedly caught their man red-handed. In an affidavit, Carstens said they heard what sounded like an arrow being fired. They spotted a young man holding a compound bow and shining a light on the ground near the carcass of another dead mule deer doe. 

The man escaped, but parked nearby, the wardens found the silver sedan they’d spotted on the surveillance footage; inside, they spotted an arrow that matched one found near one of the dead deer. 

Meanwhile, Carstens was told by the vehicle’s owner that Wielhouwer had been driving it, and the owner’s description of Wielhouwer matched the young man the wardens caught sight of at the complex.