A North Dakota man has been ordered to pay $74,000 in restitution for poaching a trophy mule deer buck in northwestern New Mexico.
The state Department of Game and Fish says Cody Davis was also ordered to make a $3,000 donation to the Operation Game Thief program. Authorities say Davis killed a mule deer out of season and didn't have a license. The investigation started in 2015 when game officers found a large headless buck near Lindrith. They put up surveillance at the site and caught Davis four months later when he returned to retrieve the head that was stashed nearby.