Public's Help Sought in Deer Poaching Case

The remains of an illegally killed doe mule deer were discovered recently and Fish and Game is asking the public for information to bring the poacher to justice. Citizens against Poaching (CAP) is offering a reward for information in the case and callers can remain anonymous. Contact CAP at 1-800-632-5999, twenty-four hours a day. On Sunday afternoon, passersby noticed deer parts wrapped in a green tarp behind the Albertsons store at the corner of East Lexington and Apple Streets in southeast Boise. A call to Fish and Game brought Conservation Officer Matt O'Connell to the scene where he discovered a freshly killed and hastily butchered doe mule deer. "The deer had been quartered and skinned, and most of the remains had been left wrapped in a green tarp," O'Connell said. "Parts of the hindquarters and backstraps were taken, but the entire front quarters and parts of the hind quarters were wasted having been left sitting on the hot pavement in the heat." An Albertson's grocery store employee spotted a dark blue 1980s model Chevrolet truck leaving the area where the deer was dumped. Meat samples were collected for possible DNA matching and other evidence was collected at the scene, but O'Connell noted that an eyewitness to the crime would move the case forward quickly. "Someone in addition to the poacher knows about this case and we'd like to talk with them," O'Connell noted. "And we'd like to visit with anyone who may have seen the deer and tarp being dumped at the location."