On Nov. 24, 2016 Sergeant Stanko and Officer Curran were on patrol in Stonington enforcing deer hunting regulations when he heard a shot from a wooded area. Officer Stanko waited for approximately 40 minutes then observed an individual emerging from the wooded area dragging a deer to a truck parked alongside the roadway. Sergeant Stanko approached the individual to check for proper paperwork. It was determined that the individual was legally hunting on private property but failed to immediately tag his deer upon kill. When asked why he didn’t fill out his tag the male stated that he did not have one on his person to fill out. The male further stated that this was his first deer with the rifle this year and that he had harvested one deer during the archery season. As Sergeant Stanko continued his investigation another shot was heard from the same area. It was determined that the male’s adult son was actively hunting as well. Shortly thereafter the 2nd male (son) emerged dragging a deer. The son was legally hunting the property but also failed to tag his deer. As Sergeant Stanko began explaining the requirements of tagging the deer immediately upon harvest, the next-door neighbor walked over and congratulated both hunters for their harvest and commented that they were having a good year and related that they had harvested a deer the day before. With this information Sergeant Stanko asked the father if they indeed harvested a deer the day before of which the father confirmed. Sergeant Stanko determined that it was not reported within the required 24-hour time period. When asked why they did not tag and report their previous harvest the father stated they were going to but had not gotten around to it yet and decided to go hunting instead. Both deer were seized as evidence and the males were each issued a misdemeanor summons for Failure to Tag. The deer were brought to a local butcher where the meat was then donated to State Social Services in Colchester to feed the hungry.

just need to vent this morning. one of our family tradition on thanks giving is to go hunting with family we look forward to it so my son and I go out this morning to do a little deer hunting. in the woods for about a hour and I take a nice deer then I here Matt shoot he takes a nice 8 point sounds like a good morning right. well we have our license we have our permits we have our land owner permission slips we even have our harvest tags but what we don't have is a pen to fill them out. so we start up to the truck and who do we run in to. that's right. the game warden so he begins to drill us for all the info. well when we get to the harvest tags and they are not filled out we became harden Criminals. long story short they took our deer and gave us a summons to court what do you think about that