CANYON CITY – He spends most of his days standing fearless by a black bear and a cougar in the back room of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) Canyon City bureau.

When he gets the call, the doors to his quiet asylum are flung open, his battered body lifted up, the bed of a navy blue Ford F-250 a familiar escort. Scruffy the deer, usually accompanied by a small envoy of two Oregon State Police squad cars, is on his way to lend a hoof in the fight against road hunting.

But according to Oregon State Police Game Officer Larry Johnson, the lifeless, four-legged cervinae is more misunderstood than he is tempting to shoot.

“There’s a real misconception that our decoy program is used just to issue citations,” he said. “And honestly, that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

The Wildlife Enforcement Decoy (WED) program is an ODFW-sponsored effort to address specific hunting complaints, or areas that have been problematic. There are currently two game officers in Grant County, and an assortment of faux animals to help with the effort.

Scruffy’s mission is to help prevent hunting violations, like the 2005 incident near South Fork where three large-bodied bucks were found dead, shot with a rifle, their heads missing.

“I couldn’t really tell how big they were because their heads had been cut out,” said Johnson. “But whoever did that, these are the kinds of people we aim to catch.”

The State of Oregon prohibits hunting with the aid of a motor vehicle and shooting from a public roadway, so when a specific complaint arises in Grant County, Scruffy usually gets the nod.

But WED isn’t designed to lure the average motorist into taking a shot at Scruffy or another decoy; it’s set up to specifically target road hunters scooting along public roadways at low-speeds looking for big-game animals.

“We put him (Scruffy) in a spot where you can’t see him unless you’re really looking for him,” said Johnson, who had to complete an eight-hour training course to gain WED certification. “We’re not trying to get people to shoot our decoys.”

The ideal spots to plant Scruffy are about 30-40 yards off to the side of heavily traveled, two-lane public roads, said Johnson. To ensure safety, game troopers like to put him against an embankment that will catch stray bullets.

“Safety is absolutely our No. 1 concern when implementing the program,” said Johnson. “The area has to be safe to ensure that nobody gets hurt, and we carefully survey the area ahead of time before setting Scruffy up.”

Nobody gets hurt, that is, except Scruffy. Over the years, his body has served as a pin cushion for virtually every type of ammunition in existence. Arrows, .22 shells, even rocks, have all been hurled his direction.

“Overall he’s been a very effective tool for us,” said Johnson. “It’s really astounding the lack of compliance we have.”

A typical Grant County WED operation consists of three Oregon State Police troopers, a specific complaint or target area, and of course, Scruffy. One trooper sits on the opposite side of the road from Scruffy and waits for a violation, while the other troopers stay in their squad or “chase” cars, out of sight near the sting.

In one incident, a motorist shot about $100 worth of arrows at Scruffy from the road. His last shot, a 25-yard broadside, finally hit the “deer,” but when Scruffy didn’t move, the shooter just hung his head and waited for Johnson to make contact with him.

“But I don’t consider these operations to be successful at all,” said Johnson. “I would consider a successful operation one in which the decoy is observed by numerous hunters, and no one attempts to take it.”

But not everyone who shoots at Scruffy is breaking the law. According to Johnson, as long as the motorist makes an attempt to get off the road and into legal position, he or she won’t be given a citation. If they don’t, and shoot at Scruffy from the comfort of their vehicle or while standing on the road, then a ticket is warranted.

“Basically, we put an animal in a known location, with officers present, and then the individual decides what he or she is going to do,” said Johnson. “The person has to make that choice for themselves.”

Most of the time, the people requesting a WED operation in a specific area are hunters themselves because they don’t want their rights taken away, added Johnson.

As a whole, Johnson believes the program has been effective and beneficial to Grant County. The operations turn up more people honking their horns or throwing rocks in an effort to get stationary Scruffy to move.

“Because of this program we have a lot of people thinking twice, and that’s really great,” he said.