When is a dead deer not dead? When it jumps out of the back of a pickup truck and is part of an investigation to catch alleged poachers.

Two men in New York were charged on Thanksgiving night 2018 after state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) officials hit them with multiple charges. The officials say the pair illegally shot a deer, put it in the truck and then it jumped out because it wasn’t dead.

Blood on the road, along with their truck’s tailgate and in the bed, helped DEC officials make the case. According to New York Upstate, the men were stopped in Berne in Albany County, after someone “spotted them shoot from the truck and drive off.”

The pair said a buck ran in front of them, prompting one of the passengers to shoot out of the driver’s side window. They thought the deer was dead and put it in the truck. About a mile or so down the road, the deer jumped out, the pair attempted to find the injured deer and then were stopped by DEC wardens.

The DEC officer confiscated two rifles, two spotlights, and learned the men had criminal records. One was wanted on a pending arrest warrant, and the other had previous violations of DEC hunting or wildlife regulations.

They were charged with “taking big game deer with the aid of light, shooting within 500 feet of a dwelling, discharging from a public road, loaded gun in a motor vehicle, taking by means not specified, and taking deer from a motor vehicle.”