Poached deer - Houston, MN

[nonteepical]

if his record is clean, i doubt much will happen to him.

[LightningBG]

Can this really be considered poaching? I always figured poaching was taking wild animals or the "states" animals. Shouldn't this just be considered "criminal destruction of property"? Just like if you shot a farmers cow, you wouldn't be a poacher, would you?

[fishuhalik]

really? you guys think this kid should be charged with a felony? kids are dumb. they do dumb stuff, Lord knows i did. thankfully my judge had leniency since i had never been in trouble before. i learned my lesson & i haven't been in trouble since, & like to think i'm a decent guy now. sure, the kid needs to pay for what he did, & if he's a repeat offender throw the book at him. however, don't ruin a kids life because of 1 stupid move like that. obviously violent crime & whatnot are a different story. sorry, my .02

[LightningBG]

I think he should have to repay the value, maybe double the value and go on probation for a few years. No reason to "throw the book at him" and turn him into a real criminal (by putting him in jail).

[Farmboy1]

really? you guys think this kid should be charged with a felony? kids are dumb. they do dumb stuff, Lord knows i did. thankfully my judge had leniency since i had never been in trouble before. i learned my lesson & i haven't been in trouble since, & like to think i'm a decent guy now. sure, the kid needs to pay for what he did, & if he's a repeat offender throw the book at him. however, don't ruin a kids life because of 1 stupid move like that. obviously violent crime & whatnot are a different story. sorry, my .02

I think we have all done things that we wish we did not, but this buck could be considered to be very valuable, and over the cost of a felony. I don't think it is poaching, but I do think it is criminal destruction of property, theft, vandalism, use of a dangerous weapon and probably many other charges.

I hope he gets all he has coming to him.

[james_walleye]

I believe it was stated earlier here that this is not a poaching case, it doesn't involve wild game. It is destruction of property and its a pretty safe bet this buck was worth well over $5,000. So yes that is certainly a felony.

[LightningBG]

Amazing that some deer is worth 5K+. I think I'm in the wrong line of work.

[fishuhalik]

Amazing that some deer is worth 5K+. I think I'm in the wrong line of work.

+1!

[Mr.Outdoors]

Poaching a deer is a felony? I doubt it but I could be wrong.

Indeed it is a felony. I know a guy that got caught poaching deer in that same area (SE MN)Im guessing around 20 plus years ago and he was nailed with a felony.And he had a clean slate with no record when he got caught by the DNR.. Guess it depends on what kind of mood the judge is in...

[Getanet]

More details were just posted to the Star Tribune HSOforum. I had no idea these deer were worth that much:

A 20-year old man from Rushford, Minn., has been charged with felony theft for allegedly shooting a 21-point domesticated deer in a pen with a bow and arrow, then claiming he killed it in the wild.

Ryan Lucas Jackson also faces three other counts of trespassing, criminal damage to property for allegedly cutting a fence to remove the trophy buck, and unauthorized release of animals. Several other deer escaped the pen in the Dec. 8 incident, and two remain at large.

The 21-point, 3 1/2 year old whitetail, used in breeding, was valued at $15,000 to $20,000. The antlers scored 212 1/8 under the Boone and Crockett scoring system, meaning it was a world-class trophy animal.

According to the complaint filed in Houston County, officials didn't have any trouble solving the case: Jackson posted a photo of himself with the rare deer on his Facebook page.

Officials recovered the deer head and antlers at Jackson's home, according to the complaint. The complaint says that Jackson told a sheriff's deputy that he went to the farm owned by Joshua Woodard early in the morning of Dec. 8, shot once at the deer and missed, then crawled into the pen and shot the deer in the neck. He said he cut the fence and dragged the dead deer to the highway.

According to the complaint, he allegedly drove home, got his father's pickup, and returned for the deer. He took the deer to a farm where he had permission to hunt, gutted the animal and told the landowner's daughter that he had shot the deer there. He then registered the deer.

Ten other deer escaped through the hole in the fence, and eight of those have been recovered, but two remain missing, the complaint says. One is an eight-point buck valued at about $10,000 and the other is a smaller buck valued at about $2,000.

Jackson is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 17.

[WalleyeChamp]

WOW

[fishuhalik]

uh oh. he in TROUBLE!!!

