[marlboroughpd]

What is this shit that the EPOs are the only ones that have the authority of disposing deer? I heard that POs and friends of POs cant get a hit deer. My dad is a league delegate for the Worcester County League of Sportsmans Clubs and a couple of meetings ago, Bill Davis the Central District Manager for MassWildlife spoke at the meeting saying there arent enough EPOs to deal with all the incidents where deer are hit by cars, so authority to get rid of the deer is turned over to the Local PD of the city/town of the kill and that the deer is supposed to be disposed of in a manner that benefits the Commonwealth. Well today I found that out when, I dont know who did it, a big deer was ground up at the dump with a grinder. That is good meat going to waste and dont see how that benefitted the Commonwealth. Someone please clarify this for me.

 

[spd722]

Don't know were you heard that, but at my department we give first shot at the deer to the person who hit it, then we have a list we call. We also issue a Road Kill Deer Report ticket that was issued to us by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The claimant must report deer for tagging within 24 hours.

 

[marlboroughpd]

That is basically how it is done in Marlborough, except for today. My dad is usually the first one to get the call for a deer and he was today. An ACO (Animal Control Officer) told my dad today that a deer was hit and asked him if he wanted it and said yeah. Not long afterward he hears from the dispatcher about POs or their friends not being able to get deer. The dispatcher got it from an email that one of the command officers sent out to the night shift. I dont know what to make of it. The fact of the matter is a good deer was wasted.

 

[LenS]

I suspect that one can get different stories on what can/should be done depending on who you ask!

~4 years ago a deer hit us . . . it was ~11PM and the deer ran into our right front fender, then took out the right headlight (pop-up) and hood. $3K damage and that was at ~20mph.

Called the PD and ~15 minutes later two of our officers responded and apologized for the delay as they had to put a deer down at the other end of town. We never discussed what to do with the body (it was "sitting" down staring at us when they arrived, then "sighed" and expired) as I'm not a hunter and the only hunter/butcher I knew was a friend in his 70s with an unlisted phone number (I had it back home from my gun club records) who wouldn't be pleased hearing from me at that hour.

Out of curiosity I called EPO HQ a couple of days later and asked. Was told that it had to be left totally intact until EPO tagged it a day or so after it was killed (that would have ruined the meat) and it better not have any bullet holes in it (we came close to needing to put it down before the officers arrived, it tried to get up a few times and it would have wandered into the road). Someone else told me that this info was bogus, so I called again and got a different story (that yes, I could gut it prior to EPO tagging it)!

I'm just as glad to have left it there, partly out of fear of the glass (no doubt) embedded in the deer's stomach from the broken headlight. Don't know or care what happened to it or if the officers took it home! I might have had a different reaction if the accident had happened at 3PM instead of 11PM, but I hope never to have to find out again.

 

[SOT]

This is the correct answer. I seem to remember that you take the ticket to a deer check station (some say only the reginal check stations run by the state) and they tag it based on your drivers license not your hunting license.

Don't know were you heard that, but at my department we give first shot at the deer to the person who hit it, then we have a list we call. We also issue a Road Kill Deer Report ticket that was issued to us by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The claimant must report deer for tagging within 24 hours.

 

[Guest]

About a month ago, a guy in a pickup stopped to say he had found a deer that had been hit. He had this buck in the back of his pickup. I looked at it, and called EPO. They told me to have him get it tagged and it was his.

He wasn't even the one that hit it, no damage to his vehicle at all. Injuries indicated to me it was hit by something other than a bullet.

 

[marlboroughpd]

We have gotten so many hit deer over the years, I have lost count. Not once did an EPO get involved nor did we ever get it tagged.

I dont know why someone didnt just come out and put the deer out of its misery. I am a hunter and try to make a shot that would kill the deer or whatever I hunt as quickly as possible. Why would they just let it lay there having to suffer more than it needs to. Around here, if there is a hit deer that doesnt die, an officer will come right out and shoot it. If the deer takes off, the officers will make their best effort to find the deer and shoot it. I know some of the surrounding towns fart around when it comes to doing their job and they also like to take the easy way out, but they dont fart around and take the easy way out when there is a wounded deer running around. 1. there are guys out there that want the meat 2. people are going to call screaming about a deer dragging itself around with bones sticking out of itself 3. it feeds those F'ing coyotes

 

[SOT]

Normal folks can't discharge firearm within 150 feet or a public way/hard surfaced road or within 500 feet of an occupied building without the owners consent.

