Oakwood resident cited for shooting deer in his backyard

Benjamin McCalip, who shot a doe with a crossbow, said he was tired of animals eating his plants, according to police.

An Oakwood man received three citations for illegally hunting a whitetail doe with a crossbow in his backyard.

Benjamin McCalip, 51, is accused of shooting the deer on Aug. 7.

Police began investigating after a resident, Patty Stansfield, reported she was startled by a strange “swooshing” noise while walking her dog.

According to the report by Oakwood Public Safety, Stansfield saw a large doe bolt across Peach Orchard Avenue, followed by a trail of blood and two fawns.

Officers followed that trail to the home of McCalip, a cytopathologist at Miami Valley Hospital. McCalip, who fatally wounded the deer with an arrow, denied ownership of a bow several times before his wife told officers the truth.

McCalip told police he was tired of deer eating plants in the yard.

Stansfield said Tuesday a fawn has since been found dead in the neighborhood.

McCalip faces three hunting and weapon violation charges, two by the city of Oakwood and one by the state of Ohio.

“The heart of this issue is that somebody did an unwise thing — not only illegal but unwise. To fire a weapon in an area as densely populated as Oakwood is not a good idea,” said city manager Robert Klopsch.

About 9,200 Oakwood residents live within the bounds of 2.2 square miles.

Michael Enright, wildlife biologist at Five Rivers MetroParks, said infrared scans have shown about 40-50 deer in and around Hills and Dales Park, located in Oakwood and Kettering. That number, which is higher than it should be to protect forest health, has been fairly static over the years.

Park rangers have attempted to manage the population with sharpshooters for several years, but killed only two in 2013. Enright said it was hard to remove more than that because rangers can only shoot in open park space — not residential areas.

But Captain Alan Hill said Oakwood Public Safety has not received an inordinate amount of complaints about deer. In fact, people seem to enjoy them.

“I have a lot of (deer) in my backyard,” said Oakwood resident Phyllis Heck. “They sort of stroll around and look in the windows, which I think is fun. They were here first, after all.”

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