Reward raised to $5,600 in bighorn poaching

A reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a poacher who killed a bighorn sheep ram in the Lookout Mountain Wildlife Management Unit in late December has been increased from $3,000 to $5,600.

The Oregon State Police (OSP) Fish and Wildlife Division is continuing to ask for the public's help in identifying the people  responsible for poaching the ram, taking the horns and leaving the body to waste, OSP Lt. Randy Scorby said in a press release.

The animal’s headless carcass was found on Dec. 28 by OSP Sr. Trooper Kris Davis, who was responding to a report of the poaching from a resident of the area. The ram’s headless body was left to rot on Connor Creek Road, about a quarter of a mile from the Snake River Road between Huntington and Richland along Brownlee Reservoir in the Lookout Mountain Wildlife Management Unit, Scorby said. Based on statements and the condition of the carcass, Davis believes the ram was killed about Dec. 22.  

Bighorn sheep hunting is lawful in the Lookout Mountain Unit with the proper tag when the season is open, Scorby said. The season for bighorn sheep closed in that area on Sept.  25. Only two once-in-a-lifetime bighorn sheep tags are issued in this unit each year.

Scorby said the reward increase was made possible through contributions from:

• Oregon Hunters Association (OHA) Turn-in-Poachers (TIP) reward

• OHA Ochoco Chapter

• OSH Josephine Chapter

• OHA Bend Chapter

• OHA Redmond Chapter

• OHA Baker Chapter

• OHA Union County Chapter

• Oregon Foundation for North American Wild Sheep

• The Humane Society of the United States

Anyone with information related to this investigation is asked to call the TIP line at 1-800-452-7888 or Davis at 541-805-4757.