Skeletal remains of as many as 28 large mammals have been found on an 80-acre parcel of land belonging to Neil Peaslee on Valley Road in Somerville.
“With melting snow more are appearing,” Eric Peaslee said March 30.
Eric is Neil Peaslee’s son and has served as land manger for the property since March 15. He said the land, which is part of a trust held in Neil Peaslee’s name, was leased until recently by his uncle, Forest Peaslee of Jefferson, to be used as a hunting park for elk, bison, red deer and fallow deer.
The land was also used by a third brother, Daniel Peaslee, as a pen for farm animals.
The website for Peaslee Mountain Hunt Park names Daniel as a hunting guide at the park.
According to biologist Gerald Lavigne, Forest Peaslee Jr.’s operation on the Valley Road in Somerville comes under his licensure as Peaslee Mountain Hunt Park and is the location of one of his official shooting zones.
In the past, Peaslee also operated from another shooting zone on the North Mountain Road adjacent to his deer farm there, known as Rocky Mountain Deer Farm. Forest’s business headquarters is located at 545 Rockland Rd, Jefferson.
“A few years ago, Forest depopulated his operation from a few hundred to only a few dozen elk, bison and fallow deer,” Lavigne said. “He also ceased offering large game shooting opportunities to clients. Yet, he continues maintain his commercial large game shooting area license.”
Eric Peaslee said his father was operating a skidder in mid-March, as part of a timber operation, when he first observed bones emerging from under the melting snow. Since that time, Eric has been walking the property for two hours daily, finding new sites as the snow recedes.
He reported the carcasses and skeletal remains to the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry on March 13. He said Ray Bryant, of that agency, came to the property and photographed four of the remains sites.
In a letter to Daniel, Forest and Neil Peaslee, Bryant said “the remains of numerous horses have been found on a parcel of land owned by Neil Peaslee in the town of Jefferson … It is evident that these carcasses were not disposed of in accordance with Chapter 211 – Rules for the Disposal of Animal Carcasses.” Eric Peaslee said the property is in Jefferson, but shares a zip code with Somerville.
Eric Peaslee said he mentioned the land’s use as a hunt park to Bryant, “but at the time we had not realized the scope of what we had discovered for bones. The snow was still heavy on the ground,” he said.
He said his father began the timber operation in January after finding that trees were dying because the bark was stripped off the trunks, by what appear to be the teeth of large animals.
Near one area of stripped trees lie the remains of what appears to be a horse that includes skin and some flesh that might have been a Belgian mare, belonging to Eric’s uncle Daniel.
While he has not found any antlers or horns, Eric Peaslee said he has identified nine of the bone sites as those of red deer or elk, based on measurements of skulls and comparison to “reliable sources of photographs” found online.
For his part, Forest Peaslee said April 2 that he has run a “first class” hunting operation.
“They [Neil Peaslee and Eric Peaslee] went in illegally, him and his father and his brother-in-law and they made a mess,” Forest said. He said he spent more than $50,000 in fencing.
“They have called animal health,” he said. “They’ve called the warden service. I have not done anything out of line.”
He said he originally brought 1500 animals to Maine for the hunt park and has not had a hunt there for “a couple of years.”
Forest Peaslee declined to answer further questions.
The hunt park’s website at http://www.peasleehuntpark.com, apparently last updated in 2009, lists plains bison as meat animals weighing 800-1000 pounds and hybrid hunts of animals weighing 400-700 pounds.
“Field dressing is included in the trophy fee,” the site states. “Meat processing is available for an additional charge. Taxidermy can be arranged.”
“The landscape keeps changing on me,” he said, pulling a bone from under a mat of damp leaves. He said he has been walking the woods since he was a very young child and has never before found the skeleton of a deer or related animal.
He said the animals were penned in completely, and that he has seen a bobcat and some foxes and rabbits that he thinks have come through the fence.
He said he has not found spent cartridges, but did find one live round.
Melissa Freeman in the Dept. of Agriculture’s health office said the license issued to Forrest Peaslee/Peaslee Mountain Hunt Park is renewed at the end of September each year. The park is licensed for cervids and bison.
The five-year lease between Neil A. Peaslee, Trustee of the Forest E. Peaslee Sr. Family Trust, and Forest E. Peaslee Jr. is dated June 26, 2006, and is renewable automatically unless one party or the other gives six months notice. In lieu of rent, Forest is to pay the taxes on the property.
Freeman said her department is currently reviewing the situation at Peaslee Mountain Hunt Park but has not initiated an investigation.
Eric Peaslee said he intends to remove the skeletons in a manner according to Maine law after the snow has completely melted.
The Lincoln County News will continue to follow this story.
