While today is the start of bow-hunting season on deer in Iowa, two men were arrested over the weekend in eastern Iowa for illegally hunting deer with rifles. D-N-R spokesman Kevin Baskins says conservation officers were responding to a complaint of a dead deer in a rural area south of Muscatine on Saturday when the hunters were discovered.
Baskins says the men face felony charges of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon as well as misdemeanor charges for no valid hunting license and no wildlife habitat fee. Charged are: 35-year-old Anthony Boyce and 27-year-old Kenneth Sargeant, both of Letts. Baskins says they’re both facing serious charges — and all of their hunting gear was seized by the state.
Baskins says they’ve taken two scoped 22-caliber rifles from the men, two boxes of ammunition, several knives and various other hunting-related items. Officers also recovered the heads of two dead deer. Boyce and Sargeant are being held in the Muscatine County Jail. Boyce is also held on a felony arrest warrant in Muscatine County and a misdemeanor arrest warrant in Louisa County for unrelated charges.