OSP Cites La Grande Hunters After Trespass, Illegal Deer and Elk Shootings

Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife troopers in La Grande and Baker City issued multiple citations after a series of hunting and roadkill incidents that raised safety and legal concerns for Union County landowners, hunters and anglers.

A hunter holding a special veteran buck tag was cited after shooting a buck without the tag in his possession and without validating it. The trooper reported the hunter fired from the side of a public road onto private land without permission. The private landowner wanted to press charges; OSP charged the hunter with hunting on another person’s cultivated or enclosed land and issued warnings for failing to validate the tag and for hunting from a public road. The seized buck was taken for donation to charity.

On opening day of the general-season spike elk hunt in Eastern Oregon, a La Grande trooper initially checked a hunter who had legally harvested a spike elk that was properly tagged. About an hour later the hunter called to report he had accidentally shot a second elk, a 3x3 bull. The trooper cited the hunter for the unlawful take of a bull elk. The illegally taken bull was salvaged and taken to a local butcher for charity donation.

A complaint from the Oregon Department of Transportation led officers to stop a semitrailer on Interstate 84 near Meacham after the driver reportedly cut off a large whitetail buck that had been struck on the highway. During a consented search troopers found the deer’s head in a cargo box on the trailer. The driver told officers he wanted to display the head and that he often sees dead deer along the interstate. OSP cited the driver for take and possession of roadkill and took the head as evidence.

Separately, a two-day boat patrol on the Snake River through Hells Canyon by a Baker City Fish and Wildlife sergeant and a La Grande trooper resulted in four angling violations. The patrol focused on steelhead anglers and elk hunters and produced one citation for failure to immediately validate an angling tag for steelhead and three citations for the use of barbed hooks, a prohibited method for steelhead.

For locally based hunters, landowners and anglers, the incidents drive home familiar but serious rules: validate tags immediately, follow outfitter requirements when holding special tags, never shoot from or across public roads into private property, and do not remove or possess roadkill without following legal procedures. OSP’s actions also show continued patrols on major waterways and highways; expect enforcement to remain visible this season and for seized game to be salvaged for charitable donation when appropriate.