Pennsylvania Game News - August 2013 - 35

said he didn’t know anything about
the bait. Yet, as I started to explain to
him about some of the items I had seen
already and had, he quickly realized I
knew more than he thought I might.
As I continued my investigation, I
checked his licenses. I noticed an antlerless deer tag and license separated
with blood stains. So I questioned
him about that deer: what happened
to it; why wasn’t the tag filled out? I
was fishing; I wanted to know if he
was preparing to reuse the tag. At that
point, he told me he had shot a deer
and had his friend tag it.
I also asked him if he could tell me
anything about a white deer that had
gone missing in this area. I had several
credible tips that suggested he poached
it. He said he knew nothing about it. I
already had multiple trail-cam pictures
of the deer in this woodlot, along with
reports from several hunters who saw
it. The deer was a young piebald buck
with distinctive brown spots across its
body, including its head. I reminded
the man it was a young, protected buck
and he again replied, “No, I don’t know
anything about it.”
At this time, I requested to check
anything else he was carrying to ensure
officer safety. He told me all he had was
his cell phone and a knife in a sheath
on his belt. I had asked him to place
his knife and cell phone on a stump
until we completed our investigation.
After I had completed my investigation, I told him we would head back to
our vehicles where I could finalize my
notes. As we went back to our vehicles,
I asked him if there was anything on
his phone that would assist me in the
ongoing investigation into the white
deer’s disappearance. He told me no.
I next requested to seize his cell
AUGUST  2013

phone, so I could review its recorded
pictures. He didn’t want to lose possession of his phone and finally admitted
it had images of the white deer on the
phone. He agreed to show them to me
if he could keep his cell phone. He
signed a “consent to search” form. I
was able to view piebald deer images
on his phone and then emailed them
to WCO Jerrold Czech.
But just as we secured the images for
evidence, he started to change his story.
“Well,” he said, “I guess you mean the
white deer that my goddaughter shot?”
“Well, I asked you about a white
deer,” I reminded him.
I could see he was thinking as he
went. He tried to plan out his story.
I learned that the deer was shot last
season within the statute of limitations
of two years and near where I found this
man, adjacent to the cemetery. The
cemetery had a unique fence line that
was built from tree branches that were
visible in the pictures.
When I got the photographs, we collected data from their image properties
to help identify their GPS coordinates,
and then also decided to meet at a
later time to speak to the individual
and his goddaughter about the white
deer. I then went back to the area to
post it as a baited site to protect other
hunters who might enter the area. I also
took photos within the area where the
images of the white deer were taken by
this man. When I zoomed into the photos, it was easy to match the location.
I met with this man and the goddaughter’s father at a later date to
complete the white deer interview.
The suspect didn’t know I had already
spoken to the taxidermist who was
mounting the piebald deer for him.
They repeated the goddaughter story,
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Pennsylvania Game News - August 2013

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