CODY, Wyoming (Idaho Statesman) — A 20-year-old man went on a mule deer killing spree and scattered the nine carcasses across a Wyoming town — then turned himself into the local sheriff, according to authorities and news outlets.
Joshua Tamirat Wielhouwer, a resident of Jenison, Michigan, faces 18 misdemeanor charges, including nine counts of taking a game animal without a hunting license and nine counts of wanton destruction of a big game animal, and more charges might be on the way, the Powell Tribune reported.
Wielhouwer’s bond is set at $36,000 in cash, the circuit court in Cody told McClatchy News over the phone.
“It is my client’s intention to remain in the detention center until we have a better idea of these charges as well any potential new charges,” Tim Blatt, Wielhouwer’s defense attorney, told to the Powell Tribune, adding that he’ll likely seek a lower bond for his client.
The first carcass was discovered near a home on the morning of Aug. 27, the outlet reported, citing charging documents. Another was found near a neighboring house, while the remaining seven were found near the Park County Complex in Cody over the next few days.
The complex is surrounded by green space and small ponds, which sometimes attract the town’s beloved urban mule deer herd, Cowboy State Daily reported.
One of the dead deer, a doe, was found floating in one of the ponds, the outlet reported.
Court documents said a total of two bucks, six does and a fawn were killed and found with broadhead hunting arrow wounds, the outlet reported.
State game warden Spencer Carstens and Cody game warden Grant Gerharter believe they caught Wielhouwer killing one of the deer on Sept. 4, before he “ran away and fled the state,” the Powell Tribune reported.
Carstens and Gerharter were on patrol near the county complex at about 10 p.m. “when they heard a sound ‘consistent with (a) shot from a compound bow,’” Cowboy State Daily reported, citing an affidavit. Then, Carstens saw someone “carrying a compound bow and ‘shining a light on the ground,’” the outlet reported.
The wardens tried to stop the man but ultimately lost him, and authorities issued a warrant for Wielhouwer’s arrest Friday, Sept. 6, the Powell Tribune reported.
Three days later, Wielhouwer returned to Wyoming and turned himself in, a spokesperson for the Park County Sheriff’s Office told McClatchy News over the phone on Friday, Sept. 13.
McClatchy News reached out to the Park County Sheriff’s Office and the clerk of courts for information and charging documents but was unable to obtain the records.
Wielhouwer’s next court date is 9 a.m. Dec. 11 for a status conference, according to the clerk of courts.
Cody is a town in the northwestern part of the state where the Yellowstone Regional Airport is located, about a 50-mile drive east of Yellowstone National Park.
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