The two deer were illegally shot near Buckskin Crossing, off the Lander Cut-Off road southeast of Pinedale, on November 12, 2012. Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Duane Kerr was on patrol as part of the annual mule deer winter range task force and discovered the head-less, and partially processed, carcass of a mule deer within hours of the deer being killed. Subsequent investigation revealed a second deer had been shot and left in the same area.
The case was made after items of trash from both crime scenes, including a can of Copenhagen chewing tobacco and a can of Monster energy drink, were found to have been purchased from the Boulder Store on the morning the deer were poached. Analysis of receipt transactions confirmed that both of these items were purchased from two young men in a tan Dodge truck, which matched a description of a truck in the area, according to witnesses. The men were identified from video surveillance and transaction history information. A search of the two individual’s homes in Gillette and Moorcroft revealed a severed deer head and two quarters of deer discarded into a ravine at Mulcare’s residence.
The two men were subsequently apprehended at a gas field “man camp” near Big Piney, at which time a search of the suspect’s truck revealed a set of deer antlers and the .223 rifle used in the crime. The Wyoming Game & Fish Wildlife Forensic Laboratory in Laramie matched blood, hair and tissue DNA samples from the field to the suspect’s truck, the suspect’s house and the recovered deer antlers. Additionally, the Division of Criminal Investigation’s Crime Lab matched ballistic samples from the field and the abandoned deer carcass to the suspect’s gun.
