How the heck did he get caught?
Idaho Fish and Game officers discovered that two elk had been left to rot within 100 yards of another elk that had been gutted for the meat. Hoyt used broken tree branches to try and hide the elk he killed illegally.
During this incident, Hoyt also confessed to illegally killing another elk in 2001.
Because the carcasses were discovered. They know who is is hunting in which areas by the tags issued. Then they just go talk to all the tag holders. He probably confessed as soon as they showed up at his house to talk.
People with no hunting tags that are poaching for food are unlikely to kill multiple animals and then leave the carcasses behind.