Poaching hurts everyone

"Poaching is the illegal take of our fish and wildlife without the proper regard to laws and regulations that were put in place so everyone can enjoy the resource; poaching fish and wildlife is just stealing from us all."

So says Sgt. First Class David Pond, Oregon State Police Wildlife Division of Bend, a man who deals with poachers all too often.

Recent senseless killings of deer and elk in Sisters Country shine a spotlight on the ultimate harm done to wildlife populations we all enjoy.

"You bet that poaching of those beautiful, breeding bucks hurts the mule deer pool," said Steven George, wildlife biologist with ODFW. "When something like that happens it sometimes takes years to bring that group back to normal."

My first personal experience with poachers took place back in the early '50s when Game Warden Avon Mayfield asked if I would like to accompany him out to the local hay fields to check for poachers. We sat quietly in the OSP pickup watching the fields when suddenly the radio came to life: "Officer Mayfield; you there?"

Avon picked up a microphone on the seat beside him, and answered, "I'm here; go ahead."

"Two rigs just pulled into the field on the west side, and someone is spotlighting," the disembodied voice reported.

"Now we wait," Avon said, removing his police-issue hat and draping a towel over the door on his side. The window was open and in a moment we heard, "Ker-pow, ker-pow," and then silence.

Avon looked over at me and said, "Do you know what that was, Jim?"

"Yes," I responded, "Gunfire."

"Nope." He said, "Ker-poachers! Ker-poachers!" and put the pickup in gear, driving slowly through the gate and out into the field. He picked up his flashlight, handed it to me and said, "Aim it at the top of Black Butte."

The radio came to life immediately, "Turn a little to the south... yes, that's it, I can see their flashlights; you're headed right for 'em."

In a few minutes we saw the flashlights ahead and when Avon pulled up to them, one of the men was shining a light on a dead doe others were gutting out. He looked up at the pickup and said, "We got two. How many did you get?"

Avon lifted the towel off the door, revealing the state police logo, put on his uniform hat, and asked me to shine the light on the three guys working on the deer.

"By golly," he said, stepping out of the pickup with his hand very close to his weapon, "I got three..."

When we were headed back to town that night I asked him where the radio message came from that notified him of the poachers.

"Oh," he replied, "That's Ed Park up in the Black Butte Lookout; he has one of our radios, and he's a great help catching poachers."

Sue and I had a hand in apprehending an organized bunch of poachers back in the '70s who were butchering deer in the winter range near Cabin Lake. They had a van with them to carry the deer meat back to the Valley.

Over time, these activities do great harm to mule deer populations. Poachers remove healthy breeding bucks, sometimes only for the buck's head. Illegal taxidermists mount and sell these "trophy heads" to illegitimate buyers who want to have such specimens in their homes.

When the meat-hunters hit the wintering population, they're only after tender back-strap and haunches of does, and leave the rest for coyotes, magpies and eagles.

There is a way you can help to stop poaching and other illegal taking of wildlife, and get a cash reward: Call the OSP TIP line: 1-800-452-7888.

A Turn-In-Poachers (TIP) reward is paid for information leading to the arrest/conviction of person(s) for the illegal possession, killing, taking, and/or waste of deer, elk, antelope, bear, cougar, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, moose, and/or game birds.