Oregon Public Broadcasting

Cattle rustling is a crime so old the Greek poet Homer waxed on about it. Stealing cows gained more infamy in the old west. But even in the age of Google Earth and constant video surveillance cattle still go missing in the vast desert ranges of Oregon, Idaho and Nevada.

In the past three years nearly 2,700 cattle have been lost in Oregon. Wanted posters are being tacked up in small-town shops. The nation's poor economy isn't helping. Correspondent Anna King explored some of that remote desert country in southeast Oregon.

The rangeland outside of Jordan Valley, Oregon is vast. Out here beef cattle range for months at a time over thousands of miles.

Jayne Collins runs a hardware store in the tiny town of Jordan Valley. Collins and her husband also run a medium-sized cattle operation with about 700 head. The couple lost 100 pregnant cows, and their peace of mind, a few winters ago.

Jayne Collins: "When this thing happened and we were sure that these cattle were stolen I haven't had a full night sleep since then."

Collins says the stolen cattle and the down economy has set them back significantly. She and her husband are unable to buy new farm equipment, take a vacation or retire anytime soon.

Jayne Collins: "It's just always there like a cloud. Hanging over you, you know. It's gone."

Rajah Bose / Northwest News Network

Sheriff Bob Wroten patrols thousands of acres of backcountry ranch land in Eastern Oregon.

Trying to find these cattle is Malheur County sheriff's deputy Bob Wroten. He and one other law enforcement officer are responsible for regularly patrolling 6,000 square miles of range.

Bob Wroten: "It's just hard to fathom how they get away. They just disappear."

Wroten says cattle theft is a big deal. A cow equals money on four legs. One pregnant mother cow can pay out $1,500. The calf she bears is worth another $500.

Wroten says theft seems to increase when cattle prices rise.

Everyone in this area seems to have a theory about the rustlers: Some think they are loading cattle on trucks under the cover of bad storms. Or perhaps organized crime is involved. Worse yet, many ranchers believe that it's their neighbors stealing their cattle.

They say the country out here is too vast and too remote for outsiders to navigate. And outsiders would be recognized as being somewhere they didn't belong.

Rajah Bose / Northwest News Network

Rancher Martin Thompson still does things the old fashion way - by branding his calves the same way they did a century ago.

Others don't think it's theft at all.

Casey Shelman: "The country is too big."

Take Casey Shelman who runs the Bel-A Ranch outside of Burns, Oregon. The Bel-A looks like a movie location: wooden corrals and a sprawling ranch house. Shelman says sometimes lost cattle might just be dead cattle from bad management.

Casey Shelman: "Maybe I'm just too sheltered and too naïve. But I think there is more cattle management than it is neighbors being down and out and being able to steal from their neighbors."

Shelman says sometimes cattle ranchers put old cows onto new range that the animals are unfamiliar with. The cattle can't find water or good places to hide from the bad weather.

But in this day and age, with radio collars and microchips isn't there a good way to find the truth or track these cattle better?

At a different ranch, the cowboys say sometimes the best security method is something that's really old -- branding.

These cowboys say tattoos can be changed, microchips can be cut out and ear tags can be ripped out.

Rajah Bose / Northwest News Network

Casey Shelman drives a few cattle out to pasture on the Bel-A Ranch outside of Burns, Oregon.

The owner of this ranch and the cattle is Martin Thompson. He sports sun-leathered skin and blood-stained hands from castrating calves.

Thompson says cattle ranching is already stressful nowadays.

Martin Thompson: "The work part isn't any harder. It's just margins are slimmer. You know just tougher. Less room for mistakes. There are more requirements to sell your cattle, they want different shots. It's all together different than it used to be."

Some ranches have hired full time guards that live and camp with the cattle. Others fly planes or helicopters to check on them. Several states, counties and federal agencies have banded together to collaborate their chase.

Malheur County Deputy Sherriff Bob Wroten says lately things have been pretty quiet with the extra attention.

Bob Wroten: "It's just going to quit until we let up. You know. The cattle rustling is what I'm saying. We've been to court with three different cases. And know they all know that we are flying every other day or as often as we can. I think it's going to quit until they feel safe in doing it again."

Wroten says these crimes are as old as the West. And some places -- like the remote parts of Oregon -- are still wild.