Illegal Deer Take in Greene County

GREENVILLE — A hunter recently paid a penalty in Greenville Town Court for illegally harvesting a deer. 

On November 30, ECOs Milliron and Palmateer were at a butcher shop in Greene County to drop off a confiscated deer for donation to a local venison donation program when they observed another deer being worked on by butcher shop employees. The deer appeared to be recently harvested. The tag attached to it was from the 3M Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) in the Hudson Valley region and contained information indicating it was taken in the Town of Goshen, Orange County, approximately 100 miles south of the butcher shop location.

The Officers grew suspicious that a deer shot, tracked, gutted, dragged out, and transported 100 miles north was still warm enough to be releasing steam during the skinning process. They interviewed the hunter who harvested the deer, and the individual ultimately confessed to shooting the deer in the Town of Greenville (WMU 4H) where he did not possess a valid Deer Management Permit, which would have been required to lawfully tag the deer. He used a tag he had for another area instead.

The subject received tickets returnable to Greenville Town Court and paid a $500 fine. ECOs confiscated the animal and donated it to a local venison donation program to help feed food insecure New Yorkers.