BETHEL -- A Bethel man is seeking help from the public after a deer he had just registered fell out of his truck and was stolen.

Jon McGurn said he shot and gutted a three-point buck around 11 a.m. Thursday near his residence on the Intervale Road. He said the deer weighed in at 120 pounds when he had it registered and tagged at the West Bethel Country Store.

McGurn said he then drove to Gilead to pick up materials to hang up the deer, and was returning to his Bethel residence via the North Road. He said he was transporting the deer in open view, per Maine law, in the back of his 1996 Chevrolet half-ton pickup.

McGurn said he had temporary straps on his tailgate, which broke somewhere along the route. When he pulled out onto U.S. Route 2 around 2 p.m., both the tailgate and the deer fell onto the road. He said a motorist flashed his lights and pulled him over, and he returned to the intersection.

"I was right there in a matter of minutes," said McGurn. "And the tailgate's there and the deer's gone."

McGurn said he was nearly within sight of the intersection when he turned around, and estimated that at least a dozen people slowed or stopped near the deer and may have seen the theft. He believes whoever took the deer must have seen it fall out of the truck and could not have mistaken it for a roadside carcass.

"It was plainly tagged. There was a tag on it and my tailgate there," McGurn said. "It was obvious that it just fell out of a truck."

McGurn contacted the Bethel Police Department and the Maine Warden Service to report the theft. He is also offering a $100 reward to anyone who gives information leading to the prosecution of the thief or thieves.

Under Maine law, hunters are only allowed to bag one deer per season. McGurn said that because the deer was registered and tagged, he will not be able to bag another one this year. McGurn, who is 33, said the deer is the second one he has bagged in 15 years of hunting and that he would have used the deer for food.

"I finally get lucky enough to catch one and someone steals it in a matter of minutes," he said. "I've been hunting for two weeks from sunup to sundown. I just can't believe that someone out there would take my deer."

McGurn, a boilermaker who works in natural gas power plants across the country, said he was leaving for Pennsylvania on Friday afternoon and will return on Thanksgiving. Deer season ends on Nov. 29, with muzzle-loading season lasting from Dec. 1 to as late as Dec. 13 in some areas.

Deborah Turcotte, spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said a person who encounters a deer or moose on the side of the road must first contact the department or local law enforcement to get a permit to take the animal.

Lt. S.R. White of the Bethel Police Department said the tagged deer could be considered personal property and that criminal charges could be brought for its theft.

Anyone with information on the theft may contact the Bethel Police Department at 824-3437 or McGurn at 381-5900.