The reward is now up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of anyone involved poaching a pregnant cow elk near Harding Point south of Flagstaff on April 29-30, advised Arizona Game and Fish Department officials.

The Department's Operation Game Thief Program (1-800-352-0700) is offering up to a $1,000 reward to anyone providing information on this incident that leads to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the offense. "I've never seen a case with so much physical evidence and no suspects to link the crime to," commented Lee Luedeker, wildlife manager for the department in Game Management Unit 6B. "Evidence links suspects to the Maryvale area of Phoenix. We located a surveillance tape image of an individual we would like to interview in conjunction with the case," added Luedeker.

Officials with the Forest Service are also interested in this case because the suspects left a live campfire as well as a large amount of litter, just days before wildfires escalated in Arizona and New Mexico.

• Some people just don't learn. Warden T. Spada was recently patrolling near a Merced area ranch where a young man had nearly been killed in a hunting accident earlier this year. He watched the owner of the ranch shooting out the window of a vehicle on the county road. The vehicle was starting and stopping along the road in between shots. As in the hunting accident incident, the target animals were again ground squirrels. The owner was cited for loaded rifle violations and shooting from a vehicle.

• Two deer season cases finally cleared the Sonora Court. During the D-6 opener, Warden Spada contacted two subjects deer hunting up at the Sonora Pass. One of the subjects did not have a tag. He plead guilty and paid a $350 fine with three years probation. The second subject was from Texas. Due to the nonresident fees, the Texan went out on the opener with just a deer tag application that he picked up from a local store. The man was cited for hunting without a license and hunting without a deer tag. He paid a $1,450 fine.

• One of three suspects cited by Warden Milazzo for taking a deer out of season last January recently plead guilty in Mariposa Superior Court. He admitted to being the shooter and was given a total fine of more than $1,100. A motion to forfeit his rifle is pending. The other two suspects are scheduled to appear.