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Deer Poacher Bragged About Illegal Kill Over Dating App, Didn’t Know Her Potential Love Connection Was A Game Warden
The unidentified woman sent photos of her illicit kill to a man she met online, but soon found out the hard way he takes his job very seriously.
Bragging about her illegal deer kill to someone on a dating app led to charges and a hefty fine for one Oklahoma woman who didn't know the person she was messaging was a game warden.
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation Game Wardens shared the peculiar story on Facebook on Sunday. Game Warden Cannon Harrison of McIntosh County was chatting with a woman he’d met on a dating app when she mentioned that she’d killed a “bigo buck” and was “pretty happy” about it. She then proceeded to confess that she’d done so using the spotlighting technique, a prohibited method of using a powerful light to attract animals. She also sent Harrison multiple photos of her kill, many of which showed that she'd only kept the animal’s head and a portion of its meat — another illegal act that is known as creating wanton waste.
It turned out that the woman, whose identity has not been shared, had also broken the law by hunting with a rifle when it was not the season for it, the Tulsa World reports.
Harrison, who’s been a game warden for two years, told the outlet that her confession was a “shock.” He said that he initially suspected that maybe the woman knew about his job and was “teasing [him],” but ultimately, that was not the case.
With a little bit of research, Harrison and the department were able to figure out the woman's identity and location and eventually charge her and an associate with improper possession of an illegally taken animal and hunting game out-of-season, according to the Tulsa World. Neither were charged for spotlighting and wasting meat, but they were fined a total of $2,400 for their infractions, according to the paper.
“You can’t just ignore a broken law that falls right in your lap but was kind of a bummer,” Harrison said. “She said it was her first deer ever, too.”
Though the incident happened more than a month ago, according to Harrison, the recent Facebook post detailing the story has attracted hundreds of comments, most of which poke fun at the woman for outing herself as a poacher.
Wrote one commenter, “I guess she should’ve swiped left.”
[Photo: Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation Game Wardens/Facebook]
