Roping and riding a terrorized cow moose on one occasion and then roping and dragging the moose on another gave cowboys on a Uinta County ranch enough of a thrill to capture the event on video in 2021.
Now those videos are being used to justify a criminal summons to bring the trio to Evanston Circuit Court to face charges that include a felony violation for cruelty to animals.
Justin Martin, 53, of Evanston, the registered agent for M Arrow Ranch, Range H. Martin of Evanston and Kylan W. Platt of Malad City, Idaho, have all been ordered to appear on Jan. 15, 2026, to face charges.
Justin Martin is charged with two counts of accessory before the fact to felony cruelty to animals, and two counts of accessory before or after the fact to wanton taking of a big game animal, a cow moose.
Range Martin and Platt are both charged with felony cruelty to animals, wanton taking of big game animal and possession permit required for live warm-blooded wildlife.
A criminal summons was signed for each defendant on Dec. 4 by Evanston Circuit Court Judge Michael L. Greer.
An affidavit filed by Wyoming Game and Fish Department Officer Heather Sterling states that on July 7, 2022, during the course of a separate investigation a search warrant for Justin Martin’s telephone was signed by Greer.
Moose In ‘Poor Health’
A Sheridan wildlife investigator found videos on the telephone that showed an individual “riding and spurring a cow moose that appeared to be in poor health.”
Among the images are a video on May 4, 2021, that shows the moose with a lariat around her neck standing in tall sagebrush trying to escape Kylan Platt who is wearing blue jeans, chaps, cowboy boots with spurs, a gray shirt, cowboy hat and tan leather gloves.
The moose is trying to escape the lariat, Sterling wrote.
“Kylan Platt is seen standing on the bed of a red Honda off-road vehicle holding the lariat as the moose continues to struggle,” she wrote. “The unidentified male videotaping the incident is later identified as Justin Martin from the metadata retrieved from his cell phone and other persons.”
The moose stood with her head down and ears lowered and “unsteadily” stepped side to side trying to escape from Platt, the affidavit states. The moose tried not to tip over.
Another May 4, 2021 video with a time stamp of 3:33 p.m., showed Platt kneeling on the moose and adjusting the lariat. Sterling’s affidavit states the video shows the moose is likely blind in her right eye and in poor health. Platt also has the front leg of the moose pulled inward toward its body on the ground.
The affidavit states that yet another video shows Platt on top of the moose and aggressively spurring it as Justin Martin cheers him on.
‘Spur On Him’
“Spur on him. Spur him some more, to the fronts, that a kid,” Martin is quoted in the affidavit. Martin then is heard saying that he’s going to take his rope off his hind leg and that “he’s just barely getting broke to ride, don’t choke him.”
Screenshots of the video depicting Platt spurring the moose were saved on Justin Martin’s phone.
The affidavit states that Justin Martin texted a video of it, and a man replied that the moose looks “like he was ran down a little. … Not many kids can say they have rode a moose.”
According to the affidavit, Range Martin is seen on a video extracted from Justin Martin’s telephone with a creation date of May 24, 2021, that lasts 28 seconds.
The video shows the same cow moose standing in chest-high sagebrush with an unknown youth and Range Martin wearing cowboy attire and a pink-colored bandana.
Range Martin is shown riding a beige horse out of sagebrush with a lariat rope taut and attached to the cow moose’s neck. The moose tries to resist the lariat, but Range Martin rides his horse forward and pulls the moose down.
The young rider is seen moving his lariat to possibly prepare to throw it at the moose, the affidavit states.
“The moose lays on the ground, on her side, her legs are raised in the air as she flounders, finally struggling to her feet,” Sterling wrote.
The moose continued to fight Range Martin’s efforts, trying to escape as Justin Martin is heard saying: “I don’t think ol’ Roany likes that son of a gun too much.”
Dragging The Moose
Another video shows Range Martin dragging the cow moose through the sagebrush, the affidavit states.
On Aug. 3, 2023, Sterling obtained a search warrant for two parcels on the 4,796-acre M Arrow Ranch in Uinta County.
“During the execution of the search warrant, the location of Kylan Platt riding and spurring a moose on May 4, 2021, and Range Martin roping and dragging a moose through sagebrush on May 24, 2021, were located on M Arrow Ranch, in Uinta County,” Sterling wrote in the affidavit dated Nov. 21, 2025.
The accessory before the fact to felony cruelty to animals' charges carry a maximum of two years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine. The accessory before or after the fact to wanton taking of a big game animal, a cow moose, charges carry a potential sentence of one year in jail and up to a $10,000 fine.
The felony cruelty to animals' charges also carry potential penalties of two years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000 while the wanton taking of big game animal, a cow moose, carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $10,000 fine.
The charge of possession permit required for live warm-blooded wildlife, a cow moose, carries a potential penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
