WAGONER COUNTY, Okla. — Multiple people along South 273rd East Avenue reported finding mangled and stripped deer carcasses dumped in areas just off the road on private property.
Three carcasses were found on one property, ranging from cut limbs to a severed head.
"We've seen some people that have been kind of walking through the fields over the last couple weeks. Not sure what exactly they were doing," Wagoner County resident Chris Collins said.
Collins' family lives close to the site of the dead animals. He said he didn't know they were there, but he did know about another site of dumped carcasses a mile up the road.
"There was about two black sacks full of what looked like deer carcasses right on the side of the road," he said. "As many as it sounds like there's been, that's kind of disconcerting."
"It is concerning," Micah Holmes from Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation told 2 News. "It's disappointing, because you'd think is this is probably hunters who have harvested a deer."
Holmes said that even if the deer were legally hunted, dumping them on private property is, of course, illegal.
Holmes wants the public to help stop those from leaving behind meat and bones.
"We certainly encourage folks to be vigilant you know," Holmes said. "Talk to each other, and then certainly reach out to our game wardens or the county sheriff if they if they see something that's out of place."
The department encourages hunters to bury unused deer parts.
ODWC said to report animals illegally dumped by calling 1-800-522-8039 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
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