A Maine Warden Service investigation uncovered a group of Lincoln County individuals who investigators say have been killing deer illegally for years.
The names and personal details of the individuals will not be released until the district attorney’s office has reviewed the cases and formal charges are issued, said Cpl. John MacDonald, spokesman for the Warden’s Service.
On March 8, Game Wardens went to nine homes and charged six to eight people with over 100 violations related to illegally taking deer, night hunting and shooting from a vehicle.
Two individuals, a man and woman who MacDonald said are romantically involved, were formally arrested that night. The man was the primary focus of the six-month undercover investigation, but the woman killed more deer.
MacDonald said an undercover warden saw the suspects shoot deer at night from the windows of a vehicle. “Their typical activity was to shoot deer on lawns, in front of people’s homes, under apple trees and around shrubs,” MacDonald said. The lawns in question did not belong to the suspects, he said.
The Warden Service believes they may have killed up to 50 deer in the last three years, “and very few of them were ever registered.”
More information about the suspects and the nature of their crimes will be available after the district attorney’s office reviews the cases, MacDonald said.
