OSP Fish & Wildlife troopers seek public’s help to identify elk poaching subjects near Tumalo

Did not have permission to hunt on private property

TUMALO, Ore. (KTVZ) – Oregon State Police Fish & Wildlife troopers sought the public’s help Monday to identify two people in a recent elk-poaching case on private property near Tumalo.

Early on Monday, Sept. 26, a male and female were seen leaving private property near the intersection of Highway 20 and Tweed Road, troopers said.

OSP said the pair did not have permission to be on the property and were seen by a witness packing out the head and antlers of a bull elk to a vehicle, believed to be a red pickup, parked at the intersection of Highway 20W and Innes Market Road.

An investigation by OSP, assisted by the landowner, found that the subjects had processed a bull elk of unknown size on private property. A second bull elk was found deceased within an agricultural pivot on the same property, they said.

Both animals apparently were harvested with archery equipment, but troopers said they had no permission to hunt the property. Archery elk season ended a day earlier, on Sept. 25.

OSP Fish & Wildlife Division is urging anyone with information about this case to 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 SP2225969.

 Report Wildlife and Habitat Law Violators

The Turn In Poachers (TIP) program offers preference points or cash rewards for information leading to an arrest or issuance of a citation, to a suspect, for the unlawful killing of wildlife, and or waste of big game. Cash rewards can also be awarded for turning in people who destroy habitat, illegally obtain licenses/tags, and for the unlawful lending/borrowing of big game tags. Learn more: https://www.oregon.gov/osp/programs/fw/Pages/tip.aspx

 PREFERENCE POINT REWARDS:

5 Points-Mountain Sheep

5 Points-Rocky Mountain Goat

5 Points-Moose

5 Points-Wolf

4 Points-Elk

4 Points-Deer

4 Points-Antelope

4 Points-Bear

4 Points-Cougar

 Oregon Hunters Association (OHA) Cash Rewards:

$1,000 Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goat, and Moose

$500 Elk, Deer, and Antelope

$300 Bear, Cougar, and Wolf

$300 Habitat Destruction

$200 - Illegally obtaining Oregon hunting or angling license or tags

$200 - Unlawful Lending/Borrowing Big Game Tag(s)

$100 Upland Birds and Waterfowl

$100 Game Birds or Furbearers

$100 Game Fish and Shellfish

Oregon Wildlife Coalition (OWC) Cash Rewards:

Birds
$500 Hawk, Falcon, Eagle, Owl, Osprey
All other protected avian species: see category below for listed species 

Mammals
$500 Cougar, Bobcat, Beaver (public lands only), Black bears, Bighorn Sheep, Marten, Fisher, Sierra Nevada Red Fox

Species listed as “threatened" or “endangered" under state or federal Endangered Species Act (excludes fish) 

$1,000 (e.g. wolf, wolverine, kit fox, red tree vole, Canada lynx, sea otter, Columbian white-tailed deer, California brown pelican, western snowy plover, California least tern, northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, short-tailed albatross, streaked horned lark, yellow-billed cuckoo, leatherback sea turtle, olive ridley sea turtle, Oregon spotted frog, green sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtle)