Tracking wildlife TRAFFICKERS.

Byline: Mike Stahlberg The Register-Guard

Enforcing Oregon's fish and wildlife laws has taken State Police Sgt. Tom Hulett to remote mountain tops and into steep river canyons - often in the dark of night.

Lately, however, Hulett finds himself spending more and more time in front of a computer, chasing down people who are advertising violations of the law on the Internet.

"Most of the people we're running into are ignorant (of the law)," said Hulett, who heads the OSP Fish and Wildlife Division's Springfield-based South Valley Team. "They don't really know what they're doing."

What they are doing is running afoul of section 498.022 of the Oregon Revised Statutes, which generally prohibits commerce in wildlife "or any part thereof."

Deer and elk mounts, racks of antlers and bear rugs with skulls attached are among the "wildlife parts" being marketed illegally on Web-based bazaars such as eBay, Hulett said.

OSP troopers have chased down a half-dozen illegal wildlife sales cases in the past three weeks, he said, including two in Creswell and one in Springfield.

"And here's one in Eugene, just posted today," the sergeant said, pointing at the eBay page on his computer screen. "The ad says, 'Purchased in Oregon, thought to be a blacktail, but not sure.' So he violated the law by buying it and now he's violating it again by selling...

"He probably got 'em in a garage sale," Hulett said of the antlers pictured in the ad. "You've got a lot of people going to garage sales and then reselling on eBay."

Why it is against the law to make a few bucks off a glass-eyed buck, or a musty set of moose antlers, is the story of state and federal governments' long-running battle against market hunting and poaching. Simply put, the laws are intended to protect wildlife by reducing the temptation to poach animals for the money that can be made off them.

"Anytime you have commercialization involved in wildlife, it's a threat to that species," said Capt. Walt Markee of Salem, who heads the State Police Fish and Wildlife Division.

Markee, who spent several years in OSP's Special Investigations Unit, has first-hand knowledge of the wildlife abuses that can occur when people are motivated by money.

He helped obtain the first wildlife-related racketeering conviction in the country against a poaching ring that, over a three-year period, killed more than 100 bears for their gall bladders, which were then sold to the Asian medical market for $200 to $400 apiece.

In another case, Markee busted a Medford-area guide who had produced a suspiciously large number of record-book bucks for bow-hunting clients from Michigan. Investigation revealed the clients were taken out at night to spotlight and shoot big blacktails with a rifle.

"They'd shoot one, measure it and, if the rack wasn't big enough, they'd leave it and go looking for a bigger one," Markee said. "When they got one they wanted, they'd come back the next day to stick an arrow in it and take pictures. ..."

Among the mounts seized in that case was a buck that ranked among the highest-scoring blacktails on record.

"They were asking $10,000 for that," Markee said. "And they would have gotten it. ... Anytime you can get a record-type animal, it's worth a lot of money."

Most of the wildlife items being sold on eBay draw bids of a few dollars, but Hulett says he's seen the occasional big one selling for $400 to $500.

But "trophy sets of shed antlers can run into hundreds or even thousands of dollars," according to an advertisement on another Web site, wildernesstrading.com.

"What we're concerned about is people starting to go out and shoot the big ones so they can sell them," Hulett said. "I think the law is important because of the temptation for people to go out and make money by shooting deer, particularly at night, and particularly on the winter range."

Winter-range poaching in Idaho in the late 1990s helped convince Oregon's Fish and Wildlife Commission to keep its regulations against the sale of taxidermy mounts, said Larry Cooper, deputy administrator of the state wildlife division. Cooper worked on the review updating of the wildlife commerce rules about eight years ago.

He said Idaho investigators found people who "would go onto mule deer winter range, illegally shoot one of these big massive bucks, stake down the carcass, then come back in the spring and say, 'Look what I found!' Then they would take the skull and antlers to a taxidermist, mount it, and sell it back on the East Coast for as much as $20,000.

"There was a significant monetary incentive to do this type of illegal activity, which is why our commission felt it was in the best interest of Oregon wildlife to maintain the prohibition" on taxidermy sales - as well as a rule that makes it illegal to even possess any "found" game mammal parts other than naturally shed antlers.

However, the commission did add an exception to the law that provides people who inherit trophy mounts they didn't want a way to dispose of them legally, other than giving or throwing them away.

