A Black Diamond man will appear in court this fall after a pellet gun he shot on his property is believed to have killed a fawn. Spencer Reichert has been charged with hunting wildlife during closed season following an incident that occurred on Aug. 7, according to Fish and Wildlife public affairs officer Brendan Cox. Reichert will appear in Turner Valley Provincial Court on Oct. 17. “We had a report that it had been killed with a pellet gun,” Cox said of the fawn. “We investigated. Charges have been laid. We can confirm that it was a mule deer fawn.” Cox said Fish and Wildlife received a call from a concerned citizen the morning of Aug. 7. “We can’t say really anything more at this point, just because we have to let it go through the courts,” he said. “We can confirm that the fawn did die as a result of this, but we can’t comment on motive or intent at this point.” Black Diamond peace officer Jim Barry, who responded to the incident earlier this month, said a pellet passed between two of the fawn’s ribs and penetrated a lung, killing the fawn. “I’m surprised that would actually happen with a pellet gun,” said Barry. “It hit in the right angle. It usually just scares them off.” After speaking with the accused, Barry said he admitted to using a pellet gun to scare deer off of his property and is “horrified” by the fawn’s death. Barry said deer frequent the field west of the Oilfields General Hospital, near where the incident occurred. He said deer, moose and bears use the area as a corridor to access the Sheep River. “You can see on any given day 20 (deer), and now all the mothers have little fawns so you add another seven or eight deer,” he said. “They usually bed down in the trees behind the hospital at night. “They travel down to the river across the road by the hospital to the wheat fields to eat and usually bed down there at night.” Barry said the Town of Black Diamond has a bylaw that prohibits firing any type of gun, shooting arrows and throwing knives on private and public property in town. “Fish and Wildlife did their investigation and he has been charged with hunting out of season,” he said. “Our bylaws can’t supersede provincial bylaws. If they didn’t write him a fine we could have written one for firing his pellet gun within town limits.” Nearby resident Brendan Kelly, who saw Fish and Wildlife vehicles in his neighbourhood on Aug. 7, said he’s upset by the incident. “We are really shocked that someone would do something like this in town,” he said. “In talking to people it’s like, ‘Oh my God, please don’t tell me that’s true.’” Anyone who witnesses illegal hunting or fishing activity is encouraged to report it to the 24-hour report a poacher line at 1-800-642-3800.
