A deputy sheriff in Greene County has been fined $195 for sawing off and keeping the antlers from a dead deer.
The case started with a car-versus-deer accident north of Jefferson in early November. A man who came upon the wreck called authorities and asked for a salvage tag for the deer. Under state law, a motorist who hits a deer or a bystander at the accident scene can request a salvage tag. It gives that person possession of the deer. Without a tag, it’s illegal to take roadkill deer from the scene of an accident.
According to an Iowa Department of Natural Resources report, Greene County Deputy Kirk Hammer declined to issue the salvage tag at the accident scene. Later that day the man who had asked to take the deer drove by the scene — and told authorities he saw Hammer, in uniform, sawing the antlers off the deer.
A state conservation officer questioned the deputy and a DNR report indicates the deputy admitted he took the antlers to his home. The DNR officer seized the antlers and the deputy has been cited for “unlawful possession of whitetail deer antlers.”