Ear-Tagged Buck Cause For Concern In Fillmore County

An ear-tagged buck was harvested on the final day of the firearm season near Lanesboro. The tags read "Don't" and "Miss". The DNR did not take the joke very kindly.

The deer was harvested by a young hunter about four miles east of the nearest location of a CWD-positive deer. Now, it is illegal to capture any wild deer and it is also illegal to release captive deer to the wild.

DNR Wildlife Research Manager Lou Cornicelli did not understand why anyone would do this.

“I don’t understand the point of this. It’s not funny at all,” Cornicelli said to Outdoor News. “This is a serious issue. We’re spending a lot of money to try and keep the deer herd healthy in the state. I’m not sure what kind of person would find humor in this.

This particular deer was seen on trail cameras for more than a year, but nobody was able to make out what the tags said.

Since last year, the DNR has found 16 CWD-positive deer, which is the biggest outbreak in Minnesota history. The DNR is not sure why anyone would do this, and is asking the public for any additional information. If you have some, you ca report it by anonymously calling the Minnesota Turn in Poachers hotline at 1-800-652-9093.