Teenage Hunter Will get His First Buck Stolen, Recovers It the Subsequent Day

A 15-year-old Wisconsin hunter skilled an emotional curler coaster over the weekend when he shot his first buck, solely to have the deer stolen earlier than he may get a tag on it. However due to a viral social media publish and assist from native regulation enforcement, Garrett Diehm obtained his trophy buck again.

In accordance with Garrett’s mother Sarah Diehm, who made the unique Fb publish together with a YouTube video concerning the incident, Garrett was searching on his grandparents’ property in Columbia County on Saturday, the opening day of Wisconsin’s nine-day gun season. The younger man shot the buck that morning, and it went down inside 100 yards of his stand. Like most first time deer hunters, Garrett was ecstatic when he noticed the animal fall. In contrast to many first deer, nonetheless, Garrett’s buck was a stud, with heavy fundamental beams, a number of kickers, and at the very least 12 scoreable factors.

Garrett was so excited that after snapping a number of photos, he and his mother walked as much as the home to point out the images off to his grandparents. In addition they grabbed a wagon to haul out the deer, together with another provides. However by the point they obtained again to the place that they had left the buck, it was nowhere to be discovered. Garrett was devastated.

“I used to be simply amazed and actually mad. I didn’t assume that may occur to us again on our personal property means again within the woods the place there’s like no person again there,” Garrett later advised a native information outlet.

It didn’t take lengthy for Sarah to show their anger into motion. That afternoon, she made a Fb publish explaining what had occurred. That publish went viral in a rush, with greater than 4,000 folks sharing it earlier than the day was accomplished. Sarah additionally filed a report with the Wisconsin Division of Pure Sources and the native sheriff’s workplace, they usually started their joint investigation that day.

The subsequent morning, somebody within the household walked exterior to search out the buck’s head and cape wrapped in a trash bag and sitting on the hood of the grandmother’s automobile. The sport warden and Sheriff’s deputy got here out immediately, and when the warden unwrapped the top, he found it had a hunter’s registration quantity tagged to it. To everybody’s shock, the hunter who took the buck returned to the property, the place he confessed and defined that he’d already introduced it in to get processed.

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“The man got here again and confessed,” Sarah explains within the video. “He thought somebody misplaced the deer whereas monitoring it. The deer was about 80 toes from the stand it was shot from. He didn’t attempt to discover the proprietor of the deer. As a substitute, he tagged the deer in his identify and took it to a butcher to be processed. He did apologize to my son and myself. He additionally stated he pays the butcher’s processing price.” 

The Columbia County Sheriff’s Workplace confirms that the person who confessed to taking the deer was charged with theft and trespassing. In addition they credited Sarah’s unique Fb publish for serving to fast-track their investigation.

“A giant thanks to the Fb sleuths and for everybody who shared the story,” the sheriff’s workplace wrote in a Fb publish on Sunday. “The unique publish from this searching household has gotten over 4,500 shares in lower than a day. With out that, this fast final result wouldn’t have been potential.”

Paul Nadoski, the sport warden who led the investigation, stated the incident additionally serves as a reminder for hunters to maintain a detailed eye on their trophies. Antler theft appears to be on the rise as of late, and Out of doors Life has already reported on the rash of stolen racks within the West this season.

“Don’t go away something of worth out the place folks can see it,” Nadoski stated yesterday. “There are folks on this world which can be simply that means—they’ll come and attempt to take it.”