Posted on 06/28/2022 4:41:46 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Oregon hunters are offering a $500 reward for information on a poacher who shot a deer and left it dead in a Reedsport boat launch parking lot at about 3 a.m. on Friday, June 17.
The report must lead to an arrest or citation and the reporting party could opt instead for four hunter preference points from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Oregon State Police Fish & Wildlife troopers responded to the Rainbow Plaza boat launch around 4:30 a.m. that day in response to information that a deer had been shot in the parking lot. The investigation revealed the animal, a young buck deer, had been shot on-site with a handgun at about 3 a.m. Troopers have several photos of a person of interest and would like the public’s assistance in tracking him down.
The crime occurred during a busy weekend, with many out-of-town visitors attending a chainsaw carving contest and a rock and gem show in Reedsport. Several people were camped near the boat launch area in campers and trailers.
This is a dangerous combination, according to Duane Dungannon, Oregon Hunters Association State Coordinator and publisher of Oregon Hunter magazine. “This is another disgusting thrill kill of a type that seems to be increasing lately.”
“Mindless poaching and wasting by mindless individuals. The fact that this one took place at a public boat launch is even more disturbing,” added Dungannon.
State Police are seeking public assistance identifying the subject who is suspected to have shot a young buck and left it to waste near the Reedsport boat ramp.
OHA manages the Turn In Poachers (TIP) reward program, which offers cash incentives for poaching cases involving game animals, fish and habitat destruction across the state. A preference point option through ODFW complements the cash reward program, and both have led to an increase in reporting poaching crimes to authorities. A new non-game reward program through the Oregon Wildlife Coalition (OWC) offers cash incentives for reports of people illegally killing birds and other non-game wildlife.
In 2021, OHA awarded $10,900 and ODFW awarded 178 hunter preference points. Reward programs support public input into solving poaching crimes, according to OHA President, Steve Hagan.
“OSP has done their part in capturing visual evidence that can assist in identifying the perpetrator of this heinous crime,” Hagan said. “Please do the right thing and identify the perpetrator so that they are held accountable. This buck and perhaps future generations of deer have been stolen from the citizens of Oregon.”
It is that theft of natural resources that motivates OHA members across the state to support reward programs like the TIP Line. Members of the public who report poaching can remain anonymous, according to ODFW Stop Poaching Campaign Coordinator, Yvonne Shaw.
“Anonymity is important to encourage reporting,” she said. “Poachers steal natural resources from all Oregonians and it’s up to us as members of the public to assist law enforcement in solving these crimes if we want to reduce that impact.”
Dungannon is also eager to see the case solved. “I look forward to signing that $500 check,” he said.
Reedsport Police Department and Reedsport Public Works are assisting with the investigation. Anyone with information about this case can call the Oregon State Police Tip-line at 1-800-452-7888, *OSP (*677), or email at TIP@osp.oregon.gov. Please, reference case number SP22-147967.
The Stop Poaching Campaign educates the public on how to recognize and report poaching. This campaign is a collaboration among state agencies, sportsmen and other conservationists, landowners, and recreationists to engage the public in combatting Oregon’s poaching problem.
Our goal is to: Incentivize reporting on wildlife crimes through the TIP Line; Strengthen enforcement by increasing the number of OSP Fish and Wildlife Troopers; and Support prosecution in becoming an effective deterrent. The campaign helps to protect and enhance Oregon’s fish and wildlife and their habitat for the enjoyment of present and future generations. Contact campaign coordinator Yvonne Shaw for more information. Yvonne.L.Shaw@odfw.oregon.gov.
Might be some guy who had one of those stinking Rocky Mountain Rats jump out and ruin his car.
Or some drunk
The woman landscape person who takes care of the house next door had a deer run out on a country road and smashed right into the right side of her brand new Tundra. The damn thing put a bad dent into a cab sheet metal corner right in front of the bed. The metal in those corners is real strong and it was a big dent. Somehow the beast managed to also dent the bed sheet metal further back just above the wheel wheel.
She didn’t run into it. It ran into her. Then it took off into the woods. Just amazing it didn’t break its neck on that impact.
Might have been an elk. Those can cause serious damage.
Possible, and there are a lot of elk here in North Idaho, but she knows her wildlife. But maybe she didn’t see it smack her truck on the right side at dusk. I saw the dents - wow!
Unusual for a deer to be killed with a handgun in a public use area.
Second story I’ve seen where they mention poaching but the animal is not taken. The animal is killed, probably illegally, but it wasn’t poached.
I think it may be working for the local body shop.
Especially when they are drunk after the Lodge Christmas party.
The fines are not nearly high enough.
I thought initially you were referring to the animal in Reedsport—whcih is about 45 minutes away from Elkton and about ten minutes away from the favourite grazing ground of a huge elk heard that caused so may accidents from rubbernecking tourists that many viewing sites were put in.
Deer are bad, but you are most definitely right that Elk are worse, and don’t get me started on Moose.
Dad went to high school a couple blocks away, but he is in Ohio now and I’m pretty sure both that all my poaching inclined relatives are either dead or out of area, and everyone in my family would not think of poaching without eating.
Oregon has definitely changed for the worse.
“Oregon has definitely changed for the worse.”
Yes it has.
It’ll take a decade or two to “right the ship.”
Maybe longer without a huge war or deflationary economic event.
There was a sizable elk population on the CB water board’s Pony Creek watershed. They spilled over into town, and made a habit of crossing Ocean Blvd. not far from Mingus Park. They also crossed the highway in the Barview area (near Pigeon Point) to swim across the bay to the North Spit. Some were trapped and sent to the Great Smoky Mountains. A friend saw a few clopping down the road by St. Monica’s, toward Telegraph Hill.
Some bad fentanyl...as opposed to the good fentanyl...going around the Bay Area the last couple of weeks.
The failing to eat the poached animal screams “Californian” to me.
That reminds me of a the you will find below from a post earlier today debating whether or not it is necessary for conservatives to join the military to get the necessary training to rebel.
It’s a hoot. And I have little doubt that the comedian would be appreciated in the Greenacres I grew up in once he was known a little.
“Apparently, you forgot something. Apparently, you forgot this is the United States of America. The most powerful country on this planet. It’s not because we have more money, or we’re better looking. No! It’s because we have something in this country they don’t have in other countries.”
Start at 3:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpSg8PfPQlU
A friend years ago got the tailgate on his F150 seriously bsshed up by a poed Moose. There was a foot of snow on the dirt road and he couldnt drive fast enough to get away from one seriously angry moose.
Probably going fishing. I’m not familiar with that particular boat ramp, but there’s a very interesting cross-section of humanity that peoples the Oregon night.
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