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Mark Freeman Commentary He took advantage of system By MARK FREEMAN If Dan Edwards' 1998 hunting story had not been worth retelling to a stranger, the hunting habits of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife employees would be of little interest to Oregonians today. If Edwards hadn't found a five-point bull elk one day in the Cascades. If his muzzleloader had not misfired and jammed. Had the elk not stood and watched Edwards reload his gun before Edwards finally shot the bull. If Edwards had not retold the incident last January to one of Oregon's toughest game cops as the pair traded muzzleloader stories. And if only Edwards had not spilled the beans then on how he and other ODFW leaders use insider information to exploit a flaw in the controlled-hunt drawing system to boost their chances of gaining coveted big-game tags. Yet, it all apparently happened. And the fallout has generated a controversy that has rattled Oregon's hunting community from the rafters to its very foundation. Edwards, who manages Oregon's big-game programs, and others allegedly applied for hunts last May that they knew from insider information -- public information, but not publicized -- were likely to be canceled in June. The tactic thereby gained them a free preference point that boosted their chances of landing the tough-to-get tags -- like the Cascade muzzleloader -- that the ODFW leaders really wanted to draw from the ODFW lottery system. Criminal? No, says a Portland prosecutor who investigated the case. "Our office has concluded that this conduct, while outrageous and contrary to the trust placed by the public in government employees, does not violate any criminal laws," Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk wrote Monday to the ODFW. Ethical? No, says Gov. John Kitzhaber. "Agency employees administering a program must be held to very high standards when they are also applicants in the program," Kitzhaber wrote to ODFW Director Jim Greer on Monday. "It is not enough to know that information is available to the public. It is imperative that the public actually receive the information." But some of the general hunting public has received all the information from this scandal that they need. Suspicions that ODFW biologists manipulate the system for their own benefits run rampant in hunting camps. Those suspicions are largely unfounded, and even stupid. Although this controlled-hunt scandal involves maybe a dozen ODFW employees, it gives a grain of credence to all the conspiracy theorists who believe the worst from the entire agency. Edwards has declined to comment, and the ODFW has launched an internal investigation into its employees' actions -- as well as plans to fix any flaws in the controlled-hunt process. And all that, just because of a good hunting story. According to an Oregon State Police report, Edwards hunted the Cascade muzzleloader season last fall and shot a five-point bull during an interesting scenario. The bull apparently stood and watched Edwards fumble with his gun as it misfired several times. As the bull watched, Edwards unloaded the muzzleloader and reloaded it anew before taking aim and killing the bull. Through a mutual acquaintance, Edwards' escapades came to the attention of Walt Markee. Markee also hunted the same area during the same hunt last year during a vacation from his job -- as a sergeant in the same OSP Special Investigations Unit that brought down renegade Medford hunting guide Donald Scott Dungey and has federal charges pending against Jacksonville guide Bill Danielson. When Markee attended the ODFW big game biologist meeting last Jan. 20 in Portland, he sought out Edwards for a friendly chat and swap of hunting stories -- one Cascade muzzleloader to another. During the chat, Markee lamented to Edwards that he had used all his preference points in the controlled-hunt drawing to get that muzzleloader tag. Markee didn't think he could get that tag again without preference points in 1999. Then Edwards allegedly let Markee in on a secret: There's a way to land a free preference point by applying for a cancelled hunt. As your first choice in the May 15 drawing, put down a hunt that is expected to get zero tags allocated to it when the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission sets tag numbers in June. As your second choice, put the hunt you really want. When the your first choice turns up cancelled, you earn a free preference point for future drawings -- and that preference point could be enough to land you that coveted tag over another hunter without the preference. The key, Edwards allegedly told Markee, is that you telephone the ODFW's Portland office in early May, find out which hunts will likely be cancelled, and apply for one of those first. The beans were spilled. "Edwards also told me something to the effect that this process was an insider secret and that he didn't know if he would do it again or not, but then added that it is public information," Markee wrote in a later police report. In March, Markee and a fellow special-investigations officer, Trooper Jeff Samuels, began to discuss which hunts to apply for in May. Following Edwards' tip, Samuels telephoned the ODFW looking for a list of hunts expected to be cancelled. But that list was not available, Markee wrote. It turns out that information, though public, is not readily or easily found, the reports state. Unless, of course, you are an ODFW insider and knew when the cancelled hunt recommendations are made, and how to get them. Smelling either an ethics violation or a crime, the officers began their investigation. It culminated Tuesday when the agency made public a letter from the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office saying the actions while not criminal, are "outrageous" and a violation of the public trust. A Mail Tribune review of cancelled-hunt applications in 1998 shows as many as a dozen ODFW employees, including some senior and high-ranking ones in key wildlife management posts within the ODFW, may have used the same tactics allegedly outlined by Edwards to Markee. Kitzhaber weighed in with his terse letter. The agency reared in defense. The public scoffed. A scandal was born. And perhaps it all would have been aborted, had Edwards' elk just turned and walked away. (Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470.) Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA