Oregon State Police in December 2021 seized evidence in a poaching case against Walker Erickson, 29, of Pendleton, and Hunter Wagner, 24, of Pilot Rock. Both men in 2023 took plea deals. Erickson must pay $75,000 in fines and for each of the next three elk seasons has to spend two weeks in jail.

PENDLETON — A Pendleton man is heading to jail for two weeks for each of the next three elk hunting seasons for poaching deer and elk.

Walker Erickson, 29, also is on the hook for $75,000 in fines after pleading guilty on Aug. 1 in Umatilla County Circuit Court to 22 counts, including illegally killing deer and elk, leaving game animals to waste and trespassing. He also will serve three years probation.

Erickson’s plea deal is the second in the case.

Oregon State Police in November 2022 reported fish and wildlife troopers from the Pendleton Area Command received information on several individuals who were unlawfully taking big game animals. Troopers in the summer of 2020 began gathering information and evidence during the following year, which led to a search at a Pendleton residence in December 2021.

Evidence seized from the search warrant included six sets of deer antlers and three sets of elk antlers, including a 7×7 trophy bull elk, a rifle, a bow and meat, which led to indictments of Erickson and Hunter Wagner, 24, of Pilot Rock.

Wagner pleaded guilty on May 19 to one count of each aiding in the poaching of a cow elk and of a buck white-tailed deer in December 2020.

Circuit Judge Christopher Brauer sentenced Wagner to five years of suspension of his hunting license, three years of probation, $6,000 in fines and the forfeiture of wildlife, money and weapons to the state of Oregon for destruction or other disposition.

Erickson pleaded guilty to 22 charges, including illegally killing deer and elk, leaving game animals to waste and trespassing. According to a press release Tuesday, Aug. 29, all charges accumulated during an 18-month time frame, leading officials to declare Erickson’s case a crime spree.

In total, Erickson poached six deer and eight Rocky Mountain elk.

He will serve 14 days in jail during elk hunting season for the next three elk hunting seasons years. The $75,000 in fines he owes include $15,000 for a 7×7 bull elk, $15,000 for a 6×5 bull elk and $7,500 for a 4×4 buck mule deer.

Erickson also forfeited the rifle and bow he poached with, and all trophies and game parts. A freezer full of meat, forfeited under court order, is going to the Blue Mountain Wildlife Center for their raptor rehabilitation program.

Erickson’s sentencing is first significant application of new sentencing guidelines from the 2018 anti-poaching bill House Bill 3035, according to the press release, raising poaching crimes from a misdemeanor to a felony.

“All of this conduct, if it had occurred only a year before, before the legislature created these felony level poaching crimes, he would be facing only misdemeanor sentencing,” according to Jay Hall, wildlife anti-poaching resources prosecutor and assistant attorney general with the Oregon Department of Justice.

Hall prosecuted the case, representing the Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office.