Two men charged in big poaching case

Tip received on poaching hotline pays off for Utah sportsmen.

Related story: Garfield County men plead guilty to poaching

PANGUITCH — Two men are in jail and the heads of 11 deer and pronghorn have been recovered in a recent poaching case.

Confiscated skulls from Panguitch poaching case

Photo by Lynn Chamberlain, DWR

The case is one of the biggest poaching cases in southern Utah in recent memory. And it happened because someone was concerned enough to call Utah's Turn-in-a-Poacher (UTiP) hotline.

"We're so grateful for the information we received from a concerned citizen," says Micah Evans, a Division of Wildlife Resources conservation officer. "Without that initial tip, we never could have put this case together."

Evans says the tip was received on Utah's Turn-in-a-Poacher hotline (1-800-662-DEER [3337]).

"We were able to take that tip and get the original search warrant," Evans says. "The whole thing just mushroomed from there."

Lots of antlers

Over the Memorial Day weekend, DWR officers and deputies with the Garfield County Sheriff's Office served search warrants on a home and a shed near Panguitch. They found the heads of eight mule deer bucks, one mule deer doe and two pronghorn bucks inside the two buildings.

DWR Conservation Officer, Micah Evans holds one of the confiscated skulls.

Photo by Lynn Chamberlain, DWR

"The antlers from two of the buck deer measured over 24 inches in width," Evans says. "That qualifies them as trophy class under Utah state law. And that means the two men charged in the case might be facing felony charges."

In addition to the antlers the officers recovered, the two men they arrested Gary Lyndyl Harp, 35, and Gavin Smith, 19, both of Panguitch admitted to killing another mule deer buck and a mule deer doe.

Two juveniles were also implicated in the case.

Officers booked Harp and Smith into the Garfield County jail.

Evans says the men killed the animals in 2008 and 2009 in the Panguitch and Mount Dutton areas in south-central Utah.

"I can't say enough about the help we got from the Garfield County sheriff," Evans added. "It was great to work with Sheriff Danny Perkins and the other professionals who work for him in the sheriff's office."