An animal carcass found laying in the open on Voltaire Canyon Road was more likely the illegal dumping of a legally shot animal than poaching, a Nevada Division of Wildlife official said Tuesday.
Game Warden Hank St. Clair said a call to the Division of Wildlife Game Thief Hotline on Tuesday was the second the department had received about the butchered remains of what appears to be a mule deer.
St. Clair said he tossed the carcass into the bushes last week, but animals must have dragged it into the open.
Deer-hunting season ended Sunday, leading St. Clair to believe the animal was legally shot. Although a charge of poaching doesn't apply, the culprit could be charged with littering.
"People will legally kill an animal, and instead of just throwing the carcass in the garbage, they'll take it into the desert and dump it, and that's littering, " he said. "It's trash."
This is the fifth carcass-dumping call St. Clair responded to during the monthlong hunting season, which began Nov. 1.
Suspected poaching can be reported to the Game Thief Hotline at (800) 992-3030.
