Nine trophy bucks poached by Michigan felon, officials say. ‘It’s a shame’
Nine trophy bucks were illegally killed by a Michigan felon, and conservation officials say they became aware of the illegal hunts as police investigated a domestic violence complaint.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says two of its officers got a tip about the deer on Oct. 17, according to a Nov. 18 news release. That tip came from Michigan State Police troopers investigating a domestic violence situation involving 33-year-old Justin Ernst of Decatur.
Troopers reported seeing several deer in a barn at which Ernst was known to spend time.
Conservation Officers Matt Page and Tyler Cole visited the residence and reported the homeowner told them Ernst was believed to be taking methamphetamine.
Law enforcement had yet to find Ernst, but the homeowner told conservation officers, “He often stays out all night, and the next morning there would usually be a new buck in the barn,” according to the news release.
The homeowner gave Page and Cole permission to “search anywhere,” and the department reports they found eight illegally killed bucks — “five 10-pointers and three with 8-points” — in the barn.
The ninth buck was found in the barn two days later, officials say, when Page got a tip that Ernst had been arrested in connection to domestic violence. The tipster said the ninth buck was now in the barn.
Again with permission, Page checked the barn and found the 9-point buck, officials say. They believe it had been shot within the previous 48 hours of when it was discovered.
“While searching the barn, Page interviewed two additional witnesses,” according to the news release. “One said they saw Ernst with a dead deer in the back of his vehicle earlier that month. The second witness had located the 9-point buck that morning.”
But when conservation officers went to interview Ernst at the Van Buren County jail, authorities say he denied killing the trophy deer.
“He said he could not hunt because his hunting license had been revoked,” the department said in the news release. In 2018, he was convicted of illegally taking or possessing white-tail deer.
With a search warrant, conservation officers say they found “two shotguns and a crossbow, a bloody crossbow bolt from the bed of Ernst’s vehicle, a cellphone that didn’t work and a handheld spotlight located under the driver’s seat of Ernst’s vehicle.”
And through its investigation, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources connected the poached trophy bucks to Ernst, “suspected of driving his truck through fields, shining and shooting deer.”
‘It’s a shame’
The department says 15 charges are pending against Ernst, including “two counts of firearm possession by a felon, two felony firearms violations, one count of hunting with a revoked hunting license, one count of applying for, or obtaining, a hunting license when ineligible and nine counts of taking game illegally.”
Officials say he was arraigned Nov. 9 and faces up to $59,500 in reimbursement fines if convicted of all violations.
“It’s a shame that this criminal ruined the chance for ethical, legal hunters to have their opportunity to take one of these trophy deer,” said Lt. Gerald Thayer, of the Michigan DNR Law Enforcement Division. “Not only did this felon steal from the natural resource, he also damaged agriculture crops, and has been doing so for some time. The financial penalty is the minimum he should serve.”
Ernst is free on bond as of Nov. 19, officials say, and he’s scheduled to reappear in court on Dec. 20. Officials say he has previous felony charges, including “possession of methamphetamine or ecstacy, third-degree fleeing a police officer and third offense (felony) operating a vehicle under the influence of liquor.”
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