DEC nabs 2 Greene County men for hunting illegally
The Daily Mail
Dec. 30, 2008

Three men have been arrested after they were allegedly hunting illegally in Windham, according to a press release.

Nikolaos Karagiannis of Queens County and Peter Rallatos of Greene County were charged with possessing a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle after they were apprehended by Department of Environmental Conservation officers. John Maynard, also of Greene County, was charged with the same offense, but in a separate incident.

Karagiannis and Maynard were also charged with shooting from a highway.

All three men were arraigned in the Town of Windham Court and paid a total of $1,500 in fines, the release said.

DEC officers Sean Dewey and Walt Maloney, and Lt. Kevin Beiter, set up a robotic deer decoy in Windham after the department received complaints of people “road hunting” in the area, the release said.

“We catch about 10 to 15 people per year using the “robo-deer,” said department Region 4 press officer Rick Georgeson about the effectiveness of the as a decoy to trick people using illegal hunting practices.

Georgeson would not say where the decoy had been set up. Publicizing such information could hinder the effectiveness of setting the trap in the future, he said.

Department press officer Yancey Roy said that the decoys have been used for “at least 20 years.”