Oregon Public Broadcasting

A year-long investigation into the illegal shooting of an elk, has landed a Five Rivers hunter in jail. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

The investigation started last September, after a landowner called state police in Newport to say a hunter had shot a cow elk with a rifle during bow hunting season.

The landowner also provided the description of a car. Police found a dressed carcass and an attempt had been made to disguise the rifle wound.

Sergeant Todd Thompson says police tracked down hunter Lyle Arrant.

He claimed to have legally killed a different elk in the same area, so officers compared DNA samples.

Todd Thompson: “You know it basically is a murder investigation only with animals. And a lot of the time they’re more difficult to solve because you don’t have the luxury of interviewing witnesses or anything like that.”

Arrant was sentenced to 10 days in jail and ordered to pay $3,000 in fines and restitution. He’s also not allowed to hunt for two years.