Oklahoma farmer in hot water after shooting huge deer

Updated June 2, 2005, 10:58 a.m. ET

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Michael Crossland didn't have much time to celebrate when he shot what is expected to be the largest whitetail deer ever killed in Oklahoma -- a monster buck with a 31-point set of antlers worth thousands of dollars.

Instead, the antlers were seized by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and a charge of hunting without permission was filed against him. If convicted, he could be fined, face jail time, or both.

"It's been a heck of a mess," said Crossland, a 25-year-old farmer and rancher.

On Nov. 23, Crossland said he was with a landowner's hired hand, who went to retrieve a four-wheeler and gave Crossland his rifle in case he spotted any big deer.

After walking around a bend on the west side of a creek, he spotted a doe, then saw the buck. After quickly loading the rifle, Crossland lined up the buck in his scope from about 70 yards away and dropped it with one shot.

"I didn't know he was that big until he fell," Crossland said. "He fell and he rolled his head, and that's when I said, 'Oh my gosh.'"

But as word quickly spread about the huge deer, problems started to mount for Crossland.

Landowner Ryan Hunt, 26, requested the hunting charge, and if convicted Crossland faces a fine of up to $200 and 30 days in the county jail. It would then be up to the court to decide who gets to keep the antlers.

Crossland said he considered Hunt a friend, but they haven't spoken since the deer was shot. Crossland also said he's previously worked for the Hunt family and was told he could hunt on their property as long as he was with a family member or Greg Platner, the farmhand who was with Crossland on the day he shot the deer.

Hunt wouldn't specifically say whether he and Crossland were friends or whether he gave Crossland permission to hunt on his property.

"I'll say that our family has a lot of land, and it's always been known that no one hunts on our property without permission," Hunt said. "It doesn't matter if it's fishing, turkey or a little bitty doe."

Although the antlers have not officially been scored under a standardized system, Yukon taxidermist Gerald Hillman measured the horns and said he's confident it will be a new state record for non-typical antlers, which refers to a lack of symmetry on each side of the rack.

Hillman estimated the antlers will score about 246 or 247 points. The current non-typical state record in Oklahoma is 240 3/8 from a whitetail in 2003.

Carl Eddy, the owner of Eddy's Northern Whitetails in Independence, Iowa, said the mounted head and horns would likely be worth between $20,000 and $30,000.

But Crossland said doesn't plan on selling and just wants them back.

"I want to keep it," he said. "That's a once-in-a-lifetime deal there."


Article URL:
http://www.courttv.com/people/2005/0602/deer_ap.html

Wanna bet the Asshole would not have said anything if it had been a little 2x2

That landowner sounds like a real Ahole

No doubt they were pals until "Boone & Crockett" crossed his mind...

I saw those antlers at Hillman's before the Wildlife Department came and picked them up.

Hillman told me that Crossland was invited to come hunt by the ranch hand and that he has hunted on the same ranch with the ranch hand for several years.

There was never a problem until a state record was involved. Hillman suspected the landowner wants the rack and that is the only reason he pressed charges on Crossland. But, I believe he is mistaken as the ranch doesn't own the deer, the state does. And, IF it was harvested illegaly (tresspassing) then the rack is confiscated by the state, which they have done pending the outcome of the charges.

It's fishy that the 26-year-old "landowner" won't say if he's Crossland's friend or if Crossland had permission to hunt on family -- not his, but family -- property. I knew the members of some old land-holding families when I lived in Oklahoma, and while they're tight with access to their land, they're also polite, fair and honest almost to a fault.

I wouldn't be out of character for the REAL landowner (probably this boy's great-grandmother or someone like her) to pop out of the woodwork in some tiny little town and tell him to stop embarrassing the family in public, and then give Crossland a letter granting him lifetime hunting priveleges.

The landowner sounds like a spoiled kid to me, but I'd be curious to hear what the courts have to say.


Okie John

Here's a surprise for the landowner. He won't get the rack if it was found that Crossland was trespassing.According to the wildlife dept only the person who shoots the animal has the right to keep it.If found guilty the wildlife dept will keep the rack.

I doubt the charges hold. Seems as if Hunt is just in it for the money.

It's a darn shame what folks will do for alittle dough.

Reloader

I just know an attorney will chime in here soon enough, but the landowner's agent (the hired hand) seems to have given tacit permission for hunting by giving Mr. "Crossland his rifle in case he spotted any big deer". Any lawyer worth two bits ought to be able to get that charge thrown out in a heartbeat.

I think it's a little early to be making a judgement one way or another. One damn newspaper article and everybody is calling the landowner a lowdown S.O.B. We all know that newspaper articles are always right don't we? There are two sides to every story and we don't have enough facts to decide one way or another. I think it's best to reserve judgement until all the facts are in.

I actually agree with M16 on this one. I'd like to think that for the Dept of wildlife to even issue a ticket, they would want to have a more solid case than what the article states. I wouldn't be suprised if there's a second side to this story.