Elizabeth Township man charged in Colorado after allegedly mistaking fellow hunter for elk

An Elizabeth Township man is charged with criminally negligent homicide in Colorado after he allegedly shot and killed another man his mistook for an elk while hunting last week.

Ronald Morosko, 67, was hunting Friday in the San Juan National Forest in Dolores County when he allegedly shot 31-year-old Gregory Gabrish, according to the Dolores County Sheriff’s Office.

Gabrish, of Houston, Texas, was bow hunting, authorities said. Morosko was hunting with a firearm.

The Durango Herald, citing the arrest affidavit, reported that Morosko and another person from Pennsylvania were black-powder rifle hunting near Rico, a town within the San Juan National Forest and about 55 miles from the Utah border.

The Herald reported that Morosko’s hunting partner was using an elk call to lure elk into the area where they were hunting with .50-caliber black powder. He told authorities several elk answered the call, and Morosko set up in a tree area to wait for the elk to come into view.

“When (Morosko) saw white in the pines, he took a shot at what he thought was an elk,” Sheriff Don Wilson wrote in the in complaint, the newspaper reported.

Authorities indicated that both rifle hunters wore blaze orange. Bow hunters are not required to wear such fluorescent orange during bow hunting season, according to the Herald.

Seth O’Donovan, a member of the West Fork Volunteer Fire Department in Dolores County, responded to the scene. He told Fox31 the area where the shooting happened sees an influx of hunting traffic at this time of year.

“It’s the time of hunting season where bow season and muzzle season overlap,” he told the TV station.

O’Donovan said search parties spent 10 hours searching for Gabrish, who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Fox31.

“Our wilderness area is really expansive,” he said.

Morosko was arrested and taken to the Montezuma County Detention Center on Friday, the Durango Herald reported, and he was released Saturday.

He could not immediately be reached for comment.