BAKER CITY — The reward has increased from $2,500 to $4,500 for information leading to the person who illegally shot and killed a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep ram in eastern Baker County in November 2023.

The poacher took the ram’s head and horns, leaving the meat to waste.

Kevin Martin, president of the Oregon Wild Sheep Foundation, said the group has added $2,000 to the reward fund.

The Oregon Hunters Association had previously offered $2,000, and the Oregon Wildlife Coalition $500 in the poaching case.

Tipsters who report information that leads to an arrest through the Turn in Poachers (TIP) program can opt for five hunter preference points from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in lieu of the cash reward.

Tipsters can remain anonymous.

“It’s so hard to believe that someone would shoot and waste such an amazing animal,” Martin said. “The Lookout Mountain herd of bighorn sheep is an area Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), Oregon WSF and our partners have been focusing a lot of resources to understand what has caused the ongoing loss of animals and this criminal act just adds to that loss.”

The herd of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in the Lookout Mountain area, about 40 miles southeast of Baker City, which several years ago numbered around 400 animals and was Oregon’s largest, has suffered over the past four years from the effects of a bacterial infection that can lead to fatal pneumonia in sheep.

ODFW estimates the current population at about 280.

The state has not allowed hunting of bighorns in the Lookout Mountain unit since 2019.

Poaching a bighorn carries a penalty of up to $10,000 in fines, as well as hunting license suspension and forfeiture of the firearm used to commit the crime. Forfeiture of any wildlife parts, including the head and horns, is standard, according to officials. In this case, additional charges of waste of a game mammal would likely apply.

Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Trooper Dakotah Keys, responding to a call from the public, discovered the headless carcass on Nov. 30, 2023. The ram was on BLM land near Hibbard Creek Road, a few miles west of Brownlee Reservoir.

California bighorn sheep are the most abundant subspecies in Oregon with an estimated 3,700 animals that make up 32 herds in central and southeast Oregon. About 800 Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep live in the northeast corner of the state, in canyons of the Snake River and its tributaries and in alpine areas of the Wallowa Mountains. Don Whittaker, ODFW ungulate coordinator, emphasized the long-term effects of poaching.

“Not only are poaching acts like this considered theft of a public resource highly valued by all Oregonians, including hunters and non-hunters, but it undermines the long-term effort to restore and conserve this iconic species on Oregon’s landscape for future Oregonians yet to come,” Whittaker said.

Bighorn sheep attract sightseers as well as hunters, thousands of whom apply each year for a once-in-a-lifetime hunting tag.

The Lookout Mountain herd is one of the more accessible in the state, as the animals often congregate near the Snake River Road between Huntington and Richland. Signs are even posted along the gravel road alerting drivers to the possibility of bighorns near or even on the road.

“The lack of respect for an animal that represents the beauty, strength and wild lands of Oregon is just sad,” Martin said. “Add to that the loss for all of Oregonians the opportunity to see and interact with an animal that has been stolen from all of us.”

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Oregon State Police Dispatch at 1-800-452-7888, *OSP (*677), or email at TIP@osp.oregon.gov.

Other recent poaching cases

The killing of the bighorn ram was one of three poaching incidents in eastern Baker County in late November 2023.

On Nov. 27, fish and wildlife troopers responded to a report of a wolf that had been shot and killed near Sparta Road, in the Keating unit about 25 miles east of Baker City.

The wolf was a 4-year-old female and part of the Cornucopia group, said Brian Ratliff, district wildlife biologist at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Baker City office. That group no longer is considered a pack as it lacks a breeding pair.

The same day, a hunter found a dead bear cub just off Forest Road 77 about 3.5 miles northwest of Halfway. OSP troopers searched and found two bear cubs that had been shot and left to waste.

The Oregon Wildlife Coalition offers cash rewards of up to $11,500 for information leading to an arrest in the illegal killing of a wolf. The Oregon Hunters Association offers $600 for information about the poaching of a bear or wolf.

OSP Fish and Wildlife troopers on Dec. 29 received a report of two dead cow elk and three additional gut piles in the Heppner Unit near Sugar Bowl Ridge. The five elk had been shot and two cow elk had been left to waste.

Anyone with information about any of the recent poaching cases can contact OSP at the above numbers.