A trophy buck illegally shot on Bonds Creek Road was located and put down by West Virginia Natural Resources police officers. (Photo Provided)

RITCHIE COUNTY — West Virginia Natural Resources Police Officers taught a hunters education course on Nov. 4 and after leaving the class to have dinner together at a nearby restaurant, the officers were dispatched to investigate a nearby poaching incident on Bonds Creek Road.

Officers Josh McLaughlin J.R. Casto, Erin Gieseke and Sgt. Steve Haines arrived at the scene shortly after the complaint was made to discover an intoxicated suspect who admitted to shooting a large buck with a lever-action rifle. The animal was wounded, but not dead, leaving officers no other option but to do it themselves.

“We had just finished the class, and sat down to eat, when we get a call about a guy whose neighbor had witnessed the man shooting this large trophy deer and videotaped the entire incident,” McLaughlin said. “We found the rifle and finished the job, as the deer was located, obviously in critical condition, and needed to be put down.”

Officers recovered the Marlin 30-30 rifle the impaired suspect used to wound the deer and determined that the inside spread of the main beams of the deer exceeded 20 inches.

The suspect is facing multiple charges in Ritchie County Magistrate Court including hunting in a closed season, hunting while intoxicated, conspiracy to violate natural resource law and obstructing.

West Virginia Natural Resources Police Officers J.R. Casto, Joshua McLaughlin, Sgt. Steve Haines and Erin Gieseke recovered a large buck from the property of the poaching suspect on Bonds Creek Road, which was given to a family, uninvolved in the matter, that was grateful for the meat. (Photo Provided)

The deer was recovered and provided to a family unrelated to the incident. The family was thankful to receive the meat from the deer.

“We will get all kinds of calls, involving possible poachers, especially around this time of the year, deer season tends to get somewhat chaotic,” McLaughlin said. “I am still pretty new to this job, so I am learning as I go, and am grateful for this new opportunity,” he said.

“I have always wanted to be a game warden, so this is a big deal to me, and a whole new world of responsibility, but it’s worth it all,” McLaughlin said. “There’s no greater feeling than the peace and solace I feel in nature.”

For more information about hunters education courses or to learn more about the West Virginia Natural Resources Police Officers, go to the state website or Facebook page.

Maria Rutherford can be reached at mrutherford@newsandsentinel.com.