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CEDAR CITY — A Cedar City man who was charged last month with illegally killing a buck deer in 2018 is at least the fourth person to be charged with poaching since November.
Michael Grant, 25, was charged in 5th District Court with wanton destruction of protected wildlife, a class A misdemeanor, as well as two counts of transporting, selling or purchasing protected wildlife, a class B misdemeanor on March 27. He was also charged with carrying a loaded rifle, shotgun or muzzle-loading rifle in a vehicle, a class B misdemeanor, and driving with a suspended or revoked license, a class C misdemeanor, according to the charging document.
The charges are related to a poaching case reported on Dec. 23, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officials said Thursday. State wildlife conservation officers received a report of a deer being poached at a home in Cedar City on Dec. 23, which led them to Grant’s home.
Conservation officers learned antlers they found at the home were from a buck deer illegally killed in the Chloride Mountains, an area in Iron County west of Cedar City, in November 2018, which is during the deer breeding season. They also found the heads of a pair of trophy buck deer, which had died about two or three days before conservation officers arrived, said DWR spokeswoman Faith Heaton Jolley.
Grant told the officers he had found the trophy bucks dead and harvested their heads, officials continued; DWR conservation officer Joshua Carver said people still have to report dead animals before harvesting so that officials can investigate to ensure the animals didn’t die under suspicious circumstances.
"If it is determined that the animal died of natural causes, oftentimes, the person who finds and reports the animal can be granted a certificate to keep the antlers," he said, in a news release.
Court records didn’t list a legal representative for Grant. He’s scheduled to be arraigned on June 9, according to records. If convicted, DWR officials said they plan to seek a hunting license suspension.
Since November, at least three other people have been charged in relation to animal poaching cases. Poaching charges range in severity for various reasons, including the size of the animal killed.
A Washington County man was charged on Nov. 15 with a third-degree felony in relation to a trophy buck that was illegally killed near Quichapa Canyon, located northwest of Kanarraville, in Iron County last year. An Idaho woman was also charged with a felony poaching count on March 17 in relation to a bull elk killed in Summit County earlier this year, while a Carbon County man was charged with a misdemeanor count on March 27 in relation to a deer illegally killed in Carbon County.
The division stated there were 1,050 animals illegally killed in Utah in 2019. Anyone who spots poaching in Utah or has information about a case can call 1-800-662-3337 to reach the DWR's 24-hour, 365-day hotline; the agency also has an online portal to report poaching.
