Killer of albino deer apprehended

NARROWSBURG, NY — A popular local figure that haunted the forests near the Town of Tusten’s Ten Mile River recently lost its life to illegal poaching. The person responsible for shooting the albino deer has been apprehended, thanks to the action of an anonymous complainant who alerted the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to the crime by calling 800/TIPP-DEC on October 30.

According to Lt. Deming Lindsley of the NYS EnCon Police, the informant indicated that the owner of Orfey’s Lodge, formerly Lander’s Ten Mile River Lodge on Route 97, shot the albino buck behind his home with a rifle earlier in the week. “This was a very famous deer that everyone in the community knew about,” wrote Lindsley in an email. “The only other information received was where the alleged offender’s home was and that he spoke Russian.

Environmental Conservation Officer Mike Bello of the DEC Police responded and located Yevgeniy Avtushko, of Staten Island. He soon confessed to having the deer, but it was later learned that he was not the taker but only possessed it. He took the officer to his freezer which held the meat and head.

The investigation revealed that Yevgeniy’s son Anatoliy, of Brooklyn, was the actual shooter. Anatoliy had just bought a 300 Winchester rifle three weeks prior, and when he saw the buck in his backyard, he shot it from 200 yards away,” wrote Lindsley.

Both men were arraigned in front of Justice Thomas Nuttycombe at the Tusten Town Hall. Anatoliy was fined $1,502.50 for taking deer during a closed season and $252.50 for hunting deer without a license. Yevgeniy was fined $252.50 for possession of an illegal deer and sharing in the proceeds. The penalty totaled $2,007.50 and Anatoliy will be subject to a revocation of his hunting privileges from one to five years.