Poachers will spend next 4 deer seasons in jail
(AP)

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man and his son who pleaded guilty to poaching will spend the next four deer seasons in jail and have been stripped of their hunting privileges for life.

Investigators said the family hunted illegally for generations and all but wiped out the deer population in part of a wildlife area.

Under a plea deal, they'll report to prison on Oct. 1 — the first day of deer season — for 90-day terms each of the next four years.

Shane Donoho, 37, admitted killing more than 300 deer in the past five years, prosecutor Jay Hall said. In most cases, Oregon hunters are limited to one deer per season.

He and his 60-year-old father, Rory, obtained other people's tags so they could appear legitimate if a game official caught them with a poached animal, Hall said. They pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of racketeering, identity theft and poaching, the Eugene Register-Guard reported. The charges could have gotten them more than three years in prison.

The Donohos also forfeited 19 rifles and 1,600 pounds of frozen game. The meat will be given to zoos and wildlife rehabilitation centers.

"Shane Donoho said the poaching goes back as far as he can remember, that he was taught by his father, Rory, who was taught by (Shane's) grandfather," Hall said in court.

Shane Donoho's attorney, John Haapala, said the Donohos didn't try to sell the meat but rather intended to eat it or share it with friends.

Wildlife officers had long been "perplexed and disgusted" by the lack of deer in two drainage basins of the McKenzie Wildlife Management District near Vida, said State Police wildlife trooper Marc Boyd. In nearby, similar areas, he said, wildlife surveys would turn up "several hundred deer a night."

Hall said the poachers were tripped up when an associate, Miguel Kennedy, used the identity of a former girlfriend to get tags.

Her puzzled response to a routine research request touched off an investigation, he said. Kennedy was sentenced in June to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges. Six others face misdemeanor charges in the case.

When police served a search warrant at Rory Donoho's home, a grandchild in footed pajamas offered to show officers how to hunt a deer, Hall said.

"He said, 'You've got to hold your spotlight in your left hand and kind of rest your rifle on top of it,'" Hall recounted. The prosecutor said he asked the boy why he needed a spotlight to hunt deer, and the child replied: "Because it's dark outside, and they'll stop and look at you."

Hunting after dark is illegal.

Wow that is a scary thought that they were teaching the grandchild to hunt like that.

I read this in the local paper this morning. The sad part of the article is at the end: "...a grandchild in footed pajamas offered to show officers how to hunt a deer..."

Absolutely pathetic!!....and very sad they were passing down this "tradition".

I simply can not even begin to understand why someone would do something like this. 300 deer in a 5 year period? That's insane.

Wonder how they pulled if off for so long. Anyone know how remote this place is? You would think the game wardens would suspect something if the population seemed so low. They had to have left some sort of evidence ie... tire tracks, blood stains, footprints. If they were spotlighting, that's something that can be seen if they had been investigating at night, which they should have been doing.

It boggles the mind.

Could be wrong about this, but after reading about this situation on all of the forums I visit, and having grown up in an area where back in the mid to late 60's, I knew a family that probably rivaled what these folks were doing, the locals were involved with covering this stuff up.

This kind of operation usually takes place in more rural areas that are not all that agreeable with the way the state interfers with what they consider is their God Given right.

The family I knew would go out and for $20.00 or so kill a deer for anyone. It did not matter the time of year. Most of the time they never fired a shot, they were crossing greyhounds with Irish Wolf hounds and the would go out at night and spotlight fields and if they found deer, they would turn the dogs loose and they would bring the deer down.

That was back when the deer population was no where near s big as it is now, but it was also when people, including land owners in the area looked at white tails as pests.

This family had a good network of folks helping them cover up what was going on until this associate messed up, and in my opinion, his mess up was done on purpose.

quote:

Originally posted by Flags:

Wonder how they pulled if off for so long. Anyone know how remote this place is? You would think the game wardens would suspect something if the population seemed so low. They had to have left some sort of evidence ie... tire tracks, blood stains, footprints. If they were spotlighting, that's something that can be seen if they had been investigating at night, which they should have been doing.

It boggles the mind.

Mac
The area is not far from Eugene OR which is a fairly populated town but the country is thick with undergrowth, steep and mountainous, laced with thousands of miles of logging roads and literally dozens of ways in and out of a drainage area. There would be no residences in these areas as they are logging land or national forest. It rains a LOT in this area so blood and tire track etc. are not staying around long, not uncommon to see early morning and late evening traffic from loggers going to and from the job even in way out of the way places.
I'm sure with the budget cuts night time patrols were out of the question unless someone made a specific complaint which is unlikely.

I was just discussing the fact that Game Wardens weren't after poor rural subsistence hunters who might kill 3 or 4 deer in a year to feed a family and couldn't afford meat otherwise. The idea that this crew had over 1/2 a ton of frozen venison is pretty disgusting.

Most of the Native American reservations have unlimited hunting as part of their sovereign rights and at least around here still have good deer populations.....none of the tribe members think 70 deer a year is necessary to feed their family.