By Ruth Hill For Peninsula Daily News
SEQUIM — When Mel Groff walks every morning along the Dungeness River, he looks for fish.
But what he saw in the water near Woodcock Bridge two weeks ago surprised him.
The heads of two does lay near the shore.
Farther down the river, Groff found deer parts.
He was alarmed enough to flag down a Sequim police officer. Then he called the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
He said Friday that he still is awaiting follow-up.
That is unlikely to happen without more information.
Sgt. Phillip Henry of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday that he gets numerous complaints about deer parts during hunting season.
It is standard procedure for hunters to leave deer parts after butchering for other wild animals to eat.
Not ‘CSI Miami’
While it is illegal to kill does, Henry said, there is no way to investigate poaching without some information about a possible perpetrator.
The department just doesn’t operate like “CSI Miami,” he said, referring to a popular television show.
Henry said he would follow up if a witness could provide a suspect description or license plate number for poachers, but that information is only rarely available.
“We don’t have the means to do some sort of investigation,” he said. “They may be poached, but there’s not much we can do.
“Outside of the season, I would be more interested,” Henry said.
The hunting season ran from mid-October through Friday.
Late buck season runs from Nov. 13 through Nov. 16.
Henry mentioned another case on the North Olympic Peninsula, but with few details.
Fish and Wildlife is waiting for prosecutors to file charges in another case in which a bear hunter from Kitsap County allegedly shot two does and left the carcasses in Jefferson County, he said.
He would give no more details about the crime on Friday, since the investigation is in progress.
Meanwhile, Groff is concerned about the use of the river for carcass disposal, and what effect that will have on the fish.
He fears the river will be turned into a garbage dump.
“I’ve lived here for 10 years, and this is the first time I’ve seen deer parts in the river,” he said.
“If this is standard operating procedure, then God help us.”
