SALEM, Ore. — Hunters offered up $2000 in additional reward money for information regarding three elk poached in late October. The reward now stands at $2500 for information leading to a citation related to the bull, cow and spike elk carcasses left to waste near Sisters.
Oregon Hunters Association chapters bolstered the standard reward, which for an elk is $500 or four hunter preference points. Redmond chapter contributed $1,000 and the Capital and Josephine chapters each contributed $500 to bring the new total to $2500. Preference points for information leading to a citation remain at four.
Poachers killed a bull, a cow, and a spike elk west of Bend on or about Oct. 28. The animals were discovered separately, but all three were in the same area and appear to have been killed at the same time. Two were left to waste in a blatant demonstration of a thrill-kill. The third, a large bull, had its head and shoulders removed as a trophy.
OSP Fish and Wildlife Troopers received a call to the Turn In Poachers (TIP) Line from a hunter who came across the cow elk carcass while scouting in the Dry Canyon area East of Sisters near Hwy 126 and Quail Tree Drive. On Oct. 30, Troopers investigating the area discovered a large bull elk that had also been poached. Although bull elk hunting seasons were open at the time, the poacher had taken only the head and some shoulder meat. It is a crime to leave carcasses to waste.
Two days later, on Nov. 1, another call came through on the TIP Line from a hunter who found a spike elk carcass. (A spike elk is a male elk with an unbranched antler.) Troopers located the spike elk about 40 yards from where
