Below are two news releases from the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division. For 2025, Fiocchi partnered with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to increase the visibility of poaching incidents in an effort to reduce poaching.
The Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division (OSP F&W) is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying individual(s) involved in the unlawful take of a branch bull elk near Heppner, Oregon.
On Friday, September 19, 2025, at approximately 7:30 am, individual(s) illegally harvested a bull elk on private ranch property, near the intersection of Forest Service Road 21 and Sunflower Flat Road, in Morrow County. A majority of the meat was taken from the scene, while some meat was also left behind or wasted.
OSP is also asking for the public’s assistance in identifying individual(s) involved in the unlawful take of a branch bull elk near Hermiston.
On Friday, September 5, 2025, OSP F&W troopers responded to the report of an unlawfully taken 6×6 bull elk, in the Columbia Basin Unit, on private property adjacent to Cold Springs National Wildlife Refuge. It is believed the elk was killed, and left at the scene, between September 4 and 5. No meat was able to be salvaged from the animal.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Oregon State Police Dispatch at 1-800-452-7888, *OSP (*677), or email at [email protected]. Please reference case number SP25-410093 for the Heppner incident and SP25-395113 for the Hermiston case.
(Photo credit: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)