My friend and I decided to leave from his home in Sparks nevada to give his new Rhino a try in sept of last year. As we reached maybe two miles behind the houses we noticed a dead deer body. As we aproached the deer we noticed it was very fresh. The deer had been caped and the back strap had been removed. I automaticly asumed that the deer had been poached and left. What was odd was the fact that there was a stick wedged in the ribs to cool the buck. I then thought that since it was ML season , That maybe someone shot it there that morning and made a trip out with the head and straps. After some debate we decided to call it in anyway. The next day we met the NDOW warden and headed up the hill exspecting the deer to be gone. When we arived the deer was just like we left him. After a few pictures I felt like I was in an episode of C.S.I Reno. The warden started dicecting the deer looking for clues. After about an hour he found the 400 grain sobot that had killed the deer by entering the spine and deflecting through the heart.(BAD SHOT). After taking DNA from the deer we left him there for the dogs. Very hard to do knowing theres alot of good meat there still. After a few weeks I recieved a call from an excited warden. Then had tracked down the man that shot this deer by taking DNA from every buck that was at the taxidermists in the reno area. They asumed the deer was at a taxidermist since the deer was caped. Once the shooter was found they determined that he shot the deer in northern washoe and brought the deer home planning to process it untill he got lazy and just left him to rought. The man was charged with wanton waste and charged 12 demerits to his license. He also lost hunting rights for 5 years in 27 western states. On top of that all items used durring the crime were siezed by NDOW. After watching this process I have a whole new respect for our wardens. The quad the warden showed up on was a ratle trap. He told me that the only reason he has one is because it was siezed, Other then that they are in truck or on foot only. Those guys work hard for our deer. Below is a pic of the deer that was taken today in the office of the warden. The buck was 29 wide and 29 tall.
