Man in jammies poached robot BambiBy Gus Burns, The Saginaw News, found at MLive.com
December 06, 2009After three shots struck the deer in the chest and it still didn’t drop or run, a would-be poacher knew something was wrong, a Department of Natural Resources conservation officer says.
That’s when the man fled, said Sgt. Ron Kimmerly. Firearm deer season lasted from Nov. 15 through Nov. 30. About 9 a.m. Nov. 22, Kimmerly said, two DNR officers were ready to pull the man over.
The Taymouth Township scene was an example of high-tech rules enforcement for an age-old pastime.
Kimmerly’s department hasn’t completed tabulating the arrests for the season, though he said they are “about the same” as past years.
“A lot of bait issues,” he said. “A lot of people are still illegally baiting.”
Officers boxed the man in from the front and rear with DNR vehicles and issued citations of trespassing and possessing a loaded, “uncased” weapon in a motor vehicle, both misdemeanors punishable by up to $500 and 90 days in jail, Kimmerly said. The man is overdue to appear in Saginaw County District Court for arraignment, Kimmerly said.
Minutes earlier, clad in camouflage, Kimmerly had crouched in a field beside Seymour Road with a remote control in his hand, waiting for someone to take the bait. Across the road, about 40 yards into a field, was what looked like a whitetail deer out for a late-morning graze.
Two out-of-view DNR “chase cars” stood by.
A man in a pickup pulled up, took notice of the deer, stopped and pulled out a gun, Kimmerly said.
Kimmerly recognized him from an encounter 10 years ago, when the man was charged with “taking an illegal deer,” a crime bearing a minimum sentence of five days in jail, a maximum of 90, $1000 in restitution to the state, up to $1,000 in fines and loss off hunting privileges for the current and three subsequent hunting seasons. Kimmerly said the man, who was wearing flannel pajamas and slippers, was not dressed for a hunt. Legally, hunters must wear hunter orange on at least half their body, visible on all sides.
Manipulating the controls on the remote, Kimmerly moved the tail and turned the head of the deer — really a $2,000-plus decoy fresh out of the shop, one of about 12 the 10-county DNR district, including Saginaw, Bay and Midland counties, owns. Its plastic foam body contains wires and mechanisms concealed by the pelt of a whitetail.
It was the decoy’s first appearance of the season, Kimmerly said.
“After each time this guy shot, I made the deer look at him, and after he shot, I had it look away,” Kimmerly said. He said the man was accurate, hitting the unflinching deer in the chest each time.
“From what I could see, he was surprised,” Kimmerly said.
After three hits in a minute on the presumed animal, the hunter “actually turned around and looked back where I was” on the opposite side of the road, Kimmerly said. The man then drove away.
When DNR officers pulled him over, the man said he was on his way to a friend’s house when he saw the decoy.
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2009/12/dnr_man_in_jammies_caught_poac.html
