A small Wisconsin community was up in arms when the news broke that a massive whitetail deer was illegally killed in January and authorities have just released who they are targeting in this marquee poaching case.
The carcass of the deer lay headless in the snow when authorities in Shiocton, Wisconsin recovered the animal last winter and how the deer died quickly became the talk of the town.
For two years prior, stories of the buck traversed through hunt camps and communities in and around Shiocton and when hunters got wind of what happened; they sprung to action, hoping to bring the poachers to justice.
Close to four months down the road and DNR investigators say they have their men.
Edwin Singler, 53 of Shicoton and his son Ryan Singler,25 are now under criminal investigation for the poaching of the monster buck. According to the search warrant and court documents, other hunters were said to have observed Edwin Singler, his two sons and a family friend hunting coyotes as part of a larger group on January 22. Hunters noted that the hunting dogs were in pursuit of at least 20 deer, mentioning that the large buck was among the deer of the group.
They then went on to report hearing a pair of gunshots coming from the direction of the Singler family and after having radio contact, Singler allegedly reported they had “shot at a fox and a crow” and directed the group to stop hunting for the day.
Later that afternoon, a witness took a photo of the wounded buck in some woods near the area where hunters say Singler had parked his truck.
The warrant went on to state that the next day a DNR warden and sheriff’s deputy found the buck’s head removed accompanied with a set of footprints leading from the deer.
But the footprints weren’t the only thing the poachers left behind.
Investigators were then able to locate a spent .223 rifle casing melted into the snow within a few feet of the vehicle tracks. The nickel-plated round was stamped with REM FC12.
On May 6, investigators searched both Edwin and Ryan Singler’s properties where they recovered ammo containters with held “nickel-plated .223 rifle rounds…the same as the .223 casing recovered” and, by chance, they had the “same REM FC12 printed on the casing.”
In addition to this pending case, both of the accused are also facing charges for illegally shooting an elk in Nevada.