The ownership of and title to all wildlife within this state is in the state for the purpose of regulating the enjoyment, use, possession, disposition, and conservation thereof, and for maintaining action for damages as herein provided. Any person catching, killing, taking, trapping, or possessing any wildlife protected by law at any time or in any manner is deemed to have consented that the title thereto remains in this state for the purpose of regulating the taking, use, possession, and disposition thereof. The state, through the office of attorney general, may institute and maintain any action for damages against any person who unlawfully causes, or has caused within this state, the death, destruction, or injury of wildlife, except as may be authorized by law. The state has a property interest in all protected wildlife. This interest supports a civil action for damages for the unlawful destruction of wildlife by willful or grossly    negligent act or omission. The director shall adopt by rule a schedule of monetary values of various species of wildlife, the values to represent the replacement costs of the wildlife and the value lost to the state due to the destruction or injury of the species, together with other material elements of value. In any action brought under this section, the schedule constitutes the measure of recovery for the wildlife killed or destroyed. Notwithstanding the director’s schedule of monetary values, an individual who unlawfully takes a bighorn sheep, elk, or moose is subject to a civil penalty for the replacement value of the animal of five thousand dollars for a bighorn sheep, three thousand dollars for an elk, and two thousand dollars for a moose. For a male bighorn sheep, elk, or moose over two and one-half years of age, the civil penalty for the replacement value of the animal is an additional fifty percent of the penalty. The funds recovered must be deposited in the general fund, and devoted to the propagation and protection of desirable species of wildlife.