Robotic deer turns tables, makes poachers the hunted

Poachers in Southern Arizona may get a surprise if they shoot a mule deer illegally.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department unveiled Wednesday a robotic mule deer designed to catch poachers, about three weeks before the mule deer hunting season starts Oct. 23.

The robot, donated by the Arizona chapter of the Mule Deer Foundation, is outfitted with a real deer hide and can turn its head from side to side.

If Game and Fish officials receive complaints of shooting deer out of season, from the road, or some other violation of hunting regulations, they will set the deer out in the area and lay in wait, said Gabriel Paz, law enforcement program manager for Game and Fish.

“As soon as somebody shoots it, we’re calling out on a bullhorn,” Paz said.

In fiscal year 2012, Game and Fish recorded 485 cases of taking wildlife without a license. The department recorded 540 cases the following year and 637 cases in fiscal year 2014.

Much of that increase in illegal takes likely comes from more calls to the Game and Fish hotline than from a rise in poaching, said department spokesman Mark Hart. Citizens can report poaching cases to 1-800-352-0700.

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Mule deer only live in the western United States, making them a prize for hunters from the eastern half of the country, Hart said.

Game and Fish already uses robotic decoys, including white tail deer, elk, and Gila monsters, among others, but the department hasn’t had a mule deer decoy for years, Hart said.

Buying a robotic deer costs between $2,500 and $3,500, said Terry Herndon, regional director of the Mule Deer Foundation. The group includes about 2,000 members statewide, one of whom spent several months outfitting the deer donated Wednesday.

Poachers “like to take things the easy way,” Herndon said, calling them a “cancer of the hunting community.”

Herndon described poachers operating as companies, with one person shooting the animal, another coming by later to cut the choice portions from the carcass, and still others moving the meat to markets and restaurants on the East Coast.

The foundation plans to donate another robotic mule deer to Game and Fish officials in the Phoenix area, he said.