A hunter was fined more than $16,500 and lost his hunting privileges for three years after pleading guilty to a pair of game violations in the Starkey Wildlife Management Unit.
Darren Naillon, 43, of St. Helens, pleaded guilty to aiding in a game violation and waste of a game animal. He was sentenced to three years probation, 30 hours of community service, and fined $16,588, in addition to having his hunting privileges suspended. He also forfeited two custom rifles, a backpack and two sets of antlers.
PHOTO COURTESY OF OSP
Additional personnel from OSP and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife responded to assist in the investigation. Naillon and a 15-year-old juvenile, both of St Helens, were contacted at approximately 11 p.m. that night walking back to their camp. It was determined that the hunters had been waiting, in the rain, since approximately 2:30 p.m., that afternoon for troopers to leave the area, according to the OSP. The hunters had killed two branch antler bulls and only one of the hunters had a tag that would allow them to take a branch antler bull. The hunters did not have any meat from the elk with them at the time of the contact and advised troopers that both elk had been boned out and the meat was with their packs that they said were left behind in the forest.
According to the OSP, early the next morning, troopers located both bulls and the hunters’ packs loaded with what seemed to be a small amount of meat for two bull elk. Troopers found that both bulls – one five point and one six point – had only the prime cuts of meat removed. The animals had not been field dressed and the hides had only been partially removed. Troopers estimated that half the meat on both animals had been wasted. It was also noted that the hunters took the largest of the two elk’s antlers.
