(Fond du Lac County) A Fond du Lac County woman and three teens are accused of a poaching rampage that also took place in parts of Dodge County. The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office says over the last two months, their team along with the DNR conducted hundreds of combined hours of investigation into the alleged killing and mistreatment of whitetail deer.
Authorities say they have reason to believe that well over 100 deer were shot and/or killed between late spring of 2023 and July of 2024. A 36-year-old Campbellsport woman and three 16-year-old Campbellsport males were identified as the primary suspects.
The alleged crimes occurred in the 200 square mile region between Campbellsport, Waucousta, Lomira, Theresa, West Bend, and Kewaskum. Sheriff’s officials say much of this activity occurred after dark and would continue well into the early morning hours of the following day. They say the suspects drove around with a spotlight shining the fields, and when a deer was identified, suspects would fire a rifle from the vehicle at the deer.
If they believed a deer was shot, suspects would enter the field to identify the sex of the deer. Most of the deer they found dead would be left to rot where they lay. However, the heads of some bucks were removed by these suspects, particularly when the buck had large antlers.
Other deer were wounded by gunshots but not killed. Many of these nighttime excursions involved shooting multiple deer in the outing. In addition to capturing and/or killing deer, investigators obtained evidence to believe these suspects also targeted and harassed other wildlife including geese, raccoons, possums, and turtles. These animals would oftentimes be captured, held in captivity and harassed prior to release.
The following is a list of alleged criminal and civil DNR violations involved in this investigation. This list is not all-inclusive:
- Mistreating animals resulting in death
- Possession of a dangerous weapon
- Hunting deer with artificial light
- Hunting during the closed season
- Possession of a firearm while shining
- Possession of deer during the closed season
- Loading or discharging a firearm in or from a motorized vehicle
- Discharging a firearm from or across a highway or within 50 feet of the center of a roadway
- Hunting within 50 feet of a road’s center
- Transporting a loaded firearm in or on a moving vehicle
- Possession of game killed by unlawful or unknown means
- Hunting with weapon/ammunition of inherent design, or used in a manner, not reasonably capable of reducing target to possession (i.e. shooting an animal without the expectation of successfully harvesting the animal)
- Unauthorized taking of live wild animals from the wild
- Depositing or discharging solid waste on public or private property
- Obstructing a Conservation Warden
Both the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources have referred numerous charges to the Fond du Lac County District Attorney’s Office, Washington County District Attorney’s Office, and Fond du Lac County Juvenile Intake.
After the initial media release in July, Fond du Lac County Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt says he was asked by a media outlet to describe what he felt about the accusations. His gut response at that time was: “Senseless. Reckless. Indiscriminate.” Since that time, and after reading reports and observing video and photographic evidence obtained during this investigation, he says those words remain his best summation of the situation.
Waldschmidt says wildlife and hunting are a deep part of Wisconsin’s heritage and history, and the horrific acts committed against these animals will shock the conscience of hunters and non-hunters alike. He says they’re thankful for the observant citizen who took the time to report their observation of suspicious circumstances to our sheriff’s office. The sheriff adds that their call initiated this significant investigation.
