by You can get darn near anything at your local Walmart including, it seems, a 10-point buck.
That was the case at the Burrell Township, Pennsylvania store back in November on the opening day of deer season. Arcangelo Bianco Jr. had just pulled into Walmart when the 10-point buck came around the corner of the building. Not one to let an opportunity like this go to waste, Mr. Bianco hopped out of his truck and started firing at it with his pistol. And there begins his troubles.
From the Indiana (PA) Gazette:
Which is why Arcangelo Bianco Jr., 40, finds himself in trouble with the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
According to the commission, Bianco fired several rounds at a hapless white-tailed deer from within the Burrell Township store’s parking lot and bagged the animal on the other side of Old William Penn Highway (Old Route 22) one afternoon last November.
The most serious of the charges he faces is a misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment. He also was slapped with five summary offenses, all hunting law violations, including hunting without a license, shooting on or across highways and unlawful killing or taking of big game.
“Obviously, we can’t have someone running through a Walmart parking lot shooting at a deer,” said Jack Lucas, the wildlife conservation officer who investigated the incident.
After killing the deer, Mr. Bianco loaded it up in his truck and took it to the local meat processor to be butchered. Unfortunately, he didn’t get to keep it as it was seized as evidence in the case. Officer Lucas notes that the deer and surveillance footage from the Walmart security cameras will be used as evidence in court. He also said that the buck that Mr. Bianco shot was probably the best he’d seen in the last two years in Indiana County.
I guess the moral of the story is that just because you can get something at Walmart doesn’t mean you should.
UPDATE: CBS Pittsburgh is also covering the story and they have video of the Walmart. I like the comments of the District Attorney who says that they are a big hunting community and that people who are legitimate hunters are upset about the incident. Mr. Bianco is also charged with violations of game laws as they carry stiffer penalties. He faces his first hearing on May 1st.
Hilarious and terribly unsafe. This story sounds like a bad redneck joke.
And as a Southerner, I can say with relief, that it didn't happen below the Mason-Dixon Line.
Wal-Mart's got Ammo? Road Trip!
"Just because you can get something at Walmart doesn't mean you should."
I'd heard that before with regard to some "Message" T-shirts, Camo lingerie as a gift for your wife, and that five-gallon jar of dill pickles some 20 years ago, but this is a new one.
Bub, not the Walmart near me, so save your gasoline. 🙁
My second thought on this is, Indiana? Does Tam know about this?
stupid, exponentially stupid. hosing down a wallyworld parking lot with a pistol to get a deer, no hunting license, did the silly bastard even have a carry permit? somehow i doubt it. its a safe bet we won't be seeing him in the woods next season, or anytime soon after the fish and game people get done with him.
@ john,
no worries mate, we've got plenty of stupid up here in yankee country too, with the tin can hunters coming up from the flatlands, so nobody can point fingers at the south.