Bumble fumble: Online dater admits poaching to game warden

Jan. 8 (UPI) -- An Oklahoma woman learned a lesson about one of the more unusual pitfalls of online dating when she bragged about poaching a deer to her match -- a game warden.

The Oklahoma Game Wardens said in a Facebook post that Department of Wildlife Conservation Game Warden Cannon Harrison struck up a conversation with a woman he matched with on dating app Bumble and she bragged about having just shot a large buck.

"Honestly, the first thing I thought was that it was someone who was messing with me because they knew who I was," Harrison told The Washington Post. "It seemed too good to be true."

Screenshots of the conversation show the woman playfully avoiding Harrison's question about whether she had used a crossbow, as the state's rifle hunting season had ended. The woman did admit to spotlighting, the practice of using a bright light to confuse a deer, and shared a photo of herself posing with the slain animal.

Harrison said he was able to use the woman's first name and the photo she shared to find her on social media, and game wardens visited her home the next day.

The woman ended up pleading guilty to hunting deer out of season and possessing game that was taken illegally. The woman and a man who accompanied her on the hunting trip ended up being fined a total $2,400. Harrison said the woman will not face jail time because she agreed to pay her share of the fees.