Residents say rare deer illegally killed

The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s northcentral office received a call at 5:18 p.m. on Dec. 12 — the last day of rifle deer season.

According to the caller, a “white deer” had been illegally shot by a hunter near Clarence. The caller and many neighbors along Birch Run Road were upset.

No doubt, a tragedy had occurred that day, but as events unfolded, the tragedy was compounded. First, however, let’s revisit how it all began.

Six-and-a-half years ago, twin piebald fawns were born to a normally-colored brown doe near Clarence.

A piebald deer has unusual brown and white spotting patterns — very rare. Although a piebald deer can appear almost entirely white, they are not albino. In addition to their atypical spotted coloration, other differences can occur, including a hooked or Roman nose, an overly arched spine (scoliosis), longer tails, shortened legs and underbites. The piebald condition results from a genetic defect, leaving affected deer with a survival disadvantage.

Neighbors noticed the oddly-colored fawns and enjoyed watching them. One of the piebald fawns eventually disappeared, but the other one grew into an adult doe — often seen in the area along Birch Run Road.

The piebald doe had normal-colored twins several years in a row, including 2015. Neighbors fed the deer, and as the calendar pages turned, the piebald doe became less wary of people.

“You couldn’t pet it, but it would let you get within 10 yards,” one neighbor related.

Several states have regulations to protect white deer. Iowa even has a law protecting any deer that is 50 percent or more white. Neither albino nor piebald deer are protected in Pennsylvania.

That brings us back to that fateful day in December. Hunting is a way of life in and around Clarence and Snowshoe. Consequently, it should have been no surprise how this story about the tame piebald deer might end.

A yet-to-be-identified hunter was likely traveling on or standing near a semi-abandoned dirt road nearly two hundred yards from Birch Run Road. He saw the piebald deer and made two quick shots. The piebald doe ran off, but dropped moments later.

One of the people living along Birch Run Road heard the shots and saw “their” spotted deer struggling, and then expiring, within the safety zone of one of the houses. The hunter, traveling by all-terrain vehicle, arrived to tag and field dress his deer. He was confronted by one of the neighbors.

According to his records, Wildlife Conservation Officer Mike Ondik arrived on the scene at 6:13 p.m. He had been in the middle of investigating a deer baiting incident elsewhere in his western Centre County district when he received the call.

“It was dark and raining when I arrived,” Ondik said. “There were lots of people milling around the dead deer — some were crying, others were angry and using threatening language. The term ‘lynch mob’ was used by at least one of the onlookers.

“I interviewed bystanders and learned that there were no witnesses to the actual shooting — at least none that came forward,” Ondik said. “The person who had confronted the hunter supplied an ATV registration number for the ATV’s plate.”

The hunter was nowhere to be found when Ondik arrived. He hypothesizes that the hunter had been threatened or advised to get out of there.

“The crime scene, if there was a crime, was highly compromised by the local people. It seemed that everyone in Clarence was there,” Ondik said. “If someone calls in to report a crime, it would be better if they steered clear of the scene, rather than trampling potential evidence.”

Working quickly by flashlight in the rain, Ondik was able to locate and mark with flags exactly where the deer was standing when the bullets hit it. From the direction of the blood splatter and hair, he was also able to hypothesize where the hunter had been when he made the shots. The dead deer was confiscated as evidence. Ondik left the scene at 7:59 p.m.

Ondik returned in the daylight on Dec. 15 and photographed the scene. He took measurements from where the deer was shot and determined that both the deer and the hunter were outside of any safety zone when the shots were fired.

“The deer and the hunter were on what I believe to be public property — owned by Snowshoe Township — when the shots were taken,” Ondik said. “It measured 159 yards to the nearest building — a shed.”

A safety zone, where hunting requires written permission, is 150 yards from an occupied building.

WCO Dan Murray, whose district includes Clarence, continued the investigation — checking into the ATV plate number, which turned out to be incorrect.

“I ran the DCNR registration number and it came up empty,” noted Murray. “Then I tried all of the other number and letter combinations that might make sense if the witness just read it wrong. All of those also came up empty, except for one — an ATV registered to a man from Lancaster County. He had an alibi.”

Questions remain: Did the hunter illegally take the shots from his ATV? Did he possess a valid antlerless license for Wildlife Management Unit 2G? Did he have permission to be hunting in that area? Did the hunter chance upon the piebald doe or was he actively looking for it?

In the weeks that have transpired since the incident, the investigation has hit a dead end. In addition, the Game Commission has been denigrated in social media for not arresting the hunter.

“I’d really like to talk with this hunter, to hear his side of the story,” Murray said. “As of now, this is an open case and we have the piebald deer in the evidence freezer in Jersey Shore. If the deer was legally harvested, the hunter can claim it.”

If anyone has additional information, they are encouraged to call the northcentral office at 570-398-4744.

So many things went wrong here.

First, the deer was tamed by well-meaning people. Second, a hunter was chased away from what might have been a perfectly legal harvest. Third, an incorrect ATV plate number was recorded, and finally, evidence was disturbed by local residents before the scene could be investigated.

“All of the bad things that could possibly happen occurred here,” Ondik said. “The fact that the deer was habituated created a very emotional situation.”

While it is still legal to feed deer in most of Pennsylvania, including all of Centre County, wild animals are best left wild. If animals lose their fear of humans, negative consequences can often happen. In this case, we have a dead unclaimed deer, a hunter without a possibly legally-harvested deer and many unhappy people. Quite possibly, none of this might have happened if the deer had been treated as a wild animal in the first place.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 8:35 PM with the headline "Residents say rare deer illegally killed."