Two Tennessee men are forever banned from hunting in that state and 43 others after illegally killing dozens of deer and taking disturbing photos of the animals, the Tennessean reports. "We will never know how many deer these two killed, but we believe they could have poached at least 40," says a sergeant with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, which inflicted its harshest penalty ever on the two men, 23-year-old Densibel Calzada and 21-year-old Eddy Albert. Calzada and Albert pleaded guilty after being charged with hunting without permission, hunting out of season, killing deer at night, and illegal transportation of wildlife. They also had their weapons confiscated and were ordered to pay restitution fees and court costs, perform community service, and serve probation. The deer were killed on private property or at night, both of which are illegal, the TWRA says in a press release.
A Rutherford County landowner first notified the TWRA of Calzada and Albert allegedly trespassing on Dec. 26, and they were cited; two days later, they were detained again after someone reported firearms going off near the Smyrna airport. The officers in that case found a rifle, beer, and a dead deer in the men's pickup truck and notified TWRA, which then obtained search warrants and found the disturbing photos and videos on the men's cellphones. "They were getting on top of the deer and doing all sorts of things," another TWRA officer says. “They had one where the deer was still alive and they blew his head off. They were high-fiving each other after showing the hole where they had shot one at nighttime." The men are banned for life from hunting in 43 other states because most states in the US abide by the Interstate Wildlife Violator's Compact, so a hunting ban in Tennessee will be upheld elsewhere, a TWRA officer explains. (More hunting stories.)
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