Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 11
Behind the Badge
By Bill Cosenza
Delaware County Deputy WCO
The Fate of
Whale Tail
I
N LATE February 2012, I received
information from several hunters
that a very large buck went missing.
This group of hunters had been seeing
the animal regularly throughout the
season and assumed the animal just
went nocturnal, but weeks passed and
the buck just vanished, no sightings,
no trail camera pictures, no sheds and
no one who they knew claimed to have
legally taken the animal.
My first call was to WCO Jerry
Czech to inform him of possible illegal
activity concerning the trophy class
buck appropriately named Whale Tail,
and that I would keep him informed of
the case as it progressed. I was able to
obtain a trail camera photo of the buck,
and during my initial research found
that the word on the street was the
deer had been found dead on an area
farm along Hemlock Road, and that
the “game wardens” were asking a lot
of questions about the large buck that
had had its antlers sawed off.
I quickly contacted local taxidermy
shops for more information. I made
several contacts, but still had no luck
learning the location of this buck. With
all the mystery and hype on the street,
JULY 2013
my gut feeling was that this animal was
in fact possessed illegally, and I had to
find it. No one believed this buck suddenly become nocturnal. There was no
record of anyone requesting a permit
if the buck was a roadkill or shot for
crop damage.
It wasn’t long until a photo surfaced
on the Internet of a man holding a
large set of antlers with the skull plate
attached. Through extensive training
and casework with PGC biologist Bret
Wallingford, I knew no two antler
configurations were the same. Whale
Tail had many unique characteristics,
including his signature left beam that
ended looking like a whale’s tail, hence
the name “Whale Tail.”
A detailed comparison with the trail
camera photo confirmed that it was
Whale Tail. I reached out to several
people, but no one recognized the man
in the photo holding the rack. I was
able to use the properties in the photo
to help provide GPS coordinates of the
surrounding area. I knew I was getting
close, but I had to work fast.
The next day I received a tip that a
Peter Marks knew who had the antlers.
On Friday evening, March 9, I went to
11
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - Cover1
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - Cover2
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 1
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 2
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 3
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 4
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 5
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 6
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 7
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 8
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 9
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 10
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 11
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 12
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 13
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 14
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 15
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 16
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 17
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 18
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 19
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 20
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 21
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 22
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 23
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 24
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 25
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 26
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 27
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 28
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 29
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 30
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 31
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 32
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 33
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 34
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 35
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 36
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 37
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 38
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 39
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 40
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 41
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 42
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 43
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 44
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 45
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 46
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 47
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 48
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 49
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 50
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 51
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 52
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 53
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 54
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 55
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 56
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 57
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 58
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 59
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 60
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 61
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 62
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 63
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 64
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 64a
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - 64b
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - Cover3
Pennsylvania Game News - July 2013 - Cover4
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