Man cited for illegal deer pays fines

UPDATE:

PETERSBURG, W.Va. — A Mineral County man was convicted and paid a total of $3,327.25 for four citations stemming from the killing of an 11 point buck earlier this month.

Alvin Pearce, 53, of Keyser, was assessed $50.75 fine and $160.25 court costs for illegal possession of wildlife.  He was fined $75.75 for hunting without a license along with $160.25 in court costs.  The violation of falsifying a check tag resulted in a fine of $20.00 and $160.25 in court costs.  Finally, Pearce paid $2,700.00 in replacement costs for the deer.  The confiscated rack had a 161 5/8 green score through the Pope and Young scoring system.

When contacted by MetroNews, Pearce had no comment. However, he posted the following message to the original story at wvmetronews.com:

 “I’m the guy that killed the buck. I’m not hiding from anyone. Was bow season in?..yes. Was I hunting on private property with permission?.. yes. Did I shoot the buck?.. you bet. Was I aware I needed a class Q endorsed license?.. nope, never heard of it.. I’m     good to go now. Did I know I was posting an illegal deer? Nope..did I call DNR to see if they could score it? Yes..they said January. Bottom line, ignorance is no excuse for not knowing or understanding the rules of hunting. I have no ill feelings towards the     DNR whatsoever. It’s their job..so i took my medicine and paid the tickets.”

ORIGINAL STORY:

ROMNEY, W.Va. — A Grant County man faces citations for game law violations after Natural Resources Police discovered the massive buck he showed off on social media turned out to be illegally killed.

Natural Resources Police received a complaint from a man who believed a buck he had been watching on his trail camera had been killed, but the hunter who claimed the animal was not being truthful about where he actually killed it.

“The complainant found out somebody had killed an 11 point buck and had a picture of it on a Facebook page,” said Lieutenant Brad McDougal. “When he compared the pictures it had some distinguishing characteristics which made him believe it was the same deer.”

Officer Adam Kuykendall got the case and made the comparison of the two pictures. Kuykendall agreed they appeared to be the same deer. Upon further investigation, Kuykendall found however, the Facebook deer had been checked in as a landowner kill in Mineral County and confronted the hunter.  McDougal said the location on the check tag was 40 miles from the original trail cam site where the deer had been spending all its time in Grant County, raising suspicion.

“When the individual was questioned, It was determined the deer was in fact shot with a bow and arrow in archery season. The deer was killed in Grant County,” said McDougal. “The defendant did have permission to be on the property where he was hunting, however he did not have a hunting license and he falsified the check tag. He took it to another county, checked it in, and lied about the location of the kill.”

Although the citations were issued and filed in Grant County Magistrate Court, McDougal and the DNR would not identify the suspect in the case.  MetroNews has been unable to confirm the suspect’s identity. As of Friday, he had not made an appearance to answer to the charges at Magistrate Court in Petersburg.  He’s cited for hunting without a license, falsifying a check tag, and illegal possession of wildlife,

The deer was a bruiser.  It green scored at 161 5/8ths on the Pope and Young Scoring System.  The buck’s antlers had a nearly 22 inch inside spread. The measurements are key to the case because the fine structures become much more severe for large racked bucks.

“There’s a $200 replacement fee for the deer itself,” explained McDougal. “But that 22 inch inside spread ups the fine by $2,500. It’s a total replacement cost of $2,700 because of the rack’s size.”

McDougal said the suspect owns land in Mineral County where he claimed he killed the deer. McDougal added the land where the deer was killed was not the land owned by the person who filed the complaint.

“Somebody can come in and give us just a little information and sometimes it works out,” said McDougal. “Also, so many people hunt and claim landowner status when it’s not true.  The moral of the story is you can do that for 20 years, but eventually it might catch up with you.”

McDougal also credited Corporal Brian Nuzum, Officer Brett Simon, and Officer Terry Srout for their work on the case.   Officers confiscated the deer’s rack in the investigation.





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