A Bar Harbor man who recently spent a month in jail for a series of deer poaching violations apparently was assisted by four other men, according to newly released details from the Maine Warden Service.
The extensive poaching scheme — along with more recent cases — have highlighted the ongoing challenge that Maine’s law enforcement face as they try to cut down on hunting violations.
Deer poaching is not a new issue on MDI, where the state has banned hunting because its private lands are so close to Acadia National Park. Federal law prohibits hunting in the park, but many MDI officials and residents say the bans have led to an overpopulation of deer.
State officials, in cooperation with Operation Game Thief, announced last fall that they were offering a $4,000 reward for information about the illegal shooting of two deer on MDI — one in the town of Mount Desert in October, and another in Tremont the following month.
Mark Latti, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said those shootings remain under investigation.
A $3,000 reward also is being offered for information about a deer that was shot and wounded in Swanville in March — outside the state’s fall deer hunting season.
Benjamin Hamor, 51 of Bar Harbor, was one of five men charged in the deer poaching scheme on Mount Desert Island. He had his hunting license suspended for 13 years after he pleaded guilty to nearly two dozen offenses earlier this year.
“This was not a case of a mistake made by a responsible hunter,” Maine Warden Service officials said in a statement on Facebook. “It was deliberate poaching.”
Hamor was released last month after spending 30 days in jail and also was ordered to pay more than $11,000 in fines and fees for his role in the scheme, according to court documents. Hamor initially faced more than 60 criminal and civil charges related to poaching deer, and eventually pleaded guilty and admitted to nearly two dozen of them.
Hamor received the most severe punishment of the five men who were prosecuted for poaching deer on and around Mount Desert Island, in what officials have characterized as one of Maine’s largest recent illegal hunting cases
Three other men were each fined less than $1,000 and did not have to spend time in jail after they pleaded guilty to charges, according to court documents. None of them had their licenses suspended, Latti said.
The other men charged were Mark Cross, 73, of Mount Desert; Bruce Hamor, 75, of Bar Harbor; Adam McLaughlin, 38, of Orrington; and Benjamin Sukel, 38, of Lamoine.
“Game wardens executed six search warrants, including simultaneous searches at three different residences,” state officials said on Facebook. “Through numerous interviews and physical evidence collected at poaching scenes, wardens uncovered a disturbing pattern of repeated intentional wildlife violations involving five individuals on Mount Desert Island.”
Cross, Bruce Hamor and Sukel faced significantly fewer charges and ended up pleading to only one charge each in separate plea deals reached with the Hancock County District Attorney’s Office, according to court documents.
Bruce Hamor pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully possessing a harvested animal and paid an $800 fine. Cross and Sukel each pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing an unregistered deer. Each was fined $500.
According to court documents, at least one of the charges against Sukel alleged that he had poached deer on Hardwood Island in Blue Hill Bay, east of MDI.
Aside from Benjamin Hamor, each of the Hancock County residents charged in the case reached deals with the district attorney’s office and pleaded guilty within months of being charged in late 2020 and early 2021.
McLaughlin also faced multiple charges as a result of the investigation. He initially was charged in Penobscot County with unlawful possession of a wild animal and false registration of a deer, according to court staff in Ellsworth, but information about how his case was resolved was unavailable Monday.