inn. hunter charged with poaching trophy buck
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http://www.startribune.com/photos/?c=y&img=1BUCK.jpghttp://www.startribune.com/photos/?c=y&img=2deer1113.jpgDNR conservation officer Maj. Rod Smith said hunter Troy Reinke could face jail time if convicted of poaching. “We take this very seriously,” Smith said. “The natural resources of Minnesota belong to all of us.”
By DENNIS ANDERSON, Star Tribune
Last update: November 12, 2009 - 11:11 PM
Troy Alan Reinke drew back his bow on Halloween evening, targeting a whitetail buck with 8-point antlers larger than any recorded in history.
Reinke's broadhead flew true, and soon he and two friends were dragging the huge whitetail out of the Goodhue County woods.
But there was a problem. Legally, Reinke could kill and register only one deer, and on previous days he had already killed a doe and smaller buck, neither of which he had registered.
The would-be world-record buck Reinke killed on Halloween was poached, as were the other deer, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which on Thursday announced a 13-count case against the 32-year-old Cannon Falls man.
The antlers the DNR trotted out at Thursday's news conference were so big that they appeared at first glance to be those of an elk.
"Millions of deer are harvested nationally each year,'' said DNR big-game coordinator Lou Cornicelli. "The probability of harvesting one [with a rack] this big is just infinitesimal. It doesn't exist.''
If convicted, Reinke would be required to pay $2,000 in restitution for the three illegally killed deer, in addition to losing his big-game hunting privileges in Minnesota for three years. Jail time is possible, DNR conservation officer Maj. Rod Smith said.
"We take this very seriously,'' Smith said. "The natural resources of Minnesota belong to all of us.''
Bow or firearm?
DNR conservation officers were tipped off by other hunters that the big buck might have been killed illegally. Reinke subsequently admitted he had killed three deer, each with a bow, according to the DNR. The antlers were confiscated Friday.
Rumors that the trophy buck, which reportedly dressed out at 269 pounds, was killed with a firearm and not a bow are being investigated, Smith said.
The frozen hide of the big buck will be examined when it thaws to determine if gunpowder or other residue is on it.
In addition to the rack and hide, the DNR confiscated meat from all three deer and Reinke's bow.
Reinke has a criminal history in Minnesota for convictions for fifth-degree criminal assault and domestic assault. The DNR also previously cited him for fishing with an extra line, and, separately, issued him a written warning for not carrying a fishing license.
He killed all three deer on privately owned land near the town of White Rock, in Goodhue County, the DNR said. The land was not his own.
Smith said the two friends helped Reinke drag the big deer out of the woods won't be charged.
The rack is nearly perfectly symmetrical, one side to another, one tall tine to another, and has an inside spread of 28 3/8 inches.
"Without looking physically at the lower jaw, it would be difficult to age the deer,'' Cornicelli said. He estimated the animal to be 5 or 6 years old.
Chuck Corcoran, a Hampton taxidermist who processed the deer for Reinke, scored the rack at 192 inches gross and 188 net.
Neither Boone and Crockett, a record-keeping club that registers trophy animals killed by any means, nor Pope and Young, which registers trophy archery kills, categorizes antlers by the number of points alone.
Scores are instead determined by totaling an antler's points, their length, the circumference of the main beams and other measurements. If the antlers displayed Thursday by the DNR score as high in 60 days, after they dry, as Corcoran measured initially, they would appear to be the highest-scoring 8-point rack on record for a whitetail deer killed by archery.
Pope and Young won't register antlers from a deer killed illegally. But Boone and Crockett is more inclusive, and Smith said Thursday that the DNR might in the future attempt to register the antlers in the name of the state, not Reinke.
Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.
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Dennis Anderson: A massive buck's undeserved demise
An alleged poacher's taking of a likely world-record 8-point buck was a crushing blow to hunters who followed the animal for years.
The whereabouts and meanderings in recent years of the world-record 8-point buck were known only to a select few hunters. These hunters followed the rule of fair chase in pursuing the big buck not only because they abide by game laws but, more importantly, because they respected the regal animal and its ability to stay alive against long odds. News from the DNR that the monster whitetail nicknamed "Fred" might have been poached on Halloween evening near White Rock, Minn., in Goodhue County was received "like a punch in the gut," said one hunter, whose interview appears below. The hunter asked not to be named.
Q In recent years, you've watched and hunted the big 8-point buck the DNR says was poached near Cannon Falls.
A Yes. We could have shot it various times, if we would have done it illegally, or out of season. We've seen him several times. Sometimes crossing a road at night. Or after legal shooting hours.
Q When did you see him first?
A Four years ago, the Thursday before the gun season. I was brushing my teeth that morning, looking out a window, and saw him. He was following a doe. I could see that he was unique right away. Wide, with good mass. And, like now, he was an 8-pointer.
I would guess his inside spread back then might have been about 22 inches, compared to the 28 or so he is now. He was just a really good deer. Nothing of the caliber he turned into. But really good.
Q Did you hunt his sheds in winter and spring?
A I did, but I didn't find the first pair until after the hunting season of '07. We also found the ones that grew in '08. They just kept getting bigger. They were huge. I thought, "This is a great deer." This year they got bigger again, when I compared last year's sheds to the ones of the deer killed on Halloween. Not so much in the spread or tine length. The tine length actually went backward a little. But in mass. We always figured one year he would regress in antler size. But he hadn't yet. It's my belief he was 7 1/2 or 8 1/2 years old.
Q Who knew about this deer?
A As far as I know, there were two guys and one woman, myself included. We've been really tight-lipped. The first year I saw him I took some video and I shared the video with some friends. I didn't do it right away. But finally, I just had to show someone and said I can't keep this to myself anymore. So for the last three years we've had tremendous camaraderie centered on this deer. We knew what we were hunting. Then again, we figured that because there were only three of us hunting specifically for this deer, it probably wasn't going to happen.
Q What do you know about the habits of this buck?
A He was nocturnal, as you would expect. He would slip up occasionally, which gave us hope. Somewhat surprisingly to us, he was shot about 4 miles away from what we believe was his home range. We knew he stayed close for the most part, and we knew where he spent most of his time. We never bothered him there.
Q Did you ever shoot at him?
A I took a shot at him four years ago with a muzzleloader during the muzzleloader season. It was about a 100-yard shot. I had my muzzleloader zeroed at 100 yards with bipods. But shooting with bipods is different than shooting when you are excited. It was a clean miss.
Q Outside of the hunting season, how often did you see him?
A Every once in a while, my neighbor or I would see him. You just knew with that spread that it was him. We probably had six confirmed sightings of him among the three of us over the last few years. Which raised a question for us: Did he also have a summer range that he moved to? Maybe. But we don't think so. In our hearts we believe he lived year-round near us.
Q In Zone 3, which is southeastern Minnesota, are there many deer drives during the firearms season? Are there deer drives near where you live? If there are, it would seem this deer wouldn't have been able to hide for as long as he did.
A I agree. But around here, there really isn't much deer driving. I know a lot of my neighbors and they all stand-hunt.
Q Did you score any of the sheds you found?
A Yes. Last year's sheds, for instance, were in really good shape when we found them. When I add in the spread of the antlers taken on Halloween, I'm guessing they would have scored 180-185 typical. Symmetry was the nicest thing about this buck. In my mind it's the fact that he had only 8 points that made him so special. And his mass and spread were unbelievable.
Q Did this buck, elusive and ghostlike that he was, inspire you as a hunter?
A He did in many ways. One was that I knew as I hunted him and thought about him that I could never, ever, ever live with myself if I killed him any way except by legal hunting. The guilt and regret you'd feel the rest of your life would be unbearable.
Q Did he have offspring in the area that were noticeably similar?
A I shot a deer Nov. 1st I thought might be him actually, or a son of his. My deer wasn't as wide. But we hadn't seen Fred -- we called the big deer Fred -- this fall yet. So I thought this might be him. I called my neighbors and said I may have shot Fred. They came over to help find him. I wasn't convinced it wasn't him. We were divided because of the similar characteristics. Some said it had to be him. Others said no it can't be.
Q What did your buck score?
A He grossed around 165 as an 11-pointer. I think I have 8 to 10 inches of deductions, so he'll go about 155 typical as an 8. I was very happy shooting that deer. It's the biggest deer I ever shot.
But I've come to realize in recent days that my deer wasn't Fred. That didn't bother me. But hearing that Fred might have been taken illegally was like a punch in the gut.
I feel robbed, and I hope other Minnesotans feel robbed also, especially everyone in the area. They were all robbed. Particularly my neighbor's kids and grandkids. Just the thought that there was a giant deer in our area killed illegally changes their perspective on hunting this year.
I have friends who had deer poached near their homes. These big bucks are smart and they're nocturnal. You see this too many times, that these deer are killed illegally.
We have a new shining law this year, and I'm glad we do. In accordance with that law I've posted my land against shining. In the past all you could do is watch them shine your property and your neighbor's property and wait to see if a gun goes off. Now, if you're posted and someone shines your property, all you have to do is call the DNR.
People need to be vigilant. Keep the Turn In Poachers number handy. Plug it into your cell phones. Call the DNR. Conservation officers would rather have too much information than not enough. Let's try to make a positive out of this tragedy and reduce how often it happens in the future. These are everyone's resources.
Dennis Anderson • danderson@startribune.com
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Chris Niskanen: Alleged poaching incident leaves land owner disappointed, not angry
Alleged poaching incident has caused landowner Ivan Terwilliger to lose some faith and made him wary of giving access to hunters.
Chris Niskanen
Updated: 11/14/2009 07:43:24 PM CST
WHITE ROCK, Minn. — You might expect Ivan Terwilliger to be an angry landowner.
And an even angrier deer hunter.
After all, the whitetail buck with the world's largest eight-point antlers was allegedly poached on Terwilliger's family farm on Halloween. The man charged in Goodhue County last week with the crime, Troy Alan Reinke, lives down the road, and Terwilliger gave him permission to hunt on the property.
Moreover, Terwilliger, an avid deer hunter, hasn't been hunting yet this year. He hunts the 3B deer season in southeast Minnesota, which opens Saturday, and he's never, ever seen a buck as big as the one Reinke shot.
To add insult to injury, Reinke told investigators he shot three deer on Terwilliger's property and, according to Terwilliger, never stopped by the house to report any of them.
"I had to find out about it from my neighbors, who stopped by the following Monday (after Halloween) and said, 'Did you hear about the big buck shot on your property?' " Terwilliger said. "It seemed odd that he didn't stop and say he had shot the deer."
But is he angry?
"It's disappointing," said Terwilliger, 46. "I've lost some faith in the outside world, which I hope in the long run isn't true."
Reinke, 32, was charged Thursday with 13 counts of illegally hunting deer. According to the criminal complaint, he told Department of Natural Re-sources investigators that he shot a small buck and doe with his bow on the Terwilliger property in October and never tagged or registered them. He returned on Halloween night and shot the monster eight-point buck, which measures 185 net inches on the Boone and Crockett scale and would be the largest eightpointer ever measured.
He was charged with two counts each of illegally transporting big game, failure to validate a deer license, failure to register a deer, not tagging a big-game animal, taking deer over the limit and taking deer without a license. He faces one count of a gross over limit of big game.
DNR investigators arrested Reinke on Nov. 5 after photos of the buck began circulating on the Internet and tips began coming into the agency's Turn in Poachers hotline.
Reinke told investigators he shot all three deer on the Terwilliger family farm, but investigators are still checking to see if the trophy eight-pointer was killed on the property. They also are still checking on whether the trophy buck was shot with an arrow. If not, Reinke could face additional charges.
Tips are still pouring into the DNR about the case, the highest-profile deer investigation in recent years.
My repeated calls to Reinke have not been returned.
I met with Terwilliger on Friday on his family farm, where we went for a hike along the picked cornfields and thick oak woods that make southeast Minnesota prime habitat for whitetail deer. We saw many large deer tracks and several rubs on trees made by bucks.
"You can see why there are a lot of deer here," Terwilliger said. "It's good deer habitat."
Terwilliger's story is an unfortunate mirror of the sometimes-shaky state of hunter-landowner relations in southeast Minnesota.
The case has made him reconsider his family's long-standing belief that they don't need to post no-trespassing signs on their property. That a deer would be allegedly poached by someone from the community ("I know his dad better, but he's an acquaintance," Terwilliger said of Reinke) makes him wary of who gets permission to hunt the land.
Terwilliger said rarely are hunters turned away from his property if they ask permission. The deal is usually done on a handshake. On Friday, a neighbor and his grandson were hunting deer on the property, and Terwilliger said he hoped they saw a deer. "It's his first year out," he said of the hunting teenager.
"It's nice to see somebody who has never gotten a deer get one," Terwilliger said. "Maybe it's someone who has not had a lot of patience or luck. Or someone who is new to deer hunting and never had a chance."
I asked Terwilliger if he felt cheated by the fact a trophy deer was taken illegally on his property.
He said it was the first he had thought of it.
"Since it was taken illegally, yes," he said. "It wasn't so much I was cheated, but anybody who hunts was cheated out of taking it legally. It's just wrong. Now I'm thinking it would have been good to take that deer. But it would have been better if my youngest nephew had shot it. That would have been even better."
Terwilliger isn't interested in big antlers, though. When his 3B season opens Saturday, he won't be gunning for a big rack.
"My Dad and my brother's philosophy is if you shot a buck or doe, you shoot it because it's food," he said. "You don't shoot if because it has a big rack. Let's say you have a buck at 30 yards and a doe at 20 yards. If you have a better shot at the doe, you take the doe."
Terwilliger doesn't farm anymore; he rents the tillable farmland to his neighbor. His grandfather bought the original farm in the 1940s and a neighboring farm was purchased in the 1960s. Out of 495 acres, 195 aren't tillable. Some of that land is thick with brush, making it a good place for deer to hide out.
After giving Reinke permission to hunt, Terwilliger said he didn't hear from him the rest of the fall. He never knew about any of the deer shot on the property. And he had never seen, or heard, that the trophy eight-pointer was lurking about.
When a poaching or trespassing incident occurs, landowners get frustrated and upset. It makes getting access to private property even more difficult.
"With hunter numbers going down, it's a big problem," said conservation officer Tyler Quandt. "Having good private landowner relations is very important for the future of hunting."
Terwilliger is looking forward to his hunt Saturday, but the poaching incident has marred this season.
"To do something like that is really selfish and greedy, and it's not good sportsmanship," he said. "That's not the way I was brought up, and that's not the way his dad brought him up. I don't know what ever possessed him to do that."
Chris Niskanen can be reached at cniskanen@pioneerpress.com.
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Eight-pointer had the genes
Pioneer Press
Updated: 11/14/2009 07:43:59 PM CST
The whitetail with the world's largest eight-point rack ever measured probably was an older deer that never grew more points.
Lou Cornicelli, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources big game coordinator, said the illegally killed buck from Goodhue County likely had the genes to be an eight-pointer its entire life.
As it grew older (some estimates put its age between 5 and 6 years), its antlers never grew more points. Instead, they grew longer and more massive.
A final score will be taken after a 60-day drying period, but its net Boone and Crockett score is 185.
After examining an estimated 21,000 deer in his career, Cornicelli said he never has seen one like it.
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