[mrklean]

not smart at all wonder if they will be asking for jail time $20k+ in damages pretty big mistake for antlers

[tracker x-2]

Uh oh lol not very bright posting on my face with it

I also agree with others a felony is not needed unless he has a history of this stuff, but to repay all the damages (fence and lost deer value) would be suitible. along with a couple years of probation.

[DaveT]

If he broke into my business and stole 20 to 30 thousand dollars of my product, I'd want more than my money back and a couple years of probation. Being a i[Note from admin: Your post has been edited. Please read forum policy before posting again. Thank you.] is not an excuse for leniency in my opinion.

[TonkaBass]

Uh oh lol not very bright posting on my face with it

I also agree with others a felony is not needed unless he has a history of this stuff, but to repay all the damages (fence and lost deer value) would be suitible. along with a couple years of probation.

I think he should loose his hunting rights forever for being a loser. He should also get tacked with a felony for sure. Who does something like that???? Unreal. I doesn't matter if he had a prior record. He has one now!

[james_walleye]

Uh oh lol not very bright posting on my face with it

I also agree with others a felony is not needed unless he has a history of this stuff, but to repay all the damages (fence and lost deer value) would be suitible. along with a couple years of probation.

Pretty black and white issue. It's clearly a felony.

[certified jumbo]

I beleive he should repay all loses. But he's a 19 year old. Lots of bigger fish in the sea. Young adults tend to do really stupid things, he may turn out to be a ok man. He may not. Time will tell.

[james_walleye]

He desroyed a piece of property worth 15-20 grand and other pieces of property valued at $12,000 are missing. Not sure what part of that doesn't say felony? Ask the man who's property is down the sh**er if this guy should get a free pass because he's only 19, he might be an ok guy, and there are bigger worries in the world.

[RumRiverRat]

Antlers and big panfish have something in common.

They make people act like idiots.

[Muskie456]

He really isn't all that bright. He posted it on his face book page, really. I am just amazed that he didn't think he would get caught. Hunting aside, we are talking about a substantial amount of money here. If it happened to me I would want to be compensated for my losses and then some. He can not pay me back being someones girlfriend in prison. I think he should loose hunting rights for 5 years, be put on probation and get his a$$ to work paying me back.

[11-87]

Hunter faces charges after shooting at area deer farm

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Posted: Jan 02, 2012, 8:40 am

By John Weiss

The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

CALEDONIA — A rural Rushford man faces time in prison and a large fine if found guilty of going into a enclosed pen on a rural Houston County deer farm Dec. 8, shooting a 21-point buck valued at $15,000 to $20,000 and dragging it out through holes he had cut in fences.

Ryan Lucas Jackson, 20, of 44982 Plummer St. is also accused of releasing about 10 deer that got out of the hole in the fences. Two of the deer didn't come back and they were bucks, though smaller than the one shot.

He was charged last week in Houston District Court with felony theft, gross misdemeanor trespass, and misdemeanor fourth-degree criminal damage to property and unauthorized release of an animal. His first appearance is set for Jan. 17.

[Musky Buck]

He should've learned his lesson from that big 8 the year before being the situation it turned into, there are still 2 on the loose from them basically breaking and entering or how'd the deer get out. Friend played mailbox baseball one drunken night and had to wait 16 years before he could go to Alex tech and become a cop so I don't think a felony would ruin this kid, didn't ruin a good friend of mine, he found other work for 16 years, paid the price, now he can live out his dream. When you're snipping that fence and your heart rate goes to 220 a minute, he knew it was more than trouble coming if caught.

[Predator]

I got an email with the pics/story of that disgrace the week before Christmas. Never ceases to amaze me how truly dumb and disrespectful some people really are. 20 years is plenty old enough to know far better than to do something like that. Even if that punk figured he'd get away with it, how can he be at all proud of that? How can he smile for pics with it or show off the mount in good conscience? I dont get it. That is a spectacular buck but it would do absolutely nothing for me to kill it illegally in a pen like that. I could never feel right about it.

Hopefully, he is punished to the fullest extent of the law and truly learns a lesson.

ETA: my dad would have kicked my [PoorWordUsage] if I ever disgraced my family and myself like that.

[bobbymalone]

Would you guys be all up in arms if he shot the prize cow out of the pasture?

Just saying.