A Saanich resident found a deer carcass in his backyard, with a crossbow arrow sticking out of the animal's back end on Sunday.
Police were notified of the find, in the 5000-block of Del Monte Ave., on Oct. 21, but believe the animal had been dead for several weeks. It's the second dead deer found shot with an arrow in the Claremont area this month.
"Once again we see that there's another felled buck," said Sgt. Dean Jantzen. "This is now the second one in really the past couple of weeks and it's also in the same area from other incidents in the past couple years."
Police are asking residents to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity immediately.
The first dead deer was found on Oct. 3 with an crossbow arrow in it on Ironwood Place, a few blocks south of Del Monte Avenue.
Saanich had nine known deer poaching instances in the fall of 2010, and four last fall, where people found animals with arrow wounds or with heads and limbs cut off. Witnesses also reported seeing living deer walking around with arrows sticking out of their bodies.
Anyone with information on illegal poaching in the municipality is asked to call police at 250-475-4321.
kslavin@saanichnews.com