POACHED

Kalamazoo, MI -

A beloved city buck, living largely in Asylum Lake Preserve, and one that I personally tracked and photographed for almost two years, was sadly poached at Western Michigan University’s BTR2, just off Drake Road in October of 2022. 

Sporting a 21-point rack, this buck was by far the nicest buck I’ve seen in over two decades pursuing urban whitetail. I was personally calling him Enoch, after Enoch Harris, the first black settler in Southwest Michigan, who lived very close to the buck’s home range.

I’m only writing about it now because it involved a year long investigation by the Michigan DNR, of which I was a material witness, and culminated in court proceedings that wrapped up last November. I also just recently received the DNR’s official report, via FOIA request, that lays bare all the evidence surrounding the case.

Blackmun shared his post with the national, Facebook group, Bowhunting League

This past fall, Michigan DNR Conservation Officer, Jim Nason, submitted what he considered one of the strongest cases in all his years, to prosecutors at the Kalamazoo County 8th District Court, charging Christopher Allen Blackmun Jr., 25, with two counts wildlife conservation offenses, and one count recreational trespass. Nason’s investigation concluded that Blackmun illegally shot “an antlered whitetail deer at night while using a street light to aid him while trespassing on Western Michigan University BTR2 property in Kalamazoo County”. In fact, this is the exact area where I last photographed the trophy buck.

Unfortunately, the 8th District Court didn’t share our concerns for wildlife justice. When Blackmun pleaded not guilty to all charges in arraignment, the Assistant Prosecutor opted to plea-bargain, likely to expedite the case and forego the time and expense of a trial. At the advice of his lawyer, Blackmun pleaded guilty to trespassing, while both DNR wildlife violations were subsequently dropped, dramatically reducing penalties from upwards of $18,000 to only $1,375. The steep charges would have been the result of it being a big buck. After initial restitution charges of $2,000 for an antlered deer, there’s an additional $750 fine for each point on bucks with 11 or more points, designed to deliberately discourage people from poaching trophy bucks.

Blackmun sharing on his personal Instagram account

Remarkably, Blackmun testified in pre-trial, under oath, to hitting the buck with his truck while driving northbound on Drake Road, and that he trespassed on WMU property only to retrieve the buck. Not only are the odds of an avid buck hunter accidentally hitting the largest buck of his life, with his truck, totally absurd, the story contradicts everything Blackmun was saying prior to court. On social media he bragged extensively about shooting it (legally) with a bow, soaking up heaps of praise, and then later even confessed to DNR officers, while under investigation, that he shot the buck with his “old junker” because he thought he might have to “get rid of the damn thing” later on. Blackmun’s deer accident story didn’t even raise an eyebrow of the sitting judge, the Honorable Richard Santoni, who at times had trouble operating the computer he was using, and appeared to be reading the case right there for the first time.

In the end, Blackmun was only charged with trespassing, not for wildlife violations, thereby dodging charges that spoke to the real heart of the crime: he poached a trophy buck, lied about it, and then tried to cover it up. He was fined $1375, served no jail time, and didn’t lose any State hunting privileges. The other two wildlife offenses would have included a loss of hunting privileges for three years, in addition to the hefty restitution charges for a trophy buck. As it stands now, Blackmun, an avid hunter/fisherman, can still legally hunt, and according to a Facebook post, plans to launch a waterfowl hunting guide business.

The Assistant Prosecutor in charge of the case, Marcus Hayes, was unable to comment on the specifics, but said that he handled every single case that came through the court the day of Blackmun’s pre-trial, clearly illustrating an incredibly busy, if not overwhelmed court system. Jeff Getting, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor, also didn’t comment on the specifics of the case, but when I expressed my concerns about the reduced charges, remarked that the number one call they get from the public, interestingly enough, involves animals. He said it goes well beyond calls and concerns involving child murders, abuse, etc., suggesting the moral outrage of the public is misguided. However, as a friend pointed out, perhaps the Court doesn’t adequately prosecute and punish for animal cruelty or offenses, compared to human crimes, and that’s why they’re receiving a higher number of calls. Clearly, the size of the buck meant little to nothing to the Court, despite the fact that it’s size was precisely the value that inspired the crime.

Enoch in velvet on the sidewalk of the BTR2, about a month before he was poached, and roughly the spot where he was shot.

My involvement with the case began in the Spring of 2023, when I received an email out of the blue from a young, aspiring, wildlife photographer and hunter who followed my Instagram account. She said she recognized the buck I was obsessed with as the same buck a hunter was bragging about on Instagram. When I saw the pictures I was devastated. The beautiful buck I’d spent dozens, if not hundreds of hours following, was officially dead. Had it not been for her, I may have never known.

The young woman, who chooses to remain anonymous, first learned about it herself when a KVCC officer, who got wind of the poaching incident, showed her Blackmun’s Instagram photo on his cellphone. She thought the buck looked familiar, remembering back on a post she saw on social media. After some sleuth work, including a visit to my account, she confirmed a match: it was the same buck. She contacted me and the two of us started piecing things together. That’s when I reported the incident to the DNR, knowing there was absolutely no way he could have killed that buck legally, given that it’s home range was entirely within properties that prohibit hunting. 

Buck’s approximate core range and location of poaching

It turned out the DNR was already investigating Blackmun, following an anonymous poaching report that included a photograph of a blood trail at the BTR2. When Nason went to the location the blood trail was still visible. Incriminating as it was, the DNR still didn’t have enough evidence to charge him.

