Lawrence Police responded about 3:30 p.m. Saturday to a report of “suspicious subjects” at an apartment complex in the 1400 block of Apple Lane. When they arrived, they found blood on the steps leading to an apartment.

The blood, it turns out, had come from a deer that a group of young men hit with a truck in Johnson County, according to the police report. Instead of leaving the deer, the men – ages 21, 22, and 23 – loaded it into the back of their truck, drove it to Lawrence and tried to drag it into an apartment.

When officers arrived, the deer had been put back in the truck bed. Police believe the men did not report the accident in Johnson County or obtain a deer tag for the animal.

Police are forwarding a report of the incident to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks for a game warden to review.