WOODSTOCK — A Rumford man is charged with shooting a robotic deer from his car Wednesday night on Concord Pond Road.

Coty A. Beardsley, 26, was arrested shortly before 6 p.m. after a brief chase along the rural road, according to Maine Game Warden Josh Smith’s arrest report.

Beardsley is charged with night hunting, shooting from a moving vehicle, failure to stop for an officer and violation of bail conditions, all misdemeanor charges. According to the Oxford County Jail, he posted $300 cash bail and was released at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. 

According to the arrest report, Smith was monitoring night hunting activity with a deer simulator — a robotic decoy — in the vicinity of Concord Pond Road. At about 5:47 p.m., Beardsley shot at the decoy from his 1998 Dodge Stratus and drove away, ignoring Smith’s commands to stop. Beardsley was located a short distance down the road and arrested less than 10 minutes later.

Maine law prohibits hunting wild animals from a half hour after sunset until a half hour before sunrise. Convictions for night hunting carry a mandatory $1,000 fine and three days in jail. 

Wardens use robotic decoys simulating a variety of animals to catch poachers or illegal hunters, but are tight-lipped on how the simulators are deployed. Maine Warden Service Cpl. John MacDonald said Thursday that wardens’ use of simulators is considered a confidential investigative technique.

Beardsley also is facing charges of operating under the influence, driving to endanger and failure to stop for an officer after crashing his vehicle into a utility pole on Franklin Street in Rumford on Aug. 25 and speeding away from police. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in Rumford District Court in September and is due to appear in Oxford County Superior Court in Paris on Jan. 8.

pmcguire@sunjournal.com

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