New York State Department of Environmental Conservation police arrested an Oswego County man on Aug. 6 accused of widespread deer poaching.
Oswego County Assistant District Attorney Gleason charged the alleged poacher with grand larceny, criminal mischief, criminal possession of a weapon, and illegally taking protected wildlife.
ECOs began investigating the man on Nov. 7, 2024, when a concerned landowner called 911 after hearing gunshots on County-owned posted property near Rikers Beach Road in Scriba.
Two people were reportedly target shooting at the location and had been removed from the property by a state trooper. The shooters later admitted to an ECO of firing two rifles at the site, claiming they had just been sighting in their guns.
DEC police officer Armstrong, with help from K9 Falcon, arrested an Oswego County man accused of poaching more than 30 deer in the past five years.NYS DEC
The ECO noticed that the site was overgrown with waist-high brush, had no clear shooting lanes, and was not a place where any experienced shooter would choose to sight in rifles. He also found a freshly killed and field-dressed buck on a well-used deer trail.
A DEC K9 unit located the original shooting location, the gut pile from the dead deer, and a spent casing from the same type of rifle one of the shooters had admitted to firing.
A forensic analysis by state police on one of the shooter’s phones also revealed a trove of incriminating photos, messages, and open admissions tying him to the illegal killing of more than 30 deer in the last five years.
Given the scale of damage to the local deer population, the alleged poacher was taken into custody without incident and the case will be heard in Oswego County Court.
ECO Dickson holds a red-tailed hawk he rescued from a well in Oyster Bay on July 22.NYS DECThe following reports are excerpted from DEC:
A red-tailed hawk chasing after frogs flew into a well in Oyster Bay on July 22 and got stuck. An ECO wrapped the raptor in a blanket and placed it in the sun to dry. A wildlife rehabber determined the bird was dehydrated with some sort of coating on its feathers, causing them to remain stuck together. The rehabber provided it with fluids and a bath. The hawk is improving and will be released soon. For a list of certified rehabbers in NY, visit the DEC website.
A Cooper’s hawk got trapped inside a screened in porch in the town of Copake on July 23. An ECO safely captured the bird and took it outside where it flew up to a nearby power line before flying out of sight.
On July 19, an angler at Basswood Pond in Otsego County was ticketed for possessing undersized black bass and taking over the daily limit of five fish.NYS DEC
Undersized and over the daily limit of fish were common themes in statewide ECO fishing compliance checks last month. Here are some of the more notable cases:
- On July 19, an angler at Basswood Pond in Otsego County was ticketed for possessing undersized black bass and taking over the daily limit of five fish.
- On July 20, a group of anglers were ticketed for taking 77 undersized blue crabs at Osprey Park in Mastic Beach, Suffolk County. Most were still alive and released to the water.
- On July 30, a Suffolk County angler was ticketed for taking six striped bass all measuring greater than the maximum allowable 31 inches. The fish were donated to a wildlife rehab center for osprey and bald eagles.
- On Aug. 3, an angler in Niagara Falls was ticketed for netting fish in a small creek with cast net, and for fishing without a license.
Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com
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