LIVERMORE FALLS – The Jay-Livermore Falls Hunting Club is offering a $250 cash reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for destroying the club’s deer and bear weigh-in scale at Puffin Stop.

Hunting season has started for bear, and bow hunting is under way for deer. The club is trying to get a scale to replace it.

Not only is the Chattilon brand scale a valuable piece of equipment during the hunting season, said Jeff Newcomb, a club member, it also has sentimental value.

“It’s been in the club for more than 50 years,” Newcomb said. His father, himself, and his son have all had deer weighed on the scale over the years. Other members have had generations of use of the scale as well.

“We’ve had that scale forever,” he said.

He was scouting for parts in an effort to get the scale fixed but said they were going to have to buy a new one. They’ll be out $2,500, including the cost to replace the damaged, destroyed hoist and getting a replacement scale, Newcomb said.

Cynthia Smith, manager of the service station that serves as a tagging station for hunters, said she came to work Sunday and did a routine tour of the building on Main Street.

She noticed the bar that the scale hooks to was bent and the scale was in pieces at her feet.

“It was horrible,” Smith said.

She called Livermore Falls police and then club members to report the damage.

“We were very disappointed and very upset,” Smith said. “We are the tagging station and assist the hunting club. They’ve been doing this for over 30 years. We’ve never had a problem with vandalism with any of the hunting equipment. This is a huge ordeal.”

“It’s a $1,700 scale, and we just had it redone and recalibrated,” Newcomb said. “I just put it back up last week.”

When he heard the news Sunday and went and looked at where the scale had hung, he said, “I almost had a knot in my stomach . . . We’ve run this hunting club since 1955. It’s bow season. We’re right in the midst of crunch time. It’s a hard hit to our hunting club. We’re a nonprofit organization. It’s not like we have tons of money.”

They just put up a new new electric hoist from Cabellas to make it easier for the people weighing the deer, he said.

Police Lt. Thomas Gould said that officer Joe Sage has some leads in the case.