A hearing is held in Fond du Lac County juvenile court Oct. 23, 2024 for a teen suspected in the poaching of more than 100 deer. PC: Fox 11 Online
FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Two of the three 16-year-old boys charged in a deer poaching scheme in Fond du Lac, Dodge and Washington counties appeared in Fond du Lac County juvenile court Wednesday morning.
State law prohibits those accused in juvenile court from being identified publicly. Their charging documents are also confidential.
During their individual hearings, the teens were expected to change their pleas. One teen chose not change his plea and his attorney asked for the matter to be rescheduled for a later date.
The other teen, whose attorney appeared via video conference and not in the courtroom with his client, planned to change his plea but was unable to because the court was not presented with the proper paperwork.
The first teen’s court date was rescheduled for November. The other teen will be back in court later this month.
Three teenagers and a 36-year-old woman, all from Campbellsport, have been identified as the suspects in an extensive poaching investigation. Authorities say the incidents happened in Fond du Lac, Dodge and Washington counties throughout a year’s span.
More than two months after the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, asked for information about suspected deer poaching, tips led to the discovery of a large-scale scheme which spanned three counties in about a 200-mile region.
In a news release, Fond du Lac County Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt called the acts “Senseless. Reckless. Indiscriminate.”
The sheriff’s office said more than 100 deer were shot and/or killed from spring 2023 into July 2024. The incidents stretched from Lomira and Waucousta down to Theresa and West Bend.
“Just the sheer quantity, that someone could get away with it for that long, is just what’s so surprising,” said Ryan Beck. He owns Animal Art Taxidermy, just outside of Campbellsport, and mounts hundreds of legally obtained animals each year.
“I just can’t wrap my head around how someone could do something like that, you know? It’s just wild to me,” Beck said.
According to a news release from the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office, the suspects would drive around in the dark, shining spotlights into fields. They’d shoot at deer from their vehicle, and if they thought they hit the deer, they would chase after it — cutting the antlers off of some bucks — but always leaving the carcasses to rot.
“Wildlife and hunting are a deep part of Wisconsin’s heritage and history, and the horrific acts committed against these animals will shock the conscience of hunters and non-hunters alike,” Waldschmidt said.
Beck agreed.
“As a hunter, you put a lot of time and effort into producing animals, that’s part of it. You put back into the wildlife as well,” he added. “If you have someone like this, well, that really knocks down what you’ve been working to, putting in your time and effort and obviously money as well, into these animals and somebody just takes it away from you.”
The four suspects have not been formally charged, but they are accused of a laundry list of both criminal and civil DNR offenses — including mistreatment of animals, possession of a dangerous weapon and possession of game killed by unlawful or unknown means, among a multitude of other offenses.
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