The Daily Inter Lake

State game wardens are investigating recent deer poaching incidents in the Flathead Valley.

Just before midnight Dec. 27, a witness saw a white Chevrolet pickup with a chrome grill guard shining a spotlight in fields off Hodgson Road and the Whitefish River north of Kalispell.

The incident was reported to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the following morning wardens found a dead whitetail doe in the same area that appeared to have been shot.

On Jan. 1, three whitetail bucks were found shot in a field near the Schellinger Construction gravel pit on Jellison Road south of Columbia Falls.

The heads were removed from two of the bucks and the carcasses were left to waste.

Wardens believe the Hodgson and Jellison road incidents may be connected. Schellinger Construction has offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.

In another incident Jan. 8 or 9, a whitetail doe was shot and left on the northeast part of Lone Pine State Park, near Lupine Loop Drive just off of the Foy's Lake Road.

Those with any information regarding the cases are urged to contact Warden Nathan Reiner at 751-7838 or the department's anonymous tip line, 1-800-TIPMONT. There are rewards of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.