The estate-sale exception requires the showing of a death certificate in order to get a registration permit that allows the sale of the taxidermy mounts. However, the purchaser of a registered mount may not resell it during his or her lifetime.

"Very few folks" have gone through the estate-sale registration process, Cooper said.

In its review of the wildlife-parts regulations, the commisson decided to allow the sale of shed antlers and certain other wildlife parts whose monetary value was deemed too low to provide an incentive for poaching. Those items include dew claws, sinew and long bones, and elk teeth.

Antlers that are naturally shed by deer and elk during the winter account for the bulk of the legal game mammal parts market. Single antlers have no value for trophy or record purposes, as records are often based on the "spread," or distance, between antler points.

Individuals may buy and sell shed antlers for their "personal use (not resale)." Also, holders of a $10 annual Antler Dealers Permit may purchase shed antlers for "use in the manufacture of handcrafted items" such as knife handles and lamps.

Shed antlers, however, have been increasing in value in recent years, with some Internet sites quoting prices as high as $19.50 per pound for prime whitetail and mule deer antlers. As a result, state police are starting to get "a lot of complaints where antler hunters are trespassing and running ATVs where they're not supposed to be, searching for antlers," Markee said.

Meanwhile, as though Oregon's rules aren't confusing enough, the issue of wildlife parts sales is made even more bizarre by the fact that regulations vary widely from state to state.

"The problem we have is it might be legal for a guy in one state to buy an intact mount, but it's not legal for someone here to sell it," Hulett said, adding that the existence of a wildlife-parts marketplace on the Internet means the problem is likely to grow as more people notice such ads "and say, 'Hey, I can do that!' "

A recent search of eBay under "taxidermy, mounts and antlers," came up with 2,556 active listings.

Of those, 805 were deer and 135 were elk.

Even though only a handful of those listings were from Oregon, it's no wonder Hulett says "the Internet is really creating new headaches for us."

The game officer said he talked to "eBay security" about the problem and was advised that the company takes the position that "it's up to the sellers to obey the law," especially in an area where laws very from one jurisdiction to the next.

In Oregon, Hulett said people should know they can and will be charged with a Class A misdemeanor if the buy, sell or offer to sell taxidermy mounts of Oregon game mammals.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sets the rules regarding migratory waterfowl, and parts thereof.

While ornamental and millinery uses of migratory bird feathers is not allowed, the feathers of legally hunted ducks, geese, brant and swans may be used in making fishing flies, bed pillows, mattresses and "similar commercial uses."

The federal wildlife agency also monitors the Internet for illegal sales.

"Possession of these items is one thing, but when people try to make a buck off it, that's why they have us," said Special Agent Phil Land, who works out of the U.S. Attorney's office in Portland.

JUNGLE RULES

Even in death, wildlife resides in a jungle - a regulatory jungle. A maze of state and federal rules governs what one can and cannot do with taxidermy mounts, antlers and other wildlife parts. For example, in Oregon it is ...

Against the law to:

Buy or sell taxidermy mounts of any game mammal native to this state.

Buy or sell deer, elk, bighorn sheep or antelope antlers attached to the skull plate.

Possess or transport any part of a "winter kill" or other found game mammal.

Buy or sell the meat of any game mammal or bird (or sport-caught fish).

Sell the pelt of a bobcat or river otter taken before Sept. 1, 1982 (appropriate year's metal-sealed ownership tag required).

Buy or sell the parts or meat of wild sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse or spruce grouse.

Use the feathers of migratory waterfowl for millinery or ornamental purposes.

But it is legal to:

Buy or sell taxidermy mounts of Oregon big-game mammals obtained as part of an estate; such mounts must be registered and numbered by the Department of Fish and Wildlife prior to sale, and may not be re-sold.

Buy and sell taxidermy mounts of legally taken fur-bearers or unprotected mammals.

Buy and sell detached antlers that have been naturally "shed," are detached from the skull or are on a skull split apart between the antlers.

Buy or sell the hides, hooves, dewclaws, sinews or capes of deer, elk and antelope (pronghorn).

Buy and sell elk ivory "buglers" or other parts of deer and elk skeletal structure, except for the skull.

Buy or sell the parts (but not the meat) of wild pheasants, turkeys, quail and grouse (other than sage, sharp-tailed and spruce grouse).

Use the feathers of lawfully taken migratory waterfowl for the making of fishing flies, bed pillows and mattresses.