Object of research: activities on illegal logging and the activities of law enforcement agencies in pre-trial investigation of this type of crime. Purpose: to develop, on the basis of the provisions of the general theory of criminology, the results of generalization and analysis of forensic practice of the basics of the methodology for investigating illegal logging. Methods: general and special methods of cognition, in particular: dialectical, abstract and dogmatic, formal-logical methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, analogy, classification, comparison, generalization, modeling, etc.), system-structural, structural-functional , statistical and sociological (questionnaires and interviews), etc. Theoretical and practical results, scientific novelty: the forensic characterization of illegal logging is comprehensively studied; highlighted and disclosed the content of its most significant elements: the situation and the subject of a criminal offense; methods of cooking, committing and concealing a crime; traces and consequences of criminal activity; the offender; The ways of committing illegal felling of the forest are described and described in detail, such as: household quarrying, commercial felling, as well as cutting, carried out on the basis of permits, but with gross violations of the rules of logging (the so-called "gray felling"); The typical investigative situations that are formed at the initial stage of pre-trial investigation of this kind of crimes are distinguished, in particular: 1) the signs of committing illegal trafficking are established, the person (the offender) is detained on a hot one; 2) signs of illegal trafficking have been established, signs of the person of the offender have been established, but the latter has not been detained; 3) the signs of the commission of illegal felling are established, no signs of the person of the offender are established. Based on these situations, their varieties are presented, the relevant directions of investigation, investigative versions are formulated and algorithms of investigation (search) actions, organizational measures for their solution are proposed; Improved: theoretical and practical provisions regarding the activities of the investigator on the assessment of the primary material and the decision to initiate a pre-trial investigation on the grounds of illegal felling of the forest, in particular: the typical sources of the introduction of information to the ERDD are singled out; the algorithm of the operational duty is formulated during the receipt of an application (notice) about the illegal felling of the forest to the next part of the department of the National Police; recommendations for checking the received primary information on a criminal offense were proposed, in order to ensure the adoption of a well-founded decision to initiate a pre-trial investigation; provisions for the classification of typical traces of this type of crime. It is proposed to allocate traces of preparation, commission and concealment of crimes against illegal logging, in particular: vehicles (tracks of a tread, caterpillars) and their adaptations (hydromanipulators, foot supports); paint and varnish coatings and fuel and lubricants; guns and mechanisms of sawing and felling of wood, as well as fragments of the teeth of the working part; hands (remain on the tools of the crime - saws and axes), teeth (remain on the remains of food), biological objects (saliva, hair, blood, in the event of a trauma at the scene of the crime) and suspect shoes; clothes and fibers from it (can be found on trees, branches and tools of a crime), as well as other objects left by the offender at the place of felling; vehicles; means of illegal felling; cut timber; theoretical foundations and practical recommendations on the organization and tactics of conducting an investigation, interrogating persons involved in illegal logging and interrogating witnesses during the investigation of illegal felling of forests. Practical significance: the results obtained can be used in the research area to further improve the methods of investigating the illegal felling of the forest; in the field of lawmaking to improve the regulatory regulation of illegal logging activities and the activities of law enforcement agencies in pre-trial investigations of this type of crime. Scope of use: in teaching and methodical work in the course of "Criminology" course, preparation of textbooks and study aids, as well as during training in the system of training of employees of the investigation units of the National Police of Ukraine.