Shoot a deer at the side of the road, go to jail.

Shoot a wounded deer in front of Joe Smiths house on his lawn and he didn't say it was OK, go to jail

Shoot a deer in or out of season without a license or over your license limit, go to jail.

In towns where the ACO isn't sworn and isn't under the direct direction of the BOH for PAC (like beavers) or the police ...even (s)he shouldn't be plugging any wild game out of season or in "restricted areas".

 

[LenS]

I can't answer for everywhere but I can answer for my town and my incident.

- PD policy is if you draw the gun you have to fill out a long report. Officers don't like writing reports! Don't know for certain, but I would suspect that any officer who fires their gun (for any reason) will go thru an "inquisition" by the chief! [In my 17 years as a Special PO, I drew my gun only twice due to circumstances but neither case was it drawn against a person. I never filed any reports, but our chief then was 100% RKBA and he wouldn't have hassled us. Current chief is a whole 'nother story.]
- Our chief is 100% anti-gun, hates them and has cursed that he has to carry one when on duty. He even initially refused to issue any new LTCs when he came into town. [Important, see later.]
- When we hit the deer (er . . . it hit us), the deer did a somersault and landed sitting on its legs (looked like a postcard picture) at the edge of a driveway on a relatively busy street. The family who lived there came out, Mother, Father and kid to see what happened. People in house across the street stepped out on front steps. The deer just stared into my headlights (I wanted to blind it to prevent it from trying to get up and wander) and the pose was such that many would guess that the deer wasn't really hurt. A couple of times it attempted to stand but couldn't get off the ground (broken legs no doubt).
- If anyone had shot the deer at this point, the phone calls and letters to the editor would have flown about how someone recklessly shot an innocent deer that "wasn't hurt" (live in a classic "tree hugger town"). With families standing around it would be real ugly to do that with spectators. [My Wife actually wanted me to call a vet for the animal, so she would probably never have forgiven me if I had shot it.]
- I am no longer a police officer, and although I was CCW'g a 9mm, I would only have used it if the deer got up and started wandering around in traffic (a clear and present danger). Also, not being a hunter, I would not have known positively where to place a bullet for a one-shot, instant kill without chance of ricochet (hitting skull bone?).
- If I had drawn my gun, the chief would have had my head and probably my LTC as well!. He just loves to find excuses to revoke LTCs.

 

[LenS]

Normal folks can't discharge firearm within 150 feet or a public way/hard surfaced road or within 500 feet of an occupied building without the owners consent.
<snip>
Shoot a wounded deer in front of Joe Smiths house on his lawn and he didn't say it was OK, go to jail
<snip>
In towns where the ACO isn't sworn and isn't under the direct direction of the BOH for PAC (like beavers) or the police ...even (s)he shouldn't be plugging any wild game out of season or in "restricted areas".

SOT, are you absolutely positive that one that hits a deer can't legally put it down there? MA laws are so screwy, this wouldn't surprise me. If you had to get permission from everyone who lived within 500', it would take all night and then some to talk to each homeowner (at 11PM!). . . the animal could die of old age first. And the tree huggers would never give the OK anyway!

Although I am a Constable and we have LE authority, I know that the chief disagrees (and he's the one who issues my "discretionary" LTC) so I don't need a world of shit for putting a deer down!

I've talked with our ACO (I don't know her LE status if any) and she absolutely refuses to carry a gun or kill any animal. She told me that she calls the PD. I know her and I think that she should carry just for self-protection (from an animal that might try to attack her). I think she is being foolish, but that is her choice.

 

[LenS]

Worth noting, our prior ACO was sworn in as a Special PO and has had MPA stickers on his cars forever. [None of the rest of us Special POs were allowed to join MPA, I asked.]

 

[marlboroughpd]

I am talking about the POs shooting the deer, not some nobody coming out of nowhere. As far as I know, Marlborough POs dont have to fill out a report for drawing their gun and also putting a wounded deer down. They would put a wounded deer, squirrel, dog, you name it down 1 ft. away from a house and nobody questions them. My dad almost capped a coyote right off the highway because he hates them and they have infested MA. The reason he didnt shoot it was there were obviously a lot of cars coming and you know what an animal lover would do if he/she saw him cap a healthy coyote. Luckily the Marlborough PD chief as well as many other officers are also hunters and dont question these types of things.

