SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A North Dakota man has been ordered to pay $74,000 in restitution for poaching a trophy mule deer buck in northwestern New Mexico.
The state Department of Game and Fish says Cody Davis also was ordered to make a $3,000 donation to the Operation Game Thief program.
Authorities say Davis killed a mule deer out of season and didn’t have a license.
The investigation started in 2015 when game officers found a large headless buck near Lindrith.
They put up surveillance at the site and caught Davis four months later when he returned to retrieve the severed head that was stashed nearby.
