▶️ $1,000 reward, hunter points offered to find poachers of 2 Oregon elk

(Editor’s note: A full image of one of the dead elk appears in the video above and further down in this article)

A $1,000 reward or five hunter preference points are being offered for information leading to an arrest or citation of the poaching of two elk found dead in a field near Interstate 5 last week. The cash is being offered by the Oregon Hunters Association while the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is offering the preference points.

Oregon State Police said the two elk — a bull and a cow — were found within 100 yards of the freeway near Glendale on Oct. 26. It’s believed they were poached the night before around 6:30 p.m.

The elk were part of a herd of about 80.

OSP said the bull was left entirely to waste, although troopers were able to salvage the meat and donate it to charity.  The poachers processed and removed meat from the cow, which OSP said would have taken considerable time by lantern or flashlight.

Anyone who saw activity involving artificial lights that night, in the field west of I-5 near milepost 84 can call the Turn in Poachers (TIP) line at *OSP (*677) or 800-452-7888 to qualify for the reward or hunter preference points. All calls are anonymous.

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OSP said they’re also looking for someone seen earlier in the day on Oct. 25 driving a silver-colored midsized pickup slowly in the southbound lane of I-5. That person had a rifle.

“There is no excuse for this disgusting behavior,” said Brian Wolfer, ODFW Wildlife Division Deputy Administrator in a statment. “For many people it is a thrill just to see an elk and these people not only poached two elk but wasted one. It is also illegal and dangerous to shoot from a public road, let alone a highway. I hope someone out there can help bring them to justice.”

RELATED: OSP looking for 2 people, truck after poaching of elk in Deschutes County

RELATED: Buck deer carcass left to waste along Oregon road

“When people poach, they steal natural resources from all of us,” said Yvonne Shaw, Stop Poaching Campaign coordinator for ODFW. “Oregonians value our wildlife, both for viewing and for legal hunting.”

This is one of at least five elk poaching cases in the past few weeks across Oregon, including on the High Desert. On Oct. 3, OSP said it was looking for two people in the poaching of a bull elk near Tumalo in Deschutes County.

Additionally, there have been recent cases of a wolf poaching as well as a deer carcass that was left to waste.

Oregon’s Turn In Poachers (TIP) program offers preference points or cash rewards for information leading toward a conclusion in the investigation of the illegal killing of wildlife and waste of big game.

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).