Having tracked, filmed, and photographed this buck for two years, I had photos that positively linked him to Asylum Lake Preserve and the BTR2. It was critical evidence because it proved, definitively, where that buck lived, and contradicted the location Blackmun reported to the DNR when he killed it on October 14, 2022 (it’s required by law now that you report a deer harvest, including the location of the kill). He claimed he killed it on private land all the way over near Gull Lake, over 15 miles away from Asylum Lake and the BTR2. 

Enoch crossing Robert Jones Way at WMU’s BTR2 in 2022. The Ascension Borgess Cancer Center is in the background.

Graphic illustrating the improbability of Blackmun legally harvesting his buck

Conservation Officer Nason called in Michigan State DNR biologist, Dr. Dwayne Etter, to verify that my photographs were in fact the same buck, and, based on Etter’s vast professional experience, testify to the unlikelihood of a Michigan buck ever travelling that far outside it’s breeding range, even during breeding season. It was likely Blackmun was lying. With probable cause, Nason obtained a phone warrant that officially located Blackmun at Robert Jones Way, inside the BTR2, on the night of the killing, making a call to a friend.

With all this evidence amassed, Nason and his colleagues interviewed Blackmun, who initially stuck to his false story, but eventually fessed up when confronted with all the evidence against him. He confessed to driving his truck to the BTR2 around midnight, driving down Robert Jones Way, turning around at the cul-de-sac, and then driving back to where the buck was standing near the sidewalk. He got out of his truck and used the light from the streetlight to arrow the buck at 20 yards. The buck stumbled a few feet, and then laid down on the sidewalk. Blackmun then left and came back later to retrieve the buck, drive out to Plainwell, and drop the buck off on private property. He returned the following morning to pick up the buck and officially begin the lie that he’d officially shot it there.

According to the DNR report, Blackmun confessed to “fucking up” and knew it wouldn’t be long before the DNR would be contacting him, due to the size of the buck. Officer Nason said Blackmun was “forthcoming and compliant” when confronted with the evidence against him. Many suspects remain belligerent and defiant.

He later took the buck to Sherwood Taxidermy to have it mounted, but once Blackmun came under investigation the mount was confiscated as evidence by the DNR. It now hangs on a wall inside the DNR Plainwell Service Center, in the company of numerous other poached bucks.

Enoch at Asylum Lake Preserve in 2021, the year before he was poached

Having pursued big bucks for well over two decades, Enoch was truly special. He was blessed (or cursed, depending on how you look at it) with an extraordinary rack. The first year I photographed him at Asylum Lake Preserve he was already sporting a beautifully symmetrical, 10-point rack, with mass to the beams, tall tines, unique brow tines, and lots of potential, since he appeared to be only four and a half years old. The following year, when he was killed, his main frame was an 11 or 12, with plenty of kickers and stickers, and both brow tines now triple-forked for some real flair. It’s possible his rack would have reached even greater glory the following year. That’s the beauty of watching a buck grow, you never know what the next year will bring.

He was also unique for me, as a photographer, because he was especially tame. It’s a misconception that photographing urban buck is a walk in the park. It can be just as challenging because urban buck still possess the instinct to elude. Not true for Enoch though. One time I filmed him only 10 yards away at Asylum Lake, as he foraged crab-apple off a tree, and he didn’t mind me at all. Plus, he had a handsome, even sweet face, compared to some of the gnarly old brutes I’ve seen around town. 

Enoch in velvet at the Asylum Lake Preserve prairie, August 2022

Enoch grazing just inside the BTR2. The car in the background is on Drake Road.

And when I say beloved buck, I mean I wasn’t the only one who appreciated him. Big bucks never go unnoticed, especially this one. Not only did I see pictures of him on the Asylum Lake Preserve Facebook page, but on numerous occasions when I was photographing him there were others standing nearby taking pictures with their cell phones. One time when I was videotaping him on Borgess Cancer Center grounds, a couple employees stopped over to chat about “their” deer, and sure enough, people were on to “the really big buck”. They loved having him there.

I was personally calling the buck Enoch, after Enoch Harris, the first black settler in Kalamazoo County, who’s farm on Parkview Avenue was only a stones throw away from where the buck lived. Harris, and his wife Deborah, are also said to have planted the first apple orchard in the area, and on numerous occasions I saw this buck dining on crab-apple at Asylum Lake Preserve. Not to mention, when he migrated over to the BTR2, he was living on the grounds of the former Colony Farm Orchard, which was once full of apple trees, quite possibly the progeny of Enoch and Deborah Harris’s apples. Naming him Enoch was a no brainer in my book.

Enoch crossing the old driveway at Asylum Lake Preserve in 2021

Having grown up in the ever so busy Asylum Lake Preserve, Enoch was acclimated to people, and sadly that trust made him an easy target when he moved across the street to BTR2 on Drake Road. Once he left the inherent protections of Asylum Lake Preserve, he was much more vulnerable. Both WMU Research Parks are prone to poachers because of the roads that wind through them. Poachers can cruise around in their trucks, scout big bucks, and kill them with a bow or gun when the coast is clear, returning later to toss them in their truck.

People don’t realize how much poaching actually occurs in Kalamazoo, including failed attempts. I’ve reported tree-stands at the Research Park, heard gunshots, heard stories of poached deer, and seen plenty of suspicious trucks and characters. According to the DNR, they’ve got their hands full around the County, and do in fact catch poachers in and around Kazoo, but we just don’t always hear about it. Had the Court pressed for full charges, or plea-dealed the wildlife crimes, they could have made an example of Blackmun, and perhaps his case would have gotten mainstream press and served as a public warning to would-be poachers in Kalamazoo.

Enoch’s mount, hanging at the DNR Service Center in Plainwell, MI