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PRICE — A man who told conservation officers he shot at a deer to scare it away from eating from his hay bale on a trailer was charged in 7th District Court last month with illegally killing a 19-inch buck deer, state wildlife officials said Tuesday.
Jesse Leroy Davis, 36, of East Carbon, was charged with wanton destruction of protected wildlife, a class A misdemeanor, on March 27 for an incident that occurred on Jan. 17, charging documents show.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officials said they received a report on Jan. 24 about a possible deer poaching case. A conservation officer and a East Carbon police officer gathered information from the tipster and eventually went to the home of an acquaintance of Davis. They found the head of the deer in the acquaintance’s yard, according to the wildlife agency.
Davis arrived at that home later and spoke with the officers before leading them to a small ravine, a little more than 1,000 feet from the home, where the rest of the carcass was located, DWR officials said. The agency added that he later told officers he shot the deer while trying to scare it away from eating hay from his trailer but told conservation officers he did not hit the deer with his gunshot.
DWR points out it does offer permits to landowners to kill deer that damage crops, but the agency said Davis did not have a permit for that purpose. The incident also is believed to have happened after the state’s deer hunting season ended.
Davis is scheduled to appear in court on June 15, according to court records. Those records did not list a legal representative for him.
If convicted, he could be fined, forced to pay restitution, and even have his hunting license suspended.
The charges are the latest development in ongoing poaching cases across Utah. Earlier this month, conservation officers began seeking public information regarding eight deer that had been illegally killed in Wayne County over the past few months. They also asked for the public's help in gathering information about six elk illegally killed in Summit County sometime between December and January.
A Washington County man was also charged in November with a felony count of wanton destruction of protected wildlife in 5th District Court. That case remains ongoing.
The DWR asks anyone with information about poaching cases to call its UTIP Hotline at 1-800-662-3337.
