December 21, 2011
By Fritz Mayer, RiverReporterOnline.com
A resident of Long Island has been issued two summonses for illegally
taking wildlife in the Town of Tusten.
According to a release from Lieutenant Deming Lindsley of the NYS
Department of Environmental Conservation, Environmental Conservation
Officer Michael Bello received information that a hunter, Ken Leuck, had
shot a couple of nine-point bucks over a bait pile, using his wife’s
hunting tag. Leuck was also reportedly continuing to hunt over the pile.
Bello scouted the area and found an empty deer stand and a
pre-established bait pile. There was also a trail camera found at the
location, which had recorded pictures of the trail and the bait pile.
The pictures showed that the bait pile had been freshened regularly back
to before the snowstorm in October.
Lindsley wrote, “Bait blocks, apples and corn were all consistently
replenished, drawing in some pretty nice bucks, ranging from spikes all
the way up to a wide spread 10 pointer.”
Bello returned to the stand the next morning on December 3, where he
found the hunter’s covered ATV underneath the stand. Leuck was ordered
down from the stand and found in possession of his unused buck tag,
along with his wife’s license and bear tag.
When he was confronted with the trail camera evidence of the two
bucks he had killed, Leuck confessed to the killings and to using his
wife’s tag.
Leuck was issued summonses for illegally taking protected wildlife, one
for each buck taken over bait. He was also cited for hunting with the
aid of bait, taking deer in excess of bag and using/possessing the tags
and license of another.
According to the release, “The complainants were hunting partners of
Leuck who had tried every other means to get him to stop.”
Efforts to reach Leuck were unsuccessful.
