Rogers County Deer Farmer Says Someone Cut Fence, Shot 2 Deer

A Rogers County man says someone got into his deer farm over the weekend, cut the fence, and shot two of his deer with an arrow.

One doe was killed and a buck was injured.

Like with every kind of farming, deer farming is a big investment. A doe can cost $5,000 and up, and the bucks can sell for anywhere up to $100,000.

Gregg Hayworth, the owner of the farm, said there's a huge investment of time and hard work, too.

Sunday morning, around 5:30, someone cut a hole in a fence and shot a breeding buck and a doe.

The buck is still there and alive, although he's not standing or walking around much. He has a hole in his shoulder, where the arrow went straight through and out the other side. They found a half an arrow shaft in the pen.

Hayworth found blood on the ground, followed by drag marks, where he believes they shot and killed his doe, then dragged her through the hole in the fence and down to a waiting pickup truck at the end of the driveway.

When his neighbor spotted the truck, it sped off.

"When I [saw] the blood, I thought one got cut, but when I walked up here, I found all this and knew it was a bad deal," Hayworth said.

Hayworth and his partner started the deer farming operation less than two years ago and started off small, but had 14 fawns born this past spring. Things were looking good, and then disease hit and killed all but three.

He said they were just getting back on their feet and now this has happened.

"What people will do, people can't have nothing nice anymore, without somebody wanting to take it from them," Hayworth said.

His deer are protected and monitored and there's no sport in killing them like hunting deer in the wild. Whoever shot them is looking at a felony charge and up to ten years in prison, plus a fine of three to ten times the cost of the deer.

The Department of Agriculture and Rogers County Sheriff's Office are both investigating.

"It's a very solvable crime, but we do need help of the public to come forward and solve this," said Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton.

Someone cut the fence of another farm not far from Hayworth's last Wednesday night.

That owner said he believes they got spooked away before shooting any of his deer, but a witness also saw a truck in that case. He said it was maybe a dark 1990s Ford.

The Oklahoma White-tailed Deer Farmers Association has offered a $500 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever shot Hayworth's deer.

If you have any information, there are two numbers you can call: The Sheriff's tip line at 918-341-3620 or the Department of Agriculture's criminal line at 405-522-6102.