No Charges Filed White Deer Shooting

[blake]

No Charges Filed in White Deer Shooting

BUCHANAN COUNTY - No charges will be filed in the shooting of a white deer this week in northeast Iowa.


Investigation by Department of Natural Resources biologists and a Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) veterinarian showed that the animal, shot Jan. 9 by a muzzleloader hunter in Jakway Park Wildlife Area in Buchanan County, is a fallow deer, not a wild Iowa white-tailed deer.

Fallow deer are a non-native species and are not protected by state law. Wild white-tailed deer that are predominantly white in color are protected. That law was passed by the Iowa Legislature in the 1980s, following the legal shooting of a white deer in the St. Ansgar area. Albino or mostly white wild white-tailed deer are rare in Iowa although several are sighted each year.

The Jakway Park deer also showed scarred tissue in an ear, indicating it had been tagged at some point. That suggests it may have come from a game farm. There are dozens of licensed facilities across Iowa, including 17 in Buchanan County. Animals in such game farm settings are classed as domestic livestock under Iowa law.
Assisting DNR wildlife biologists with the verification was assistant state veterinarian Dr. Randy Wheeler, with IDALS.

 

[moosehunter]

That brings a question to mind.

If a hunter shoots a deer with an ear tag attached, do you have to tag it? If I'm reading this right the state says it does not own this deer so no charges can be put forth. If a ear tagged animal is concidered livestock, does that include a whitetail?

 

[JakeWym]

A friend of mine shot a deer with a tag in it's ear a few years back, and he was forced to tag it. I don't think that is right, but he did it anyway to avoid the hassel.

 

[Highmark]

Why are white deer protected in the first place? Its not like we want these types of deer to expand to larger numbers.

 

[Blaster]

That brings a question to mind.

If a hunter shoots a deer with an ear tag attached, do you have to tag it? If I'm reading this right the state says it does not own this deer so no charges can be put forth. If a ear tagged animal is concidered livestock, does that include a whitetail?

Yes you have to tag it as it is now wild. We have a tagged buck on one of our farms that we have been watching for the last 6 years now! The DNR told us that he is now wild so we have to tag it!