Wildlife agents arrest two in poaching case

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife agents arrested two men last Friday in connection with reports of poaching on Bradley Mountain.

One of the men, age 38, will appear in Wahkiakum District Court November 17 on a variety of charges, including using an unlawful weapon to hunt deer, spotlighting, and hunting in a closed season.

Beaver Creek Road residents reported last week hearing shots and seeing people in a blue station wagon acting as if they were hunting deer during the closed season.

Fish and Wildlife Officer Pat Anderson and Sgt. Dan Chadwick set up a dummy doe deer near the intersection of Beaver Creek and Hodgson roads last Friday evening.

Within minutes, Chadwick said, a blue station wagon arrived, and a man holding a spotlight got out of the car, shined the light on the dummy and fired a shot. He approached and prepared to fire another shot but returned to the vehicle to leave. The officers stopped the vehicle. They arrested the 38-year-old man; they also arrested an 18-year-old man accompanying him.

Inside the car, Chadwick said, they found a boned out carcass of a deer slain earlier in the week. After interviewing the men, they searched the older man's residence and barn and found the remains of two spikes and three does.