Officials searching for person behind bizarre Arizona deer killing
Nov 10, 2015, 5:20 PM | Updated: Nov 12, 2015, 2:01 pm
The deceased deer is shown. (Arizona Game and Fish Photo)
(Arizona Game and Fish Photo)
PHOENIX — A $2,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the person behind a bizarre deer killing in southern Arizona, a Game and Fish official said.
A caller notified the department last week after discovering the body of the deer about two miles from the Arizona Trail near the Catalina Highway, close to Tucson.
“The decapitated White Tail buck was tied to a tree in the area of Molino Basin,” Game and Fish Public Information Officer Mark Hart said.
Hart said the deer had been shot before being decapitated, and the killing has Game and Fish officials scratching their heads.
“What’s weird about this case is that the deer isn’t even attached to the tree in the way if you were going to skin it out and gut it after a hunt,” Hart said. “It was tied at the base of the tree in a more or less standing position.”
Game and Fish officials have no idea why the animal was left this way.
“This guy needs to be caught,” Hart said.
The Game and Fish Department is calling the killing a poaching. The maximum penalty for poaching is six months in jail and a $750 fine for each count.
Anyone with information on the killing are asked to contact Operation Game Thief at 800-352-0700 and refer to case No. 15-003611. Tips can be left anonymously.
