Worthington resident and his brother arrested after allegedly shooting deer from truck in Colrain

Massachusetts Environmental Police examine a deer that was allegedly shot by two poachers in Colrain on Saturday, Dec. 2.

Massachusetts Environmental Police examine a deer that was allegedly shot by two poachers in Colrain on Saturday, Dec. 2. COURTESY PHOTO/MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE

Guns confiscated by Massachusetts State Police and Environmental Police after arresting two alleged poachers in Colrain on Saturday, Dec. 2.

Guns confiscated by Massachusetts State Police and Environmental Police after arresting two alleged poachers in Colrain on Saturday, Dec. 2. COURTESY PHOTO/MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE

By CHRIS LARABEE

Staff Writer

Published: 12-06-2023 11:31 AM

GREENFIELD — Massachusetts Environmental Police arrested two brothers Saturday night after they allegedly shot a deer from their truck while in Colrain.

Police arrested Colrain resident Seth Doull, 51, and Worthington resident Ira Doull, 46, on Shelburne Line Road on Saturday night. The brothers were arraigned in Greenfield District Court on Monday on charges of hunting from a vehicle; hunting by improper means; transporting a loaded shotgun/rifle in a motor vehicle; discharging a firearm near a state highway; hunting after hours; hunting during a closed season; and carrying a firearm without a license.

Police were alerted to the alleged incident after a caller reported a vehicle occupant shot a deer on the front lawn of a Colrain home at around 6:30 p.m., according to the Environmental Police’s Facebook page and Lt. Tara Carlow’s police narrative in court. The Doulls were traveling in a gray Toyota Tacoma.

Upon arriving in Colrain — Massachusetts State Police made the initial stop — Carlow discovered more than 300 rounds of ammunition, two shotguns, two rifles, a pistol, four muzzleloaders, four thermal scopes, and a gray fox with gunshot wounds to its body and apparent blunt force trauma to the head. The two men had allegedly killed the fox that morning.

Following the arrest, Carlow met the reporting party and another police officer to investigate the dead buck, which was 60 feet from the road and 460 feet from the caller’s home.

“I used [the Massachusetts Environmental Police-issued] metal detector over the deer and got positive metal notification under the left eye, the left shoulder area and the left stomach,” Carlow wrote in the police narrative. “Because the deer was gut shot, it was deemed not fit for consumption and disposed of.”

Saturday’s incident was not the first involving the shooting of a buck by occupants of a gray Toyota Tacoma.

According to State Police spokesperson Dave Procopio, police have “received several reports of poaching in the last two years by an offender or offenders operating a gray Tacoma,” but “in the other incidents a suspect or suspects were not identified.”

Article continues after...

Yesterday's Most Read Articles

‘Poverty wages have to go’: Some 200 rally at UMass flagship, calling for fair pay and full staffing
‘The magic that existed back then’: Academy of Music to screen time capsule film of New Year’s Eve 1984 concert at The Rusty Nail
Bittersweet Bakery & Cafe in Deerfield reopens with smaller menu, renewed focus on dinners
Area property deed transfers, Dec. 6
UMass football: Joe Harasymiak formally introduced as Minutemen’s next head coach
Back on her feet with new store at Westhampton’s Hanging Mountain Farm

Procopio said the two “poachers” will face “mandatory firearm identification card revocations and could face revocation of hunting rights in almost all 50 states.”

Following their arraignment in Greenfield District Court, both men were released on personal recognizance on the condition that they not possess any firearms.