Montana wildlife officials are investigating the poaching of three moose in the Antelope Basin area near West Yellowstone in what a game warden called "a deliberate criminal act."

Fish, Wildlife and Parks Warden Jim Smolcynski says a cow moose, her bull calf and a young adult bull moose were shot Monday or Tuesday just 50 yards from the road.

Smolcynski said the carcasses were left to rot and decried the shooting as nothing "but a deliberate criminal act."

State biologist Julie Cunningham says the deaths are a blow to the moose population, as well.

Anyone with information is urged to call Smolcynski at (406) 581-6231 or TIP MONT at (800) 847-6668.