Deer Decoys Are Wildlife Under Criminal Mischief Statute.

The defendant was convicted of second degree criminal mischief for damaging the "property of another" when he aided and abetted his son in shooting two state-owned deer decoys that the defendant and his son believed to be deer.  The defendant appealed his conviction because wild deer do not become property until reduced to physical possession (e.g., the son thought he was shooting at deer and deer are not "property of another" until reduced to possession).  The appellate court upheld his conviction and the OR Supreme Court granted review to determine whether wild deer are "property of another" as used in Ore. Rev. Stat. Sec. 164.354.  The Court noted that the legislature had amended Ore. Rev. Stat. Sec. 164.305(2) (the definition of "property of another" in 1977 to broaden it and that the state had previously declared that it had a property interest in wildlife.  Thus, the state had a legal interest in wildlife and wild deer are "property of another" for purposes of the statute at issue.  The conviction was upheld.  State v. Dickerson, No. S06218, 2014 Ore. LEXIS 1036 (Ore. Mar. 12, 2015), aff'g., 317 P.3d 902 (Ore Ct. App. 2013).