Accused poachers nabbed

PANGUITCH — Two men believed to have been involved with poaching in Garfield County were arrested Tuesday.

Acting on a tip received on the Utah Turn-in-a-Poacher hotline, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officers and Garfield County sheriff's deputies served a search warrant on a home and shed in Panguitch on Saturday and Monday, according to a news release from the division.

After serving the warrant, the officers found the heads of eight mule-deer bucks, one mule-deer doe and two pronghorn bucks. The suspects in the case also admitted taking one more mule-deer buck and an additional mule-deer doe, making it one of the biggest poaching cases in southern Utah in recent memory, according to the division.

Gary Lyndyl Harp, 35, and Gavin Smith, 19, both of Panguitch, were booked into the Garfield County Jail for investigation of wanton destruction of protected wildlife.

The tip was received just two days after the public learned about a poaching case involving 18 deer in central Utah.

The Utah Turn-In-A-Poacher hotline number is 800-662-DEER (3337).

— Cimaron Neugebauer