DISBELIEF AND SHOCK AMONG KANSAS HUNTERS

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Disbelief and shock shake hunters who shoot at any of the 10 near legendary Kansas deer that just won't die.

"You can read it in their eyes," said Dennis Knuth, a southeast Kansas game ranger. "They look at the deer and at us, then back at the deer and back at us."

The deer are decoys - stuffed animals used by Wildlife and Parks Department officers to catch illegal hunters.

"We're not after sightseers. We're after the guy who's looking for a deer to shoot from the road," said Doug Sonntag, assistant regional supervisor in Chanute. "Most people going from point A to point B go right by and never see it."

Others stop and attempt to scare the deer off. But the stuffed undercover bucks and does are lifelike enough that other deer sometimes check them out, advancing until they catch the scent of humans who have handled the decoys.

Started in 1986, the use of the decoys has built to the point that this year probably will be the most successful officers have had using the tools.

"Normally, we never get more than 100 citations written for violations connected with the decoys. This year, it will be close to 200," said Richard Harrold, the department's law enforcement division chief of special operations.

Sonntag said 92 citations have been written in southeast Kansas since mid-November. That compares with about 50 last year.

Firearms deer season ended last weekend. Archery hunters have until the end of the month. A special 24-day antlerless-only hunt begins Jan. 1 in southeast Kansas.

Knuth and Bill Ramshaw, a Sedan game ranger, built several of the decoys for department use.

They use deer heads and hides from animals killed by poachers or in motor vehicle accidents. The deerskin is stretched over a plastic foam body ordered from a taxidermy house. The first body was carved from old plastic foam first used for a boat dock.

The antlers on most of the decoys are detachable, so the animals can appear to be either male or female.

One of the problems officers have encountered is illegal hunters are getting cautious when they sight a deer that stands still and unfrightened.

"The word's out. If it doesn't move, don't shoot it," Sonntag said.

Last year a Bartlesville, Okla., man officers had been trying to catch for years drew down on a decoy and prepared to shoot, but stopped. He told the rangers who emerged from a roadside ditch he knew it was a decoy. He said they would never catch him using something like that, Knuth said.

"We started thinking right then we needed to get one that moves," Knuth said.

On Dec. 8, the same Bartlesville man drew down on another decoy, fired and was busted along with two buddies.

"RoboDeer moved. They smoked him and we arrested them," Sonntag said.

The new decoy has motors attached to radio receivers like those used for radio-controlled airplanes. A wildlife officer can use a controller to make RoboDeer turn its head to look toward a potential violator. The motorized decoy also flicks its tail, like nervous whitetail deer do before they bolt away.

RoboDeer and the other decoys are set up about 100 yards off of roadways on the other side of fences or gates clearly signed "No Hunting Without Written Permission."

Once violators fires, officers come out of hiding and either arrest or cite them. Backup officers stand by near the road in both directions to stop vehicles if violators attempt to flee.

Knuth knows word about RoboDeer is getting out just like it did about Dirty Harry and other stationary decoys.

"We can make one that walks. That's next on the drawing board," he said. "If they get real wise to us, I'm sure we can do that."