Associated Press
 
October 22, 2009
 
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. -- State police say four Lane County men face charges following the poaching of four bull elk on private property south of Cottage Grove.
 
Senior Trooper Martin Maher of the Fish & Wildlife Division says the elk were killed Tuesday. Troopers salvaged the meat and gave it to the Eugene Mission.
 
According to Maher, 50-year-old John Atwater of Cottage Grove has been cited on four counts of unlawfully taking bull elk and two counts of borrowing an elk tag.
 
The trooper says the other men -- 78-year-old David Pruitt of Creswell, 74-year-old Homer Rhodes of Cottage Grove and 35-year-old Christopher Stevens of Cottage Grove -- have been cited for aiding in a game offense. Pruitt and Rhodes were also accused of loaning an elk tag.
 
All four are due in court Nov. 19.