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Three Smithville men have been charged in connection with the illegal shooting of a deer from a car on private property along North Virginia Avenue just outside of Smithville.

The men’s names are not being released, because the investigation is ongoing.

According to Brian Bartlett, conservation agent for the Missouri Department of Conservation, the three men allegedly stopped their car on North Virginia Avenue Friday, Sept. 18, around 10 p.m. in the roadway and one of the men shot a deer on the property of Eric Dunham from inside the car after freezing it with the vehicle’s headlights.

Bartlett said the men then allegedly fled the scene and returned with a truck and absconded with the deer’s body, later severing its head and dumping the carcass. The severed deer head, a 14-point buck, was found in the shooter’s freezer, Bartlett said.

Bartlett’s investigation into the crime was assisted by Dunham, who posted a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.

Dunham did not return requests for an interview, but he did post a classified ad in The Smithville Herald announcing the reward. It’s not clear if the money was awarded to anyone, but Bartlett said Dunham assisted him in locating the shooter and his accomplices.

The shooter received several class A misdemeanors, Bartlett said, and faces around $1,000 in fines for discharging a firearm in the city limits of Kansas City, trespassing, shooting a deer in a closed season, shooting the deer from a public road, and using artificial light to locate and freeze the deer.

The other two men involved received tickets for the illegal transportation of the deer’s body, Bartlett said.

While the crime may seem like an odd occurrence, Bartlett said it’s really not that unusual, especially between September and December.

“It happens quite a lot,” he said. “It’s all about the trophy deer and it’s basically a cat-and-mouse game between us and them.”

The so-called trophy deer heads, Bartlett said, can fetch top dollar at places such as Cabella’s and the Bass Pro Shops where they are used as decorative pieces in the stores.

In addition to the obvious dangers created by unlawful hunting activities like these, many times shooters will also mistakenly shoot other animals on private property, Bartlett said, including horses, cows and donkeys in pursuit of the deer heads.

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