OSP Press Release Information

[CombinationLicense]

Reading the "bighorn sheep poachers busted" thread got me thinking about posting other OSP press releases. I regularly see and post ODFW reports but I'm not sure if anyone has posted the OSP link before. Anyway, here it is: OSP News, along with a couple of recent releases.

"CL"



Wildlife Enforcement Decoy Helps OSP Deal With Illegal Hunting Problems

09/28/2007 Lieutenant Dave Cleary
Oregon State Police Fish & Wildlife Division - Salem
Office: (503) 934-0223

As September 29th marks the opening of most Deer rifle seasons around th state, the Oregon State Police (OSP) Fish & Wildlife Division warns hunters that the deer you try to shoot may not be what you think it is as the Wildlife Enforcement Decoy will be used during the 2007 fall big game seasons in an effort to identify individuals in the unlawful taking of wildlife.

The Wildlife Enforcement Decoy will be utilized this fall in select wildlife management units statewide to address tag compliance, unlawful take and prohibited harvest methods, along with other unlawful hunting issues where deemed appropriate due to recent and/or historical wildlife complaint locations.

"The Wildlife Enforcement Decoy Program has been used in Oregon since 1991 and helps the OSP Fish and Wildlife Division in its mission to assure compliance with laws that protect and enhance the long-term health and equitable utilization of Oregon's fish and wildlife resources," said OSP Lieutenant Dave Cleary.

The benefit of this program is that it allows for the violator, the animal, and the enforcement officer to be in the same area at the same time in a controlled environment. The use of a decoy prevents the loss to actual wildlife to violators. The contact with the violator then can be controlled with a focus on increasing both violator and officer safety.

In 2005 & 2006, the Wildlife Enforcement Decoy was used 499 times, with roughly half of those operations occurring at night. A total of 2,951 vehicles drove by the decoy and 1,343 persons observed the decoy. Those contacts resulted in 200 incidents wherein there was interaction between the violator and the wildlife decoy, resulting in 317 citations and arrests.

OSP Seeking Information in Elk Poaching Case near Siletz

09/19/2007 Sergeant Todd Thompson
Fish & Wildlife Division - Newport
Office: (541) 265-5354 ext. 224

Oregon State Police (OSP) Fish & Wildlife Division troopers are seeking information to help identify the person(s) responsible for illegally killing and leaving to waste a cow and calf Roosevelt elk east of Siletz.

During early September, OSP Fish & Wildlife Division troopers received two reports of the poached elk. Troopers responded to the area and discovered the remains about 175 yards apart in the area of Hollywood Hills main line B, a private industrial timber lane area off Sams Creek Road about five miles east of Siletz. The elk appear to have been shot and left to waste sometime in August.

OSP Fish & Wildlife Division urges anyone with information concerning this poaching investigation to call the OSP Turn in Poacher (TIP) line at 800-452-7888.

[jerky boy]

I'm all for it. I saw people "teaching" their boys to hunt during High Cascade in the back of the truck with lawn chairs drinking beer. That makes me sick. Those boys looked like first time hunters to me. I think the decoys are a good way to catch at least a percentage of these people.

That being said I don't think the OSP needs to try and bait people into shooting at them like they did me a few years ago.They told us a herd of elk had just ran over the hills behind us and on our way we saw their Scrufy. I thought that was a little bit on the lame side but I'm not one to shoot from my truck or the road so it didn't matter. Thant being said I do think the decoys are a good idea.

[Capin' Dan]

The decoy doesn't bother me too much but what really burns my tail is the film they show at the sportsman show every year. Unforantalty this film is what joe public thinks of all of us as hunters. Last year I was leaving the sportsman show late after all the booths had closed we were wrapping our up our booth for the night. It was to tempting not to take it and smash it all to peices. Why don't they try and do a film on the positive side of things hunters doing it right. After all this is a sportsman's show not a paochers convention. By the way don't ever let me catch scruffy in a legal situation because he is toast. I wonder what would happen to you if you stopped in the road right by him and started warning folks if you would get arrested?

[CombinationLicense]

Hey guys, the thread wasn't really about the decoy program. I just posted up the last two press releases from the OSP site as an example and it happened to be those. I really just wanted to put up the link as a resource so people could find it that wanted too!



"CL"

[Sublime]

Good question, Dan...

Would it fall under impeding an investigation? or ??

hmmmm, not sure?

[Ethical hunter]

Originally Posted by Capin' Dan

The decoy doesn't bother me too much but what really burns my tail is the film they show at the sportsman show every year. Unforantalty this film is what joe public thinks of all of us as hunters. Last year I was leaving the sportsman show late after all the booths had closed we were wrapping our up our booth for the night. It was to tempting not to take it and smash it all to peices. Why don't they try and do a film on the positive side of things hunters doing it right. After all this is a sportsman's show not a paochers convention. By the way don't ever let me catch scruffy in a legal situation because he is toast. I wonder what would happen to you if you stopped in the road right by him and started warning folks if you would get arrested?

If so many of our fellow sportharvesters did not feel the need to blatently violate our wildlife laws tools like "scruffy" would not be required. Until everyone respects our wildilfe laws I am glad to see scruffy out there. Most people at the sportsman show know what real hunters are like, the audience at the sportsman show is not a cross section of the public at large but overwhelmingly pro hunting. I am also glad to see wildlife enforcement when in the field - it is never a hassle getting checked if you are doing it the right way.

EH