A Groveland man has been charged with shooting a deer on private property out of season.
On the morning of June 6, an investigator and a lieutenant with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission conducted an interview at Lake County Jail with a male inmate who had been arrested the day prior on warrants for trespassing and possession of deer out of season in a case from August 2023, according to an affidavit of probable cause out of Lake County.
The inmate stated that the night of Aug. 26, 2023, he was hanging out with two other men at a residence in Groveland when one of them suggested picking up 29-year-old Tristan Berry. They went to a place in Mascotte later that evening and got Berry, who was carrying a black rifle at the time. He got into one of the group’s vehicles with the rifle, and they started driving south, the affidavit said.
After some time, the group stopped on a road in the middle of nowhere. Berry got out of the vehicle with the rifle while the inmate got out to use the restroom. At that point, a witness stated he saw a spotlight being shined into the pasture across the road from his house. While the inmate was indisposed, he heard Berry shoot the rifle at something, the affidavit said.
The inmate and Berry both got back in the vehicle and started driving away. They then went back to Groveland to pick up another man to help them retrieve what Berry shot, which was a deer. The affidavit noted that the lawful season to take deer was closed on Aug. 26, 2023. When the group returned to the incident scene, they all got out of the vehicle and crossed a barbwire fence onto private property to look for the deer Berry shot.
While the group searched, the witness saw lights in the pasture where he saw the deer being shot and tried to confront them. One man fled in the vehicle and left the rest in the pasture, with the inmate and another man fleeing on foot down Bay Lake Loop Road and Berry heading west toward where the deer lay dead, the affidavit said.
The inmate and the man who fled with him where caught a short time later by the landowner and the witness. They detained the pair until an FWC officer arrived on scene to begin investigating, the affidavit said.
Additionally, Berry was convicted of felony charges and sentenced to prison in 2020. He was released from prison on Aug. 11, 2022, the affidavit said.
Berry was ultimately arrested Monday morning by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant for use of firearm during felony, possession of firearm by convicted felon, trespass by projectile while taking animal, unlawful take of deer during closed season, unlawful take of deer by gun and light, and discharge of firearm from road. He was taken to the Lake County Jail with bond set at $34,000.