MADISON, W.Va. — Social media and an aggressive member of the DNR’s law enforcement arm solved a highly publicized poaching case in Boone County.
Three Boone County residents were cited over the illegal shooting of a young albino deer near Madison. The snow white colored deer was shot from a truck along Route 17 back on Sunday evening. A resident found the deer dead and reported the incident to Boone County 911.
“The shooters didn’t get the deer. They were going to get it, but somebody scared them and they drove off,” said Natural Resources Police Officer Dakoda Chattin.
Chapman used the power of social media to start generating leads.
“The Facebook page really helped us get a couple of names and through basic research we’ve had some contact with these guys before,” said Chattin. “I went and talked to them and they admitted fully in their statement they did it.”
The agency didn’t released the names of those cited. Boone County Magistrate Court also didn’t have the names when contacted.
The alleged violations included hunting without a license, hunting out of season, having a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle, shooting from a motor vehicle, shooting from a public road, and using an illegal firearm for deer hunting.
“They were using a .22 mag,” said Chattin. “Even when it’s deer season you can’t use that.”
Chattin said he was fairly confident the case would be solved quickly just because of social media. The online site has become a haven for reporting illegal activity. Officers also have a lot of luck discovering illegal activity on line.
“A lot of times these people like to brag,” Chattin said. “Even though they did it illegally, they like to brag so that was kind of what I was hoping for.”