Wildlife officials in Iowa are investigating a poaching incident that occurred in the southeastern part of the state back in early August. The case involves a 200-plus inch buck in full velvet that was well known to an Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) Conservation Officer who lives in the deer’s core area and saw it multiple times while it was alive. IDNR is offering a $1,000 reward to anyone with any information about the perpetrator.
“It was a really nice deer,” investigating CO Joe Fourdyce tells Field & Stream. “It’s sad that it had to die the way it did.”
Fourdyce says he was out of town on August 2 when the deer turned up dead next to his neighbor's driveway. In his absence, a Sheriff's deputy responded to the call and mistakenly issued the landowner who found it a salvage tag.
“He was new, and he just made a mistake,” said Fourdyce, of the police officer who issued the salvage tag. “He didn’t know any better.”
Because the deer was issued a salvage tag, it ended up at a local taxidermy shop where it was green scored. “I can’t confirm any official score,” Fourdyce says. “But I’ve held a lot of big deer in my life, and I can promise you that deer was over 200 inches.”
Fourdyce lives on 70 acres near the spot where the deer was found dead. He’s captured trail camera photos of it in years past and has watched it develop over the years. “I bet I saw it 10 times between June and July this summer,” he says. “The neighbor has his sheds. He lived in our little section.”
As a result of the erroneously-issued salvage tag, the buck’s body was sent to a nearby dump instead of being entered into evidence—and Fourdyce says he never got a chance to examine anything other than the head. But photos of the hindquarter wound that likely killed it look consistent with broadhead injuries he’s seen in the past, he says. “To me, what it looks like is a crossbow bolt hit him in the leg,” he says. “My guess is, the bolt was still inside of the deer, which is why it would have been great to have the carcass for evidence.”
Absent that, Fourdyce is relying on the public for help. He’s encouraging anyone with any information at all to give him a call at 563-260-1225. “I’d love to make the case,” he says. “Every time the phone rings, I’m hoping it’ll be the one tip that solves this thing.”
