OKLAHOMA CITY — A judge has ordered a poacher to pay $33,000 in restitution for killing a tame white-tailed breeder buck, in a pen in 2008.
Justin Ray McDaniel, 25, of Newalla also was put on probation for 10 years and must spend 10 days over weekends at a private lockup. He agreed never to hunt again.
"People like you really shouldn't be hunters," Oklahoma County District Judge Jerry Bass said Wednesday.
McDaniel was sentenced for grand larceny of exotic livestock and making a false statement at a hunter check station. He pleaded guilty in November.
A prosecutor told the judge that the deer's owner and a breeder lost more than $1 million in potential breeding income. The judge said he was awarding restitution to the deer's owner for actual damages.
McDaniel told the judge he killed the buck for the ego boost.
"It's hard to explain," he said. "I did it to sound like a cool guy."
McDaniel described how he climbed over fences at the Oklahoma County deer breeding ranch at 3 a.m. and shot the buck with an arrow and dragged it to his truck. He later reported that he shot the deer in the wild in another county.
"I'm sorry," he told the deer's owner and breeder. "I know that may not mean a lot to you, but I truly am."
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20100218_11_A7_hyearo541079
Justin Ray McDaniel, 25, of Newalla also was put on probation for 10 years and must spend 10 days over weekends at a private lockup. He agreed never to hunt again.
"People like you really shouldn't be hunters," Oklahoma County District Judge Jerry Bass said Wednesday.
McDaniel was sentenced for grand larceny of exotic livestock and making a false statement at a hunter check station. He pleaded guilty in November.
A prosecutor told the judge that the deer's owner and a breeder lost more than $1 million in potential breeding income. The judge said he was awarding restitution to the deer's owner for actual damages.
McDaniel told the judge he killed the buck for the ego boost.
"It's hard to explain," he said. "I did it to sound like a cool guy."
McDaniel described how he climbed over fences at the Oklahoma County deer breeding ranch at 3 a.m. and shot the buck with an arrow and dragged it to his truck. He later reported that he shot the deer in the wild in another county.
"I'm sorry," he told the deer's owner and breeder. "I know that may not mean a lot to you, but I truly am."
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20100218_11_A7_hyearo541079
