New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Media contact: Clint Henson, (575) 445-2311
Public contact: (888) 248-6866
Clint.henson@state.nm.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, MAY 20, 2014
GRANT COUNTY MAN ORDERED TO PAY $6,000 FOR ALLEGEDLY POACHED DEER
SILVER CITY – Santa Clara resident Daniel Gomez, 30, was ordered by Grant County Magistrate Judge Ray Base on Thursday, April 24 to pay $6,000 in civil penalties for the loss of a mule deer buck he was found guilty of poaching in January 2013. The buck scored 184 inches and was considered a trophy, which allows for increased civil penalties.
The case was initiated by an anonymous tip to the Operation Game Thief hotline. Gomez said he killed the deer in Game Management Unit 16. However, several area residents had taken video of the deer alive shortly before Gomez allegedly poached it in Game Management Unit 23, an area where Gomez did not have a valid hunting license. Conservation officers seized the deer from Gomez and submitted DNA samples to a forensics laboratory in Wyoming. DNA samples taken from the suspected kill site matched the samples taken from the seized deer.
Gomez was found guilty of unlawful possession of the deer in July 2013, and fined $400 by Grant County Magistrate Maurine Laney.
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