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David Bruce Maxfield Jr. (right) will pay a $7,600 fine for illegally killing a bull elk, as well as surrender hunting privileges for three years. Allen Boal (left) plead no contest but faces similar punishment.

(Courtesy of OSP)

Two 26-year-old Dallas men are barred from hunting for three years and face one year of unsupervised probation and $7,600 in fines after illegally killing a bull elk last year.

David Maxfield Jr. and Allen Boal agreed to a plea deal March 1 in Benton County Circuit Court in connection with the August 2016 incident in the Kings Valley area. Maxfield pled guilty to misdemeanor poaching charges. Boal pled no contest but faces similar punishment.

The sentences mark a rare victory for law enforcement in the ongoing challenge to find and prosecute those who illegally kill game animals. The state police agency publicized the plea deals Tuesday.

In the past five years, Oregon State Police troopers have averaged 764 poaching investigations a year, most cases involving elk or deer.

Officials estimate Oregon's mule deer and elk population to be greater than 360,000, but it's not clear how many animals are illegally killed. The state has just 120 law enforcement officers dedicated to tracking game violations.

"Those guys are looking for a needle in a haystack," Sgt. Kaipo Raiser said of the state's wildlife enforcement division.

Troopers tracked down the Dallas men because Maxfield posted pictures of the bull elk on the public Oregon Big Game Hunting Facebook page. The page, which has some 6,819 members, includes submitted photos from throughout the state, with hunters sharing their kill and tips of the trade.

Maxfield posted three pictures on the Facebook page on Aug. 31.

According to Raiser, a trooper saw the pictures and ran Maxfield's name through state fish and wildlife databases.

Maxfield Jr. did not have the proper tag to kill the bull elk.

A hunting license can run $32 for big game, plus the $46 for an elk tag for Oregon residents.

"It was a great catch by our trooper," Raiser said.

During a subsequent investigation, Maxfield admitted to killing the animal, Raiser said.

"He confessed pretty quickly."

The bull elk was killed near Kings Valley on Aug. 31, 2016. Troopers tracked down the poachers via a Facebook page.

Under a plea agreement, Maxfield agreed to perform 40 hours of community service and surrender the bow and arrow used in the killing, as well as the elk's head and antlers.

The men left the animal to rot, aside from its head and antlers. Boal has a previous wildlife conviction.

In a separate case publicized Tuesday, two more men were sentenced in a poaching-related incident. Brandon Yamanaka, 30, pled guilty to illegally killing multiple black tail deer.

He was barred from hunting for five years and fined $15,650 and sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation and 80 hours of community service. In the same case, Christopher Martin, 33, was fined $8,150 and banned from hunting for three years, amid other punishment. During the investigation, troopers seized "multiple trophy class black tailed deer taxidermy mounts, turkey parts, bows and a shotgun."

The Oregon Hunters Association chips in money each year for tips that lead to poaching citations. Hunters can get as much as a $1,000 reward for information related to the unlawful killing of a bighorn sheep, mountain goat or moose.

Some Oregon lawmakers are pushing to up the ante for hunters willing to share information on poachers.

The House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources held a work session Tuesday on a bill that would offer incentives to tipsters who help state officials nab — and convict — elk poachers.

That bill would give tipsters a leg up in landing hard-to-get tags for certain big game animals.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen