Two teenage boys have been charged in Roseau County with poaching five fawns and two does at night, using their pickup headlights to blind the deer so they could easily be shot, state conservation officials said Thursday.
A 17-year-old from Wannaska was charged with taking big game without a license, gross-misdemeanor taking big game with artificial light and gross misdemeanor transport of illegally taken big game. A 16-year-old from Roseau was charged with the same counts as well as wanton waste.
Three of the fawns were found near a church and the remaining carcasses were found around Malung in central Roseau County, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said.
"What I see here are some kids that used poor judgment," said Roger Tietz, a DNR conservation officer who oversees special investigations. "These type of things, they don't happen very often, but they happen. People ask me, 'Are you shocked?' I'm shocked, and I see some kids who went astray."
The alleged poaching occurred early in the 2009 firearms deer season. A DNR officer received complaints about teens with lots of deer in a pickup. A license plate number led to the two teens.
PAUL WALSH
