2 Nowata Co. Men Accused Of Poaching Several Deer

Two men are facing charges after the Nowata County game warden said anonymous tips and some digging led him to several poached deer.

Game warden David Clay said he noticed a deer carcass by his home right after rifle season began, and then had several anonymous tips come in from people seeing carcasses dumped across Nowata County.

"This was just one example of many that go on routinely, especially in the fall," said Game Warden Supervisor Lt. Joe Alexander.

Clay said the investigation led him to serve a search warrant on a Nowata County home, where investigators said they found six deer heads, firearms, drugs and even a bobcat in the freezer.

Alexander helped serve the warrant.

"This time of the year is busy," Alexander said. "There's a lot of people that hunt, and like I mentioned before, there are those that take advantage of wildlife resources."

Clay said he used the Go Outdoors Oklahoma online system to look up the men.

He said one suspect is a convicted felon who over the past two seasons checked in three deer as taken with a rifle tag.

"The new Go Outdoors system has revolutionized the way game wardens can access the information," said Alexander.

Alexander said it's a shame to see people poach deer but it's common.

A similar arrest recently involved three other Oklahoma counties working together to catch a serial poacher with meth and firearms near Hennessy.

"It's unfortunate people choose to do it illegally when it's so easy to do it the right way," he said.

Game wardens aren't identifying the suspect at this time, but they said the men face possession of illegal wildlife, gun and drugs charges.