SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - County and Conservation officers have four suspects in the theft of $10,000 worth of snow goose decoys, electronic calls, blind and cameras from two spreads in northwest Minnehaha County.
Conservation Officer Jared Hill says two, 18-year-olds and two, 17-year-olds from Dell Rapids and Baltic have been questioned but not arrested.
Hill credits the bond between hunters and their particular use of social media to help law enforcement locate the suspects.
Hill says most of the equipment, over 1,200 decoys alone, have been recovered and returned to the hunters. He says one group of hunters was from Wisconsin and the other was local.
Hill says the thieves needed lots of time and at least a couple of pickups to load all that hunting gear. He says it took some planning to round up the decoys scattered through two different sites.
According to hunting blogs this was the largest recovery ever of its kind in the nation. But county and conservation officers haven't confirmed the statement.