Bighorn Sheep Poachers Arrested Near Biggs Junction, OR

Two men are in jail in The Dalles, OR after Oregon State Troopers discovered they had illegally killed and poached two bighorn sheep near Biggs Junction, OR.

April 3, Sunday, shortly before ten am, Oregon State Patrol officers got a call from a witnesses who saw suspicious activity alongside Interstate 84 east of Biggs Junction.  This area of the interstate is just West of, and across the river from the famous Maryhill Winery in Washingon state in the Columbia River Gorge.

Troopers and wildlife officers went to the area, and located a vehicle owned by 32-year-old Justin M. Samora, of Layton, Utah.  While troopers were talking with him, several other motorists stopped and the told the officers there was another man hiding in the bushes about two miles away.  Troopers then found Cody J. Plaggman, of Troutdale, OR, hiding near the railroad tracks not far from the Interstate.

During the search, officers found the severed heads of two bighorn sheep. Samora and Plaggman had shot and beheaded the two sheep. Their bodies were recovered, but not able to be salvaged.

The two men are charged with a variety of crimes, including taking/possession of a bighorn sheep, wasting of a game animal, and hunting on another's cultivated or enclosed land (without permission).  Bighorn sheet can only be legally hunted with a permit, and the animals are protected due to small populations.

Bighorn sheep numbered in the hundreds of thousands in WA, OR and Northwest, but nearly disappeared in the early 1920's. Reintroduction efforts have brought back the populations, but they are still protected.

These are the sheep often seen on TV and in movies who ram each other head-on full speed in contests of supremacy for herd leadership and mating. Suspects Plaggman and Samora pictured below.