An illegal seven-month hunting spree inside Fontainebleau State Park ended this month when state wildlife agents emerged from tree shadows to arrest three men shooting deer from a car window.

The men ranging from ages 18 to 25 were suspected of night hunting inside the park since June when an anonymous tipster first complained they were bow hunting, said Lt. Eddie Laviolette with the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement division.

For months, wildlife agents staked out the park, waiting and watching for the hunters to return. The game of cat and mouse however never found the agents and suspects there at the same time. But on Jan. 5, wildlife agents acted on an anonymous tip and from about 1 to 5 a.m. staked out the park again. They watched as the men allegedly drove through the park, shined headlights on deer to blind them, then hung out an Oldsmobile’s windows to take aim, Laviolette said.

One deer was killed and agents swiftly emerged from their shadowy hiding spot to arrest Ryan Hunter Lam, 20, of Covington, Peter Ken Van Horn, 18, and James Matthew Garner, 25, both of Mandeville.

The state park hunting was “an ongoing complaint, but ever since we caught them it ceased to exist,” Laviolette said.

Laviolette is unsure if the three arrested were the only hunters that generated complaints, but he’s happy the illegal hunting appears to have stopped.

“We do what we can to stop them and it seems to have worked,” he said.

Since state parks are typically designed to offer preservation it is illegal to kill wildlife inside their boundaries. But with hunters not allowed inside, many parks teem with wildlife, a move that at times lures hunters to the area, Laviolette said.

During deer hunting season with crossbows which this season lasts from Oct. 1 to Jan. 31, agents routinely find hunters creeping on the edge of state parks, hopeful to flush out a deer, he said.

But its rare that hunters actually enter the boundaries.

For now, Lam, Garner and Van Horn are facing two counts of hunting deer during illegal hours, hunting deer from a moving vehicle, hunting deer from a public road, hunting within a state park and possession of a weapon in a state park, said Capt. Len Yokum, of the department’s enforcement division.

Together each face up to $1,050 in fines and 120 days in jail if convicted.

Garner and Van Horn were also cited with hunting without a bow license and big game license, Yokum said, charges that carry a $50 fined and up to 15 days in jail. Restitution of $550 will also be charged for killing the deer, Yokum said.

In a separate incident a day earlier on Jan. 4, a father and son team were also cited for illegal bow hunting in the Lake Ramsey area north of Covington, agents said this week.

Allan T. Dedebant Sr., 57, and Allan T. Dedebant Jr., 29, both of Folsom, were cited for the illegal hunting practices when an anonymous tip led agents to find a crossbow, freshly skinned deer, a meat grinding machine and automatic feeder at a home on R.J. Lane in Folsom.

Each of the men were cited for allegedly killing a doe deer during illegal hours with the use of a crossbow and for failure to comply with deer harvest record requirements. Agents also cited the son for possession of an illegally taken deer. It’s unclear when the suspects were hunting or how they violated hunting hours.

Each face between $2,550 in fines plus court costs and 300 days in jail if convicted on all counts.