I'm Sticking To My Story

By SGW Max Crocker

Deer season was passing with the normal frustrations and routines of a Game Warden. Years of accumulated knowledge and information about local game violations were long ago formulated into strategic plans to catch and re-catch those who seem intent upon violating our game laws. But even with all that knowledge and the incredible activity of deer season, it usually seems as though you are never where you should be. Even when everything seems to be coming together perfectly, that unfortunate roll in the land or any of a thousand other obstructions block your view of the actual shot and that perfect case. Being a Game Warden is not only a lessen in frustration, but of patience. Its call after call, complaint after complaint. There are sportsmen with questions that must be answered. There are landowners with trespassing problems and shots heard late in the night. There are hunters with reports of road hunting activity and other violations, and then there is the wife reminding you that the only time she has seen you in the last week is when you have stopped by the house once in every 24-hour period to shower, shave, and get a clean change of clothes. Each call is answered and evaluated as it comes. Violations in progress demand an immediate response. Many calls are documented and later investigated, others are discounted as only perceived violations or off the wall complaints. The wife's calls are usually answered with unkept promises.

Near the middle of this past deer gun season I had one of those calls that I really didn't know how to classify. In a long and rambling story a local man told me that he had killed a really nice 10 point buck early in the first week of season. Later that same day he took his deer to the local taxidermist, and while there saw the antlers of a huge 8 point that had supposedly been killed on the Optima Wildlife Management Area. The man went on to say that he did not know the man who had killed the deer, or could not even remember his name, but there was absolutely no way a buck that large could have been killed on the WMA. During the conversation I asked the man where he thought the deer may have been killed. He said that the only place a deer like that could come from in this area would be north of Goodwell. This seemed like an unreasonable claim, but was also very interesting because a landowner north of Goodwell had recently mentioned to me that a large buck he had been seeing near his house for the last two years had just disappeared. I wondered if my caller was a jealous hunter, or actually knew more than he was telling me. There was something there that made me suspect the later, so I decided to file the information away and check into it when things slowed down.

After deer season I made a trip to the local taxidermist to check on this big 8 point. After looking at every deer rack in the taxidermist's shop I could not find an 8 point matching my informant's description, but there were two large 10 points that were at least in the right size range. I knew the man who had killed the first, and even knew exactly where he had killed it, but the second was killed by someone I didn't know. A quick check in my deer check books showed that the deer was killed on the Optima WMA on November 11, with archery equipment. I asked the taxidermist if he remembered anything about the man who brought this particular deer in. He said he remembered him well, he was a young man about 23 years old who must be a really good hunter because he was having a tough time deciding whether to have this particular deer mounted because he had killed three or four larger, all with a bow. The taxidermist also told me that an official Boone and Crocket scorer was to be there the following day to score it. With that information I decided that even if this wasn't the deer my informant had told me about, it was definitely worth looking into.

The deer check book gave me a Guymon address, and with a little work I was able to find the man's new address in Goodwell and meet with him. After identifying myself, I showed the young man the entry in the deer check book and asked if he had indeed killed this particular deer and checked it in. He said he had, so I asked him if he would give me the details of his hunt. He was a polite young man, fairly calm and very confident, but his story was incredibly unemotional, routine and rehearsed. I then asked him about his archery equipment, and after about a dozen questions and half as many inconsistencies, there was no doubt in my mind that not only did this man not kill his deer with a bow, he had probably never killed a deer with a bow in his life. I was also becoming fairly confident that my informant knew more than he had told me, so I decided to without actually accusing this young man of anything, test him a little bit. In a sincere and confident manner I said, "For the last month I have been investigating the disappearance of a large deer that lived near a ranchers house north of Goodwell, and my evidence leads me to believe that your antlers at the taxidermist in Guymon are in fact that deer." He immediately asked who the landowner was, and after giving him the name of the most prominent rancher in the area, there was a long silence. I then told him that 35 miles was an unreasonable distance for any deer to travel in such a short time, and asked if he could explain how he killed this deer 35 miles from where we know it lived. For the first time in the conversation the young man looked me straight in the eye and actually said "I'm sticking to my story"

I had a lot of suspicions from the beginning of this investigation, but at that point I not only knew that the deer had been killed with a rifle, but that it had been killed somewhere north of Goodwell. I could see the arrogance and determination in this man and I knew I was going to have to back up my claims with good solid evidence. As soon as I was back on the road I called the taxidermist and asked him to lay the frozen cape out to thaw. I then made a quick trip north of Goodwell to look for that proverbial needle in a haystack. There is lot of country north of Goodwell, and although all I really had was a hunch, that, "I'm sticking to my story" statement really got to me. I was working on adrenaline as I spent the rest of the evening inspecting and following vehicle tracks that had driven off the main portion of county and field roads hoping to find drag marks, and eventually a kill site.

By daylight the following morning I was back at it, and by mid-afternoon was quickly losing my drive. I decided to take a break and walk a section of river bottom where the landowner had been seeing his big deer. Within about 30 minutes I picked up a really nice shed antler. It rejuvenated me, and I started thinking that a shed antler off our deer might be better evidence than month old tire tracks, and with DNA analysis, just as good as blood or tissue evidence. Two hours later and there was another shed. At 40 yards I could tell it was nice, but the closer I got the more excited I became. Most mature deer antlers are unique in some way, and the 10 point at the taxidermy shop was no exception. As soon as I had this shed in my hands I knew I had found what I was looking for and was headed back to my vehicle and to the taxidermist.
As soon as I made it to the taxidermist and held the shed antler up to the 10 point rack there was no doubt that it came from the same deer, it was a perfect match! I couldn't have been any happier, that is until I asked for the cape and spread it out on a table before me. At first glance I knew it had been shot with a gun. There was high velocity impact bruising throughout the neck area, and within a minute or two I had found small caliber entry and exit wounds. An xray from the local veterinarian showed a single lead bullet fragment. We collected and preserved this evidence, then fit the cape over a deer head and shoulder mannequin with two sections of arrow shafts lined up from entry to exit wounds showing the bullets path through the deer's neck. This simple technique showed that the bullet passed an inch or two in front of the vertebra, undoubtedly causing massive damage to the main arteries and trachea. I could not make the claim that the deer dropped where it was shot, but it was without a doubt a fatal wound that the deer would have died from within a few minutes. All evidence was photographed, documented, and labeled with evidence tags.

The completion of the case wasn't exactly routine. The suspect hired one of the best attorneys in the area and refused to talk or make any additional statements, so from that point on all communication went through his attorney. While explaining the trespassing charges to the attorney, I told him that in addition to other evidence, we had a shed off the deer from the previous year that we were matching to the suspect's deer with DNA analysis. He lowered his eyes and slowly laid his pen down on the table. From his reaction I felt that he had come to the conclusion that we had just put the last nail in the young man's coffin, but after a long moment he slowly looked up at me, and while shaking his head said, "You know, I knew that snake's shed their skins, but I didn't know deer did."

In the end we got our points across and the defendant plead guilty to "Killing a deer in a closed season," "Giving false information to a check station," and "Hunting without landowner consent." Fines, cost, and additional fees totaled nearly $1,500, plus his lawyer's fees, but I suspect our defendant is still way ahead of the game.

At the end of the month as I was doing my monthly reports I started wondering just exactly where I may have been when this particular deer was killed. I pulled out a copy of my November reports, and although I still don't know exactly when or where the deer was killed, chances are I was within five or six miles. In the wrong place again, but luckily things do occasionally come together in the end.