The only thing taken from an antelope doe poached east of Prineville in the Ochoco National Forest last week was its life, according to Oregon State Police Senior Trooper Scott Vaughn, who is investigating the case as part of OSP’s Fish and Wildlife Division.

Vaughn said cases like this one aren’t entirely uncommon. The pronghorn antelope doe was found shot dead Aug. 7, left “to waste in plain view,” without any meat taken, according to an OSP description. The average person may wonder why a poacher would kill an animal, then leave it to waste, Vaughn said, adding it’s difficult to rationalize an unreasonable act.

He said the public may “try to find a qualifying reason for that act when there isn’t one.” In some cases, Vaughn said, people illegally kill an animal for what they feel is a good enough reason.

“It could be for revenge, monetary gain; it could be if a person is hungry, they would take the meat,” Vaughn said.

Poachers may also kill an animal illegally for some part of it that’s considered a trophy, Vaughn said, such as when poachers kill a bull elk for its antlers. But with cases like the doe, investigators, and the public, are left wondering.

“On these it’s very hard because it’s a defenseless animal and then there is nothing taken but its life,” Vaughn said.

The antelope doe, which was found east of Big Summit Prairie in the Ochoco National Forest, was about 40 feet off Forest Service Road 30 and one mile north of the Forest Service Road 42 junction.

Anyone with information can call 1-800-452-7888 or email TIP@state.or.us. OSP has put an additional $250 toward the Oregon Hunters Association Prineville Chapter’s offer of a $500 reward for information that results in the arrest or conviction of who was involved: The reward is now $750.

Vaughn said any guesses as to why it may have happened are only speculative.

“(The poachers) may have planned to take it, then they felt that they were being watched, or they may have heard a vehicle coming,” Vaughn said, adding the poachers may have wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of seeing an antelope, when it’s more common to find deer.

The habits of deer are more likely to bring them into areas where people are, Vaughn said, from the way they travel, to what they eat, to where they birth their young. That’s why it’s common to see deer in town in Bend for example, but not antelope.

Patrick Lair, spokesman for the Ochoco National Forest & Crooked River National Grassland, said when people alert him and his co-workers to poaching incidents, they refer them to the OSP Fish and Wildlife Division or the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Although there is no hunting season for antelope doe or fawn in the Ochoco unit, which includes the national forest and some adjacent lands, the season for buck pronghorn antelope began Saturday in the unit for the 94 people who drew tags, according to Vaughn. A total 1,909 people applied.

Lair hopes the beginning of the buck pronghorn season is safe and fun for those who drew tags and will hunt legally.

“People like to come to public lands and they like to go shooting,” he said. “Recreational shooting is valid use of public lands.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0325, kfisicaro@bendbulletin.com