December 8, 2011
From TheRepublic.com
LAPEER, Mich. — After his hunting buddy missed, Jeff Kerr says he
couldn't resist: He shot a 13-point trophy buck on his grandmother's
land in Lapeer County, a deer with a generous rack.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime rack for a deer hunter," said Lt. Dave
Malloch of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
But the antlers and the venison no longer belong to Kerr. The DNR
seized everything after learning that Kerr didn't get a hunting license
until after he shot the deer on Nov. 20.
"I was wrong," Kerr, 28, said Thursday. "I'm not going to point
fingers."
Lt. Dave Malloch of the Department of Natural Resources says it would
be considered a "once-in-a-lifetime" deer for any hunter.
With a construction job going well, he doubted he would get a chance
to hunt. Then a pal called and they were off to his grandmother's 40
acres in Lapeer County's Marathon Township. Kerr didn't have a license
but had a Remington shotgun.
"He missed it twice and I couldn't let it go again," Kerr said of the
deer.
"I shot him at 10 yards."
He got a license and removed the deer from the field the next day. He
put the animal in his pickup truck and posed for a photo at a shop in
Lapeer.
The picture was posted on a website,http://www.q1buckpole.com , where
people can see other Michigan trophy deer.
The DNR said it got a tip that Kerr didn't have a $15 license when he
shot the buck. He confessed after a visit from conservation officer Ken
Kovach.
"I wasn't going to lie. There's nobody to blame but myself," Kerr
said.
He could face fines of up to $1,500. The DNR plans to display the
antlers during public talks on hunting laws.
