Minnesota Man Packs Smack on a Deer Hunt

Typically, a lukewarm six-pack of Bud and a loaded weapon are all a deer hunter needs to achieve bliss. Not so for one Minnesota City man, who was busted this weekend for bringing heroin along on a hunt with his teenaged son. When a conservation officer stopped to talk to 44-year-old Ye Vang, his son and another hunter, the official caught a whiff of an unfamiliar odor wafting from Vang's backpack. When he took a closer look, he discovered what turned out to be 4.5 grams of black tar heroin. Ye Vang's son, acting as an interpreter, said the substance was opium, and that his dad used it "to feel better." Vang appeared in court in Winona County yesterday and was charged with third-degree heroin possession. Minnesota enforces strict sober hunting laws and bans the wielding of weaponry against animals—whether "a bow or firearm"—while under the influence of alcohol or drugs (the maximum blood alcohol content is 0.08, the same limit for driving). In less than a week since the Minnesota deer season opened, four injuries have been reported, including a father accidentally shooting his 16-year-old son, and two other hunters accidentally shooting themselves. Ye Vang may not bag a buck for a while: if convicted, he faces up to 20 years behind bars.