When the Law Says "Shall," It Means Shall

When the Law Says "Shall," It Means Shall

By Shon, LONGSPUR

Every hunter in West Virginia knows the rules on antlered deer. Buy the right license and stamps, check your deer in honestly, and if you break the law on a big buck, the state is going to hit you where it hurts. The Legislature wrote it that way on purpose. So when a DNR employee breaks those rules on a buck better than 20 inches wide and walks away with a fine of about eleven hundred dollars, hunters have every right to ask why.

What the record shows

Geoffrey Brinker is a Wildlife Resources Specialist 2 with the DNR's District 2 office in Romney. His job is looking after the Wildlife Management Areas in Hampshire County.

In December 2025, Natural Resources Police cited him for three game law violations over a buck killed on private land in Hampshire County during the 2025 season:

• Failure to obtain a Class RG or RRG gun deer stamp
• Illegal possession of wildlife
• Failure to properly register the deer electronically

On May 8, 2026, he pleaded no contest to all three misdemeanors in Hampshire County Magistrate Court. His fine was $1,119.44.

According to the citation, the buck was a 7-point with an inside spread between 20.25 and 20.5 inches.

What the law says

West Virginia Code §20-2-5a is not complicated. Anyone convicted of a criminal violation that results in the death of game owes the state its replacement cost, and for a deer that's $500. For antlered deer, the Legislature stacked on more, measured by inside spread:

• 14 to under 16 inches: $2,500
• 16 to under 18 inches: $5,000
• 18 to under 20 inches: $7,500
• 20 inches or greater: $10,000

Then subsection (c) says: "Upon conviction, the court shall order the person to forfeit to the state the amount set forth in this section."

Shall. Not may. Not if the officer thinks it looks big enough.

And subsection (d) says that anybody subject to those antlered-deer costs also loses his hunting and fishing license for five years.

Some folks may argue the stamp charge is paperwork and didn't cause the deer's death. It did. In West Virginia, the RG stamp is what gives a hunter the legal right to kill that deer during gun season. Without it, the kill itself is illegal. That's a violation that resulted in the death of an antlered deer, and that's what triggers the statute. By the law as written, that buck should have cost $10,500 and five years of hunting privileges.

What the director said

DNR Director Brett McMillion told WV MetroNews that officers have discretion when a rack is near the low end of trophy size, and he suspected the officer didn't think this buck met the true definition of a trophy.

There's no "true definition of a trophy" in §20-2-5a. There's a tape measure. And a buck measured past 20 inches isn't on the low end of anything. It's more than six inches past where the enhanced costs start, and it's in the top tier.

The director also said the violation happened off the job, outside Brinker's area of assignment, and had "no effect on his work performance." Brinker is responsible for the WMAs in Hampshire County. The deer was killed in Hampshire County. It may have been on private ground and not a WMA, but most hunters would call that his area.

What sources say happened

Sources familiar with the case say the buck was killed with a rifle, then checked in through the electronic system as an archery kill. They say the tag from Brinker's opening-day buck was then put on the illegal deer so it could go to a taxidermist.

If that's accurate, this wasn't a hunter who forgot to buy a stamp. It was a series of choices to cover up an illegal kill, including false information entered into the same harvest reporting system the DNR uses to estimate the deer kill and set seasons. That's data this agency's wildlife section relies on. It's hard to square that with "no effect on his work."

Sources also say Brinker lost no hunting privileges and faced no discipline from the agency. He is still employed by the DNR.

Where I stand

I'm a forester and wildlife biologist. I've written game law in this state. I don't write this to pile on one man. People make mistakes, and he answered in court.

My concern is the law and whether it applies to everyone the same. The Legislature set the replacement costs and the five-year revocation so that killing a big buck illegally would never pay. When those penalties get skipped, and the explanation is a "trophy definition" that isn't in the statute, every hunter who pays for his stamps and checks his deer honestly gets a bad deal.

The director said DNR employees aren't held to a higher standard unless they're in law enforcement. I'm not asking for a higher standard. I'm asking for the one that's written in the code.

Hunters deserve straight answers to three questions:

1. Why wasn't the replacement cost under §20-2-5a ordered?
2. Was the five-year license revocation applied?
3. If sources are right about the archery check-in and the tag swap, what does the DNR plan to do about an employee who falsified its own harvest data?

When the law says shall, it means shall.