FAIRVIEW TWP — A pair of 17-year-old boys suspected of shooting a white-tail deer out of season last month may never have been caught if not for their loose lips, authorities said.

The boys, from Bruin and Karns City, face two citations each after they allegedly shot at the deer on Hemlock Road between 9 and 9:30 p.m. Oct. 24.

The deer was hit with a .22-caliber rifle but ran off into the woods, said Butler County Wildlife Conservation Officer Arthur “Chip” Brunst.

The teens were in a car and using a spotlight when the deer was shot. A neighbor saw the shooting and called authorities.

But investigators didn’t learn the suspects’ identities until they began talking at Karns City High School about what they did.

“They were at school and bragging about it,” Brunst said. “One of the (other) students heard it and told his parents.”

Investigators interviewed the suspects at the school, but they denied any involvement. Later, the pair was interviewed again and still denied wrongdoing.

Eventually, Brunst got a warrant to search the Karns City boy’s home, where he recovered the rifle allegedly used to shoot the deer.

Brunst on Thursday charged both youths with unlawfully taking a deer and making false statements. The summary charges are punishable by fines of between $150 and $1,500.

n In a separate case, two Allegheny County teenagers are suspected of taking a deer out of season earlier this month in Marion Township.

Brunst said 18-year-old Daniel A, Pusateri of Verona and a 16-year-old Wilkins Township girl, were visiting here when they drove about 9 p.m. Nov. 5 to a store to buy cigarettes.

On the way back on Gilmore Road near the Butler-Venango County line, while spotting in a van, they saw a deer. Pusateri allegedly shot the animal.

They returned to the home of Lawrence I. Berry, 40, of Harrisville, Pusateri’s uncle, and the two men drove together to collect the carcass, Brunst said.

Witness accounts led investigators Nov. 6 to Berry’s house.

“I found blood and hair on the back of the van,” Brunst said. “(Berry) was cutting up the (deer) meat in the house.”

The officer seized the head and hide, and the meat was taken and later donated to a needy family.

Brunst on Thursday charged Pusateri, the girl and Berry, all with a summary count of unlawfully taking the deer.

n Michael W. Bednar, 29, of Gibsonia, Allegheny County, meanwhile, in another case is accused of legally harvesting a deer on Oct. 22 while visiting his uncle’s camp in Venango Township, but not properly tagging his kill.

He was charged Thursday with illegally possession of game, a summary.

n In one other summary case filed Thursday, Brunst accused a 17-year-old Slippery Rock Township boy of killing a deer with a bow near his home Oct. 10. The boy did not have a doe license, Brunst said.

The teen is charged with unlawfully talking a deer out of season.