Importing deer isn't just odd, it's a crime

Problem is, the big deer -- the ones with the best racks -- are up North.

Some deer hunters thought they had a clever solution and started importing Northern bucks into the Carolinas, paying up to $1,500 a head. They hoped to breed the Northern whitetails, create huge herds of large-racked deer and charge thousands of dollars for the right to hunt them.

But importing deer into the Carolinas is a federal offense. And now authorities are cracking down on what they say is a growing underground market for smuggled deer.

Just last week three Pennsylvania men were indicted on federal interstate commerce charges of importing deer into South Carolina. And authorities say they've caught a half dozen others illegally transporting white-tailed deer across the state line, a scheme they fear could endanger the native population by spreading disease.

Bringing deer into the Carolinas is like tossing fish into the ocean. South Carolina already has a million white-tailed deer. The whitetail is even the official state animal.

But Northern white-tailed deer have evolved into a larger size over the centuries because extra body weight helps them keep warmer in the colder climate. Antlers on Carolina deer average around 120 inches total, from base to tips; farther north, antler lengths of 150 to 160 inches are not uncommon.

Full-grown bucks with large racks are worth big money to breeders, some going for as much as $40,000.

``Even deer semen sells for thousands of dollars,'' said Charles Ruth, a deer expert with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

While the deer are valued for rack size, it's the thrill of bagging them that drives the underground market. The larger the antlers, the older the deer. And the older the deer, the wiser they are. That means they're tougher to hunt.

``It's a guy thing,'' said York County hunter Wayne Montgomery. ``It's like fishing: Why would you want to catch a 15-pound bass rather than a 6-pound one? . . . Harvesting a larger deer is more of a challenge. It's a test of your skill.''

This summer, Emmanuel Shughart of Carlisle, Pa., said he arranged for five 120-pound fawns to be sold to an S.C. breeder for $5,500. His buddy Clifford Stitely, of Mifflin, Pa., put them in large plywood boxes and drove them down.

But when Stitely met the buyers, in York County near Interstate 77, it was a sting. The buyers were undercover state and federal agents.

Both men were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Columbia, along with another Pennsylvania man charged with importing two white-tailed deer. All three men face up to five years behind bars and $250,000 in fines. Shughart and Stitely said in interviews they didn't know importing the deer was illegal, and the third man, Robert C. Lott Jr., 58, of Biglerville, Pa., declined to comment.

The agents say they are investigating at least a dozen more cases of illegal deer importing. Thomas Bennett, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife senior agent for the Carolinas, said no one has been prosecuted in North Carolina yet, but he's investigating a case in the western part of the state.

The idea is to breed the Northern bucks with the Southern doe and produce new generations of large-racked deer. Once the offspring grow antlers, they can be let loose on a fenced-in plantation and hunted. Agents estimate 30 such preserves may exist in the Carolinas.

Phillip Lowe did exhaustive research on deer genetics before importing 27 deer from Ohio to his Florence, S.C., farm in 1994 and 1995.

``My idea was to have a small breeding pen -- 35 acres -- allow the deer to breed several seasons, and let the fawns into the wild to proliferate,'' Lowe said. ``As a sportsman, I want to hunt deer with good racks, but unfortunately South Carolina deer just don't have the right genetics.''

He didn't know it was illegal -- but he found out after being appointed to the S.C. natural resources board. He resigned in December 1995, and a year later he pleaded guilty in federal court and now faces up to one year in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The allure of big bucks is so great that breeders want to make it legal to import northern deer. A petition circulating at state deer shows that says, ``I support importation of deer to improve antler size of S.C. deer and support the right to hunt in a preserve,'' has garnered 4,300 signatures, Lowe said.

Importing deer into the Carolinas is illegal because authorities want to protect a valuable industry. Northern deer carry strains of diseases that can kill Southern ones -- tuberculosis, blue tongue, brucellosis, and hemorrhagic disease, Ruth said. And last year, deer hunting added $180 million to the S.C. economy.

``Hunters stay at motels, they eat at local restaurants, they buy guns and equipment,'' Ruth said. ``We have a tremendously valuable resource now, and we don't want anyone to do anything to jeopardize it."

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