Sports

Hunter Who Shot Iconic ‘Hollywood Buck’ Whitetail Deer Loses License For 25 Years And Will Be Jailed

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large buck deer at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond Virginia

iStockphoto / piotradamski


The iconic ‘Hollywood Buck’ whitetail deer was a well-known fixture in and around the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, a cemetery located in the heart of the city and an area which is protected from hunting.

That deer was beloved by the folks of Richmond up until last December when pictures of a 29-point buck appeared on a local Richmond hunting page that shares animals taken by hunters in the area. The photos had been submitted by a hunter with the caption “Prince Edward County killed with 50 cal muzzleloader, shot this morning 713am at 20 yards, my 3rd mounter this year! Biggest buck of my LIFE.”

It took all of a few minutes before the deer was recognized as the Hollywood Buck, a 29-point buck that lived in the protected area. What this meant was the hunter had shot this deer, a local celebrity, on protected land.

Hunters Jailed, Fined, Licenses Revoked For Illegal Hunting Of Iconic Hollywood Buck

The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources reached out to Jeff Phillips who runs the Star City Whitetails where these photos were shared and an investigation was launched. I’m linking out to those photos instead of embedding them here out of respect for the animal who was harvested illegally.

Does this look like legal hunting grounds to you???

The Virginia DWR investigation determined that Jason Walters had harvested three deer from the Hollywood Cemetery in the heart of Richmond, Virginia, a protected area, and a second hunter, Alan Proffitt also pled guilty.

Jason Walters agreed to a plea deal and pled guilty to 20 misdemeanors. He’ll now pay fines in excess of $13,000 and he will spend 4 months in jail which is lucky because he was sentenced to 80 months in jail but 76 of those months are suspended contingent on “him complying with all other terms of his plea agreement, maintaining good behavior and obeying all laws of the Commonwealth and the City of Richmond.”

He also had his hunting license revoked for 100 years with 75 of those years suspended as part of the plea deal, so he has lost his hunting license for 25 years, according to a report published by Fox News Digital.

The second hunter, Alan Proffitt, pled guilty to 6 charges and will pay $250 in fines and will lose his hunting license for 6 years and he will also spend one month in jail for the crime.

When this story broke last December it was massive news in the city of Richmond. Local news quickly picked it up as it was like seeing a celebrity when locals spotted the Hollywood Buck.

Ultimately, the Hollywood Buck felt safe in that Richmond cemetery. It’s why it was often spotted there by locals. And the boundaries of that being a protected cemetery were not honored. It is hard to say justice was served here even with jail sentences, fines, and loss of license because the three bucks harvested from the Hollywood Cemetery never should have been shot to begin with.