Logan County Farmer Discovers 1 of His Deer Shot, Killed For Antlers

By Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A Logan county farmer is struggling to understand why anyone would want to kill his exotic animals after he found several of them shot to death.

Earlier this week, longtime farmer Jerry Logan came home to find three of exotic deer and one of his sheep dead after they had been shot and killed.

"When I walked back into the holding pens, there was a big Axis buck that had been shot. They cut the head off and had taken the loins off and taken part of the skin," Logan said.

For over 25 years, Logan said he has never dealt with something like this before. He said raising deer, which can only be found in places like Iraq and Iran, has become his livelihood -- raising the animals and then selling their high end meat for a profit.

"I've been the only one in the state of Oklahoma that's been doing this, and there is only about three or four in the U.S. doing this," said Logan.

Because his animals are so rare and mean so much to him and his family, Logan has gone out of his way to try and protect them. Logan has installed a predator fence around his 55 acres to try and keep animals from getting into his farm and killing his animals. However, Logan said he doesn't have a way to keep people out.

He said when he saw one of the gates to his deer pens open to the outside, he knew something was wrong. It was then he first discovered one of his deer had been shot and it's antlers had been removed.

"Of course you lose four animals overnight, that's quite a bit of a hit to take," said Logan County's Chief Deputy Rob Groseclose.

Groseclose said the four animals combined are worth nearly $9,000. To try to catch the person or persons responsible, the Logan County Sheriff's department is turning to the public for help.

"I'd like to put the word out to all the taxidermy shops in the metro area as well as people who would possibly see these antlers.

Logan, who believes it was children who may be responsible for killing his animals, said the antlers aren't worth much money and chances are they did it just for the fun of it. Either way, Logan can't seem to understand why anyone would want to commit such a brutal crime.

"For someone to come in and shoot one just for the horns and antlers and leave the carcass, that is unbelievable," Logan said.