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Failure to communicate causes hunter to lose his biggest trophy ever
BY TIM RENKEN, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
11/29/2002
Don Bowen of St. Louis may be Missouri's first victim of chronic wasting disease. He's not wasting away, but he's sure sick about the loss of the trophy of a lifetime.
CWD is a contagious nerve and brain disease that has been found in wild deer in seven states, including Illinois. In trying to stop the spread of the disease, which is not believed to be a danger to humans, Illinois last summer banned the importation of whole deer from any other state.
That ban was mentioned in a story in the Post-Dispatch this fall, but apparently word failed to reach many Missourians, including the Protection Division of Missouri Department of Conservation.
Bowen, 63, bagged the biggest deer of his life Nov. 18, the third day of the Missouri firearms deer season, in Phelps County, southwest of Rolla. His original plan was to leave the head, with its 11-point antlers, at a taxidermist at St. James and take the rest of the deer to Schubert's Packing Co., in Millstadt, Ill. When he was told that Schubert's would accept the whole deer, Bowen decided to take the deer there first, then take the head to another taxidermist.
The next day, Tuesday, Bowen took the deer to Schubert's, filling out the form which said where the deer was bagged. He was told to come back that afternoon to get the head. En route back to St. Louis, Bowen stopped at Millstadt taxidermist Ron Zimmer to arrange for him to mount the head.
Zimmer told him that under emergency regulations, it was illegal to bring a whole deer from out-of-state into Illinois. Then Zimmer called the office of the conservation police of the Department of Natural Resources to see if the law, unknown to him, had been changed. He was told it hadn't.
When Bowen went back to Schubert's that afternoon to get the head, he was met there by conservation police who apparently had been alerted by Zimmer's phone call. They told him that his deer had to be confiscated because it had been brought illegally into the state.
"The officer was apologetic," Bowen said. "He even checked with his supervisor to see if I could get the antlers."
So Bowen, who said he fully supports all efforts to control CWD, came back to St. Louis without his deer or his trophy. All his efforts and those on his behalf by the Missouri Department of Conservation to get the head or antlers have been futile.
"What I don't understand is why Larry Schubert didn't tell me I couldn't bring the deer into Illinois," Bowen said. "If he'd done that, I would have left the head at St. James and had the deer processed in Missouri."
Schubert told the Post-Dispatch that he accepted the deer to avoid alienating a longtime customer.
Bob White, protection chief of the Missouri Department of Conservation, said his agency had somehow missed the notices of the Illinois ban.
"The first I heard about it was from hunters," he said. "I tried to get Bowen's trophy back, but I was told it had been destroyed."
Reporter Tim Renken
E-mail: trenken@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-849-4239
BY TIM RENKEN, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
11/29/2002
Don Bowen of St. Louis may be Missouri's first victim of chronic wasting disease. He's not wasting away, but he's sure sick about the loss of the trophy of a lifetime.
CWD is a contagious nerve and brain disease that has been found in wild deer in seven states, including Illinois. In trying to stop the spread of the disease, which is not believed to be a danger to humans, Illinois last summer banned the importation of whole deer from any other state.
That ban was mentioned in a story in the Post-Dispatch this fall, but apparently word failed to reach many Missourians, including the Protection Division of Missouri Department of Conservation.
Bowen, 63, bagged the biggest deer of his life Nov. 18, the third day of the Missouri firearms deer season, in Phelps County, southwest of Rolla. His original plan was to leave the head, with its 11-point antlers, at a taxidermist at St. James and take the rest of the deer to Schubert's Packing Co., in Millstadt, Ill. When he was told that Schubert's would accept the whole deer, Bowen decided to take the deer there first, then take the head to another taxidermist.
The next day, Tuesday, Bowen took the deer to Schubert's, filling out the form which said where the deer was bagged. He was told to come back that afternoon to get the head. En route back to St. Louis, Bowen stopped at Millstadt taxidermist Ron Zimmer to arrange for him to mount the head.
Zimmer told him that under emergency regulations, it was illegal to bring a whole deer from out-of-state into Illinois. Then Zimmer called the office of the conservation police of the Department of Natural Resources to see if the law, unknown to him, had been changed. He was told it hadn't.
When Bowen went back to Schubert's that afternoon to get the head, he was met there by conservation police who apparently had been alerted by Zimmer's phone call. They told him that his deer had to be confiscated because it had been brought illegally into the state.
"The officer was apologetic," Bowen said. "He even checked with his supervisor to see if I could get the antlers."
So Bowen, who said he fully supports all efforts to control CWD, came back to St. Louis without his deer or his trophy. All his efforts and those on his behalf by the Missouri Department of Conservation to get the head or antlers have been futile.
"What I don't understand is why Larry Schubert didn't tell me I couldn't bring the deer into Illinois," Bowen said. "If he'd done that, I would have left the head at St. James and had the deer processed in Missouri."
Schubert told the Post-Dispatch that he accepted the deer to avoid alienating a longtime customer.
Bob White, protection chief of the Missouri Department of Conservation, said his agency had somehow missed the notices of the Illinois ban.
"The first I heard about it was from hunters," he said. "I tried to get Bowen's trophy back, but I was told it had been destroyed."
Reporter Tim Renken
E-mail: trenken@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-849-4239
