PIERRE, S.D. – Game, Fish and Parks law enforcement officials had a busy Nov. 4 - 5 weekend following the Nov. 1 Black Hills deer season opener.

"Each year, our officers get a number of complaints from deer hunters and homeowners about hunters they see shooting from the road or out of vehicles," said GFP Regional Law Specialist Bruce Nachtigall of Rapid City. "When the Black Hills deer season opened, we placed a number of deer replicas (fake deer) in the field to see if anyone would consider targeting them from the road. Unfortunately, we had to issue 21 citations over the weekend, most of which were for shooting from a road or from a motor vehicle, both of which are illegal."

Nachtigall mentioned that some other notable violations were encountered. "We also issued citations for hunting prior to the season, for not wearing florescent orange and for firearms protruding from a motor vehicle," he said.

One particular case was initiated when a passing truck caught the attention of Conservation Officer Mike Apland. Officer Apland noticed a set of elk antlers protruding from the pickup, which was suspicious because the South Dakota elk season closed on Oct. 31. When Officer Apland stopped the vehicle, he found eight dead deer in the vehicle. Six deer were improperly tagged with Wyoming tags, and the other two were tagged with West River Deer tags from Butte County. The West River Deer season did not open until Nov. 12. In addition, he also found an elk head and two sets of deer antlers and capes illegally accepted for taxidermy work in Wyoming (no taxidermy license). Game, Fish and Parks Officers Mikkelson, Nachtigall and Wyoming Warden Chris Teter assisted with this case.

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