By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The property south of Portage has a wealth of wildlife, both flora and fauna. It’s something the property owner values. Unfortunately, uninvited visitors avail themselves of those treasures.
Poachers help themselves to the morel mushrooms. They shoot the deer — sometimes leaving them to die, their corpses littering the woods. Some still have arrows protruding from their bodies.
Last weekend an intruder was caught on camera digging up the ginseng that grows in the woods.
The Wood County Sheriff has identified the suspect, according to a post on Facebook.
The property owner had discovered the medicinal herb, especially valued in Asia, on his lot. “I love being out in the woods discovering new things.”
He then purchased seeds to enhance the patch with wild simulated ginseng. “I figured seeds are cheap enough. I’d let it grow.” It would bring in money when he retired. Ginseng sells for $630 a pound.
The herb takes four to seven years for the root, the part that used, to be harvested.
Now, a stranger was helping himself.
The image was caught on a trail camera set up with the property owner’s permission by a friend to monitor deer on the property. The neighbor shared the images taken around midnight Saturday.
The property owner reported the incident to the Wood County Sheriff’s Office, who listed the violations as theft – beyond express / implied consent and criminal trespassing. The victim wasn’t expecting much. Deputies had more important things to do. But on learning they’d identified the suspect, his response was: “I guess they’re really good at their jobs.”
The victim also contacted the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ county wildlife officer.
Though ginseng typically grows in more southern climes, the wildlife officer said it’s sprouting up more often in Wood County. The property owner said that it appears ginseng was taken from other properties. A plot of state owned land is near his woods.
The victim hasn’t harvested any for sale. He did pull and dry some to show. He chopped some up to make tea, the traditional way of consuming ginseng. “It didn’t do anything for me,” “he said. “It kind of tasted like dirt.”
The monetary loss is not the point, he said. It’s the sense of violation.
He found five holes where the plant was dug up. And the intruder returned on Friday night apparently disturbing about a dozen more plants.
It would have to be someone who knew the area to know where the plants are. “He has to be local enough to know it’s out there,” the victim said.
“It’s hard to say how much he dug up.” The intruder’s pack was flat in the first image from last weekend, but bulging in later pictures.
He suspects the intruder was poaching on other properties including on nearby state land.
(This story will be updated)