BTW - We were able to get a deer tonight that was hit in Southborough. I dont know how Marlborough got authority of the deer. Nobody seems to think that Southborough PD heard of the deer getting hit. This is causing me to go into a major state of confusion on the matter of getting rid of deer.

 

[SOT]

Out of his town, not on a mutual aid request, no report, that's a good job of poaching.
By chance did he shoot it with his more than 9mm accurate .40 S&W? While wearing motorcycle boots with a full steel shank? Or did he shoot through a crowd with an AR-15? Did you guys strap any wigwags on it and take pictures to keep motivated?

I'll raise VOR one wingnut and call with a poaching violation.

BTW - We were able to get a deer tonight that was hit in Southborough. I dont know how Marlborough got authority of the deer. Nobody seems to think that Southborough PD heard of the deer getting hit. This is causing me to go into a major state of confusion on the matter of getting rid of deer.

 

[frapmpd24]

Many departments have a call list if a deer gets hit and the person who hit Bambi does not want to stuff it in their Honda Accord and bring it home. If someone wants it there are deer claim forms for this purpose. It a carbon copy form and gets filled out with the driver/vehicle information and has to be tagged within a certain time frame.

Also, alot of departments (without chiefs that are anti-gun :shock have it in their firearms policy that the deer maybe put down if it's suffering (common sense) and submit a to/from or report to the Chief for discharge of a firearm. If nobody wants the animal or if it destroyed, we call Mass Highway if on a state road or the highway department.

 

[frapmpd24]

Would the chief prefer you cut the deer's throat?

I know someone that used his duty knife to put a deer down. The one time a lady from PETA happened to be driving by and stopped. The Chief was not very happy when she showed up at his door the next morning from what I hear.

 

[LenS]

Speaking of deer hunting...

Isn't that John Kerry?
:L:

 

[SOT]

Yes crawling through the brush with his over under...hunting deer.

Speaking of deer hunting...

Isn't that John Kerry?
:L:

 

[marlboroughpd]

Out of his town, not on a mutual aid request, no report, that's a good job of poaching.
By chance did he shoot it with his more than 9mm accurate .40 S&W? While wearing motorcycle boots with a full steel shank? Or did he shoot through a crowd with an AR-15? Did you guys strap any wigwags on it and take pictures to keep motivated?

I'll raise VOR one wingnut and call with a poaching violation.

I am not the one that puts lights and sirens in my POV to stay motivated, that was that racetrack guy. Out of my town and no report make it poaching. If a PD cant get rid of a deer, they call a PD of a surrounding community to see if they can get rid of it and there needs to be a report on something as simple as the deer ran out in front of the vehicle and the vehicle struck the animal and the animal died. If that isnt done that is poaching. It isnt like the persons insurance company is going to sue the deer for stepping out in front of the vehicle. What if someone shot deer that filled their tags during the season and never shot more than what they had tags for and never brought those deer that he shot to a checking station, is that poaching too. I dont think it is if the guy has tags for the deer he shot. Why dont we have a report done up on the guy shooting the deer. Otherwise it would be poaching and what about if he shot it in another town that would be poaching right.

 

[SOT]

One more time:

Your daddy was just told that EOP are the only ones allowed to take deer where you live, for whatever reason.

Then today, he goes out, oddly to a deer call that no one else got, in another town, without the request for mutual aid, then takes the deer. Doesn't report it, doesn't fill out a deer ticket, a report, and I guess takes the deer home? What did he shoot it with? What time of day, god knows if you say handgun after sunset, you've dug the hole deeper...

Answer is POACHING

Police are not somehow not bound by the MGL and CMR just because they are cops. Where they have special powers or rights, it's spelled out...so until you find the "Dad drove to the next town and shot a deer at the side of the road and didn't do any reporting" section of the MGL, or a CMR...you just admitted to the fact that your dad poaches deer.

As to the other town, you are missing the fact that your dad's police "powers" pretty much stop at the line unless there is some mutual aid or a request from another town to go over and perform some offical business...so yeah...daddy goes over to the other town and breaks the law...it's just as bad if daddy broke the law in his own town.

 

[TPRSERG]

I just asked an EPO this same question a while back and believe he said the person who hit the deer or anyone in the M/V can have it, as long as they are Mass residents. I brought a road kill in to get tagged a while back and the business didn't ask for any ID or anything, just said OK thanks and sent me on my way.