Police Investigating After Luke Bryan's Red Stag Deer Found Shot Dead on His Tennessee Farm
Police are investigating after country star Luke Bryan‘s red stag was shot and killed on his Tennessee farm earlier this month, PEOPLE confirmed.
The horrifying incident is believed to have occurred between the evening of Dec. 4 and the morning of Dec. 6, the Maury County Sheriff’s Office revealed in a bulletin on Facebook.
Police shared that an unknown shooter targeted the deer on Bryan’s property, which is located in the Columbia/Mount Pleasant area.
The crime remains under investigation and an award of $5,000 is being offered to anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of the shooter.
Barry Cross, an information specialist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, told The Tennessean that the shooting was reported by Bryan’s farm manager. Cross explained that the animal appeared to have been shot from the road.
“As an agency, we appreciate our hunters who do the thing and follow the bylaws, and it takes a second for someone to ruin it for all of us,” Cross told the outlet.
Cross also told The Tennessean that Bryan, 43, would have needed to bring the animal to his farm as red stags are a species of deer native to Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asian Minor, Iran and parts of Western and Central Asia.
The animal lived among the star’s other dogs, cats, chickens and goats.
Bryan, his wife Caroline and their sons Bor, 11, and Tate, 9, have long been animal lovers.
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Earlier this year, Bryan adopted an 18-year-old rescue dog after falling in love with the senior pooch online.
According to Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue in Nashville, Tennessee, Poochie went home with the singer in February, though the dog died of old age shortly thereafter.
“After reading about Poochie on our social media, Luke Bryan and his beautiful wife, Caroline applied and adopted Poochie this past Saturday!” the rescue wrote on Facebook about the adorable adoption at the time.
Before the Bryans spotted Poochie online, the senior dog was living in a foster home due to an owner surrender.
“We pulled 18-year-old Poochie from a shelter after his family surrendered him due to becoming allergic. We often step in and pull seniors, sickly and injured animals who are likely to be overlooked,” Lavonne Redferrin, Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue’s director and founder, told PEOPLE.
“We are so thrilled for Poochie and know he is in great hands. Caroline Bryan has graciously given us updates on our sweet boy. Their adopting this sweet old guy will allow us the chance to save yet another,” the rescue’s founder said, adding that she knows “there is a song somewhere in this story.”
In addition to Bryan’s love for animals, the singer is also an avid supporter of fellow farmers.
Each year, Bryan hosts the Farm Tour — a series of concerts put on at the beginning of October that take place on a number of different farms in a variety of states.
“The idea behind this tour is to bring full production concerts to small towns that would not see larger scale shows,” Bryan said on his website. “Growing up in rural Georgia we had to drive to larger cities to see concerts. It is so exciting to watch each of these shows being built like a small city itself in the empty pasture land of these farms. We can feel the pride from the people in these towns as well as the farmers and it takes everyone coming together to pull them off!”
