DWR conservation officers work to protect Utah's wildlife.
The dispatches below are a fraction of our ongoing efforts to protect your wildlife. If you have information on illegal wildlife-related activities, please let us know. Our success depends on the help of ethical hunters, like yourself.
On Nov. 8, 2019, a concerned citizen reported finding 150 gallons of used oil that had been illegally dumped on the Wildcat Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The oil was primarily contained in 20 5-gallon buckets and one 50-gallon drum, although some residue had also leaked onto the ground.
On Oct. 20, 2019, a bighorn sheep ram was killed and left to waste near Mount Carmel Junction.
Sometime between Oct. 19 and Oct. 22, a bull elk was shot and left to waste near mile marker 50 on Highway 12, approximately 9 miles west of Escalante.
In September 2019, DWR conservation officers responded to two different poaching incidents near Vernal. The first was a small mule deer fawn that was shot and left on the side of the road near Dry Fork. The second was a pronghorn buck that was shot in the neck near Fiddler Road.
On Oct. 12, 2019, DWR conservation officers received information about a bull elk that had been shot and left to waste north of Sage Well in Iron County. The bull's antlers had been removed.
On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019, two doe pronghorn were found dead 50 yards off of Forest Road 154, near Big Lake on Boulder Mountain. Both pronghorn had been shot and left to waste.
On Aug. 20, 2019, an eyewitness saw the occupants of a stopped vehicle discard a buck deer carcass near the canal on Woodland Hills Drive in the town of Salem. DWR investigators determined that the animal was killed with archery equipment at another location.
On May 29, 2019, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) conservation officers received information regarding a poached doe pronghorn off Laho Road, west of Minersville.
Mark Thayn, the owner of La Sal Mountain Outfitters, pled guilty to Wanton Destruction of Protected Wildlife, a third degree felony, for his role in the poaching of a cow elk.
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