Three men face charges in connection with illegal hunting of deer

<p class="p1">The Illinois Department of Natural Resources, IDNR, reported that three Richland County men have been charged with illegally taking deer at night. </p><p class="p1">A total of 13 deer, 11 of which were antlered bucks, were taken by three subjects.  </p><p class="p1">The case was investigated by IDNR Conservation Police.</p><p class="p1">Two 18-year-old men and a juvenile were charged in connection with the investigation.</p><p class="p1">The two men were charged with felony resource theft, unlawful hunting by use of lights from a vehicle and unlawful hunting deer at night. </p><p class="p1">One of the men also was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm with no valid FOID card. </p><p class="p1">The juvenile was charged with unlawful taking of deer and related offenses.</p><p class="p1">All of the bucks involved in the case had their heads removed and their bodies left or dumped in the area in which they were killed.  No meat was kept from any deer involved.  </p><p class="p1">The subjects had been boiling the buck skulls to make skull mounts.  All of the buck heads were seized as evidence.  </p><p class="p1">In addition, the .243-caliber rifle used by the subjects was recovered and seized.  </p><p class="p1">All deer were killed between the hours of sunset and sunrise, with the exception of one killed on Oct. 26, 2014.  </p><p class="p1"> After consultation with Richland County State's Attorney David Hyde, warrants were issued for all three subjects and the charges were filed on Dec. 19, 2014.  </p><p class="p1">On Jan. 2, a seizure warrant was issued for the 2002 Dodge 1500 pickup truck used in these violations.  The truck has been seized, pending forfeiture to the IDNR.</p>