GREEN RIVER - Poachers are at it again in the gas-rich energy fields of southwest Wyoming.

Game and Fish Department officials are seeking the public's help to find those responsible for the killing of three antelope along one of the main roads in the Moxa Arch gas fields northwest of Granger in Sweetwater County.

"Some people just don't get it," said Green River Game Warden Duane Kerr.

"There's no rhyme, reason or sense to this stuff," Kerr said in an interview. "The biggest problem with one of these cases is that unless somebody has firsthand knowledge of it and is willing to call us ... we're probably never going to solve this unless we get lucky."

He said the killing of the two bucks and one doe occurred sometime between June 2 and June 4 in an area between the Hams Fork River and the Blacks Fork River.

"The doe hadn't given birth yet, but if she had, there would have been orphan fawns that would have died," Kerr said. "One of the bucks was extremely large and would have been a pretty good trophy-quality buck. The other was an adult buck, but not of outstanding size."

He said the two bucks were shot from a distance of between 60 and 80 yards. The doe was found alongside the roadway.

"Whoever shot them also walked up to them while they were on the ground and shot them in the head with a large, semi-automatic handgun," said Kerr.

"We don't really have anything very much to go on ... the evidence recovery was pretty scarce," he added.

The incident is one of several other major poaching incidents uncovered by the Game and Fish over the past 18 months in southwest Wyoming's gas fields.

In November, a Canadian man confessed to killing a buck mule deer and a buck antelope while working for a contract drilling operation at a coal-bed methane well site southwest of Rock Springs. The self-admitted poacher also drove over and killed four sage grouse.

In October, two men were convicted of poaching an antelope and a mule deer near a drilling rig located south of Wamsutter near Baggs and then storing the meat in a freezer at the work site. And in another 2005 incident, a drill site worker from Colorado was investigated for poaching a four-point buck mule deer north of Baggs.

The latest poaching incident may be an isolated case that wasn't done by energy workers, but wildlife and oil and gas industry officials still worry it may become a growing problem. With that in mind, Petroleum Association of Wyoming officials met with Game and Fish Department managers in December to discuss ways to minimize incidents at drilling sites.

Southwest Wyoming Bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.