Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Warden Chris Crane wants to widen the net in the hunt for those responsible for poaching 19 deer in the Whitefish area over the last two years.

Crane has reached out to Whitefish citizens and organizations, seeking to raise the potential reward for information leading to the person or persons responsible for the poaching.

“This kind of behavior does not look good for Whitefish,” Crane wrote in an e-mail to the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce. “I am asking for the community to help catch these poachers by contributing to a reward that is being offered through the TIPMONT and Flathead Crime Stoppers” programs.

So far, a $1,000 reward is being offered through the TIPMONT program and an additional $2,500 has been offered by a Whitefish area resident who wishes to remain anonymous. Crane hopes to build the reward fund even larger.

“I’ve contacted a few people I know that are affected by this and feel passionately about catching these people and they have the financial capabilities to help out,” he said.

“We’re trying to make the reward irresistible pretty much so someone will provide us with information,” Crane said.

The poaching incidents on private property in the areas of Farm to Market, Twin Bridges, Lodgepole and Voerman roads in August 2011 and September 2012 are believed to be carried out by the same person or persons.

“We’ve exhausted a lot of different methods to discover who these guys are, so we need some help,” Crane said.

Those responsible most often have been shooting deer early in the morning at around 2 to 3 a.m. and they have used small-caliber firearms such as .22 caliber or .17 caliber, Crane said, noting that higher-powered weapons would have made far more noise than what people have reported.

Crane said vehicle descriptions he has been provided are “very vague,” but it’s believed to be “a loud truck with a modified exhaust.”

The deer that have been shot have been left to waste, some with antlers cut off.

Crane said he knows hunters who are “disgusted” by the poaching and concerned that the incidents reflect badly on hunting even though the shootings are far from ethical, legal hunting.

And he said he’s had support from interested law enforcement officers with the U.S. Border Patrol, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and the Whitefish and Columbia Falls police departments.

In more recent poaching news, Crane said three deer were found illegally shot and left on private property along Stillwater Road in the Kalispell area.

“We don’t know what hours they were shot. A buck, a doe and a fawn on three different nights,” Crane said.

Anyone with information about poaching incidents can call 1-800-TIPMONT.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.