A deer hunter in southern Erie County recently got into some trouble with the New York State DEC for allegedly hunting deer over bait. The DEC reports that Officer Don Damrath received a tip on November 9th from a location in the Town of Evans and trekked a half-mile into the woods with only one hour of daylight left and found the hunter in a tree stand surrounded by three piles of freshly smashed pumpkins. The hunter claimed he did not place the pumpkins there and did not own the stand. He took the officer to his girlfriend’s residence, and she claimed that her son had smashed the pumpkins, even showing Damrath cell phone video to prove it. The hunter was ticketed for hunting over bait, and his girlfriend’s son was issued a written warning for placing the bait.

Photo by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation