City Hall is investigating whether a hunter shot and killed an elk on municipal open space in Round Valley in late December, a case that attracted the attention of Mayor Dana Williams Thursday night.

The killing of the animal had not been publicized prior to brief comments by the mayor at a Park City Council meeting. Williams indicated the shooting of the elk was not acceptable. The comment appeared to be made with the assumption that the elk was killed on the municipal open space. He indicated that the open space in Round Valley must continue to remain available to anyone.

City Hall prohibits hunting on municipal property. Firing a weapon within the city limits is unlawful as well. The municipality owns 1,700 acres of sprawling open space in Round Valley, stretching from the edge of Park Meadows toward U.S. 40. The area is popular with snowshoers and cross-country skiers in the winter and hikers and bicyclists in the summer and fall.

There are ‘No Hunting’ signs posted at trailheads leading into Round Valley. The Park City Police Department, though, occasionally receives reports of hunters being spotted there. Elk, deer and moose are plentiful in the open spaces that surround Park City.

Heinrich Deters, who manages trails and open space projects for City Hall, said a hiker contacted the Police Department at 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 31 with a report that a hunter might have been in Round Valley.

According to Deters, a police officer who responded found the hunters parked on U.S. 40. The police continued the investigation into this week. Deters said the police on Thursday found the spot where the elk is believed to have been killed. He said City Hall is determining whether the location is on municipal property. It was also not clear by the end of the week whether the site is within the Park City limits. Some City Hall-owned open space is not within the municipal boundaries.

Kerry Gaines, a City Hall prosecutor, said Friday she is waiting for the determination to be made before the Summit County Attorney’s Office is asked to screen the case for charges.

Elk-hunting season opened in December and runs until the end of January. A state Division of Wildlife Resources official whose district includes the Park City area said Friday morning he had not been told of the incident.

Charlie Sturgis, the executive director of Mountain Trails Foundation, a not-for-profit organization heavily involved in Round Valley, said scant snowfall this winter has allowed bicyclists and runners to continue using the trails. There is not enough snow, he said, for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. Sturgis said hunting poses great danger to the people who use Round Valley for recreation purposes.

“We have so many users, two-legged users,” Sturgis said, adding, “It’s all runners, hikers, cyclists.”