DEMING, IND. — A three-legged deer was found shot and killed early Monday morning, and officers are looking for leads to a suspect.
The doe, named Tripod by residents, was a common sight in Hamilton County backyards. She survived with three legs for nearly ten years, according to locals, and gave birth to several fawns before her death.
Residents don’t know how Tripod lost her fourth leg, but they watched and took care of her for years.
Bill Doss, a conservation officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, is working with other county officers to track down Tripod’s killer.
Doss said the misdemeanor of killing the deer without a license is punishable by up to one year in jail, along with some fines.
“If they came forward, though, and explained their side of the story, they wouldn’t be looking at such serious charges,” Doss said. “We rely on people doing the right thing in our job.”
Doss, along with other IDNR officials, is searching the area for clues. When they reached the scene of the crime Monday, they retrieved a bullet shot from a high-power rifle.
In addition to scouring the premises and reviewing nearby surveillance cameras, Doss said he plans to deploy a K-9 unit to detect human scents and other evidence. He will also send the bullet to a state police lab for forensics testing.
“We’re putting all the pieces together so we can find someone to interview and eventually charge someone with the crime,” Doss said.
Although officials continue to investigate the deer’s killing, they were able to issue a salvage permit for her meat. Conservation officers can issue permits for roadkill to be used as meat for local hungry families.
Hamilton County’s DNR district shared the news of Tripod’s death on Facebook, and the post has received more views and shares than any previous post. It continues to ask for tips from Deming residents, who discussed the well-known deer’s many appearances in the town.
Devon Sherer, who lives on a five-acre property in Deming, said the deer showed up in his backyard about nine years ago and had been living in the area until she was killed. He left corn for her to eat and watched her raise her young from a distance.
Tripod often traveled between Hamilton County properties with two or three fawns behind her. Sherer said she frequented his yard nearly every evening and sometimes in the mornings.
“I’d notice that when she walked, she jumped around, but when she ran, she took off just as fast as any other deer,” Sherer said. “Once I saw her run across the field and outrun a coyote.”
Sherer and his three sons regularly hunt deer, but they typically go after the larger bucks. Whenever hunting season came around, he said, Tripod was always absent because she was a smart doe who noticed the trends.
“But we’d never go after her anyway because she’s off limits,” he said. “It’s terrible someone did this to her, and I hope they catch who did it.”
