10 Stories About Evel Knievel You Won't Believe
7. He Ran A Poaching Business
Following the birth of his first son, Kelly, Knievel realised that he needed to provide a stable income for his family so started his own hunting tours business called the ‘Sur(e)-Kill Guide Service’. These tours were initially successful, until local law enforcement realised that Knievel was, in fact, simply leading his clients into Yellowstone National Park to illegally poach protected elk.
Knievel moved onto a more lucrative hunting method when he heard that the US government was culling the elk in Yellowstone anyway. After receiving this news, he hitch-hiked to Washington DC to personally petition the Secretary of the Interior to move the elk to Montana so he could sell the opportunity to cull them himself
Shockingly, this strategy worked and the relocation of elk continues to this day. It is unknown whether this decision was at all influenced by Knievel’s, extremely conspicuous, gift of a 54-inch-wide rack of elk antlers which he carried for the entire duration of the 2000-mile journey.