Buck isn’t like the rest of his colleagues in the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division. The yellow Labrador retriever and Trooper Josh Wolcott are the state’s first anti-poaching K9 unit.

Their job is to track down hunters who illegally kill game animals.

Buck underwent five months of training and has been on the job since May 2019. He was chosen for his perseverance, playfulness and  friendly demeanor, Wolcott said.

Buck has three main jobs in the field: detect wildlife, sniff out carcasses and track suspects. Occasionally, Buck and Wolcott also assist in homicide and missing person investigations.

Buck is trained to detect the scent of gunpowder residue and Oregon’s most monitored wildlife: elk, deer, steelhead,  salmon, bear, antelope, waterfowl, turkey and, eventually, sturgeon.

Buck’s investigations help Wolcott determine where poaching suspects have — and haven’t — been.

“It’s not just to prove guilt, it can prove innocence, too,” Wolcott says.

Buck once tracked the scent of a hunter that had been accused of trespassing, but the path Buck found never crossed the property line.

Wolcott estimates he and Buck responded to 90 calls last year. Buck helps investigations by spotting clues a human trooper might overlook.

For example, at a site reported for illegal hunting activity, beer cans littered the roadside ditch. Buck alerted Wolcott that the most recent beer can still had a fresh scent. Wolcott used the information to investigate nearby campgrounds and locate the suspect.

Poaching is a problem in every state. Dogs have been helping neighboring states’ wildlife agencies tackle an array of wildlife crimes. Oregon is the last state in the region to get a canine team in wildlife enforcement.

The Oregon Wildlife Foundation, a nonprofit organization that offers grants for projects that conserve wildlife and habitat, raised $26,350 to start the OSP Fish and Wildlife K9 Unit Pilot Program.

Tim Greseth, executive director of OWF, says most of the grant paid for purchasing and training Buck.

While OSP pays for the trooper, OFW covers Buck’s expenses through public donations.

Despite a successful first year in the field, Buck’s anti-poaching career faces a shortfall of funding.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of most summer fundraising events, “Buck isn’t doing nearly as much public outreach as we’d anticipated,” Greseth says. OWF has had to cover nearly $600 in veterinary bills.

Greseth also says an anonymous donor is interested in giving OSP’s Fish and Wildlife Division two more dogs, so each regional office would have its own canine team, but OWF will  need more public donations to cover the added expenses.

Cracking down on poachers

In 2019, the Oregon Legislature ramped up efforts to reduce poaching with more wildlife troopers, stiffer penalties and a new public awareness campaign.

“A big talking point of ours is: poaching steals from all Oregonians,” says Yvonne Shaw, coordinator of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Anti-Poaching Campaign. “Anytime someone kills any animal illegally, not only have they broken the law, but they have stolen an experience from another person.”

OSP Fish and Wildlife troopers rely on public reporting to help enforce wildlife laws. They receive some 700 tips each year. Helpful tips are rewarded with cash or hunter preference points, which boost a hunter’s chances to partake in a controlled hunt.

OSP Capt. Tim Fox said that last year the program rewarded 85 callers a total of 143 hunter preference points and over $20,000 in rewards.

“When people go recreate, they aren’t looking for poaching, but we get a lot of tips from people out enjoying the wilderness,”  Shaw says.

When it comes to reaching people outside the hunting and fishing community, Shaw says Buck “is a key arrow in the quiver of success of the anti-poaching campaign.”

Before the pandemic shutdown, Buck met with 17 school classes as part of that outreach. “Buck is quite the social butterfly — especially with kids,” Wolcott says.

Buck also helps reduce tension in the field. “He’s a good conversation starter, which helps lead to a positive interaction — even if I have to take enforcement action, people tend to appreciate that there’s a dog around.”

Wolcott believes Buck has made him a better trooper, too. “If I get frustrated, Buck doesn’t perform as well,” Wolcott says.

Wolcott says he loves having Buck as a partner on the job.

“Buck alone can’t be successful without the handler, and the handler can’t be successful without the dog,” he says.

The COVID-19 shutdowns and resulting decrease in state revenues have created a $1.2 billion gap in the state budget.

The reduced state budget has forced legislators to put a pause on the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s anti-poaching campaign for at least another year.

“(ODFW) took a one-time reduction for services and supplies for the information campaign,” says Jay Remy, deputy administrator for information and education at ODFW. “In other words, the reduction is hopefully temporary.”

For now, ODFW will send anti-poaching information to people who sign up for promotional emails — mostly hunting and fishing license-holders — but won’t be able to reach other recreationists.

Although $7 million in general funding was cut from OSP’s budget, the legislature allocated $56 million of federal coronavirus relief funds to the OSP Patrol Division. Capt. Tim Fox says OSP is still reviewing how the adjusted budget will affect programs.

To contact the Oregon Wildlife Foundation, call 503-255-6059 or go to https://www.myowf.org/