A Clinton man is facing felony charges for allegedly shooting a deer with a pellet gun and breaking a fawn’s pelvis with his bare hands, according to court documents.

Ian K. Montgomery pleaded not guilty last month to two counts of first-degree animal cruelty. If convicted, he could face from one to three months in jail under the standard sentencing range.

An officer with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife investigated the case after Montgomery’s neighbor reported the alleged deer abuse July 21 of last year.

The neighbor claimed that Montgomery was shooting at a doe and her fawn because they were eating his apples. The doe ran off, leaving a blood trail, the report indicates.

The neighbor claimed that Montgomery picked up the fawn and twirled it “as if it was a wet towel he was going to snap,” the report states. She said she yelled at him and he put the fawn down.

The tiny deer was unable to stand but was still breathing when the officer arrived to investigate. The officer took the two-month-old black tailed deer to the Best Friends Vet Center in Oak Harbor, where an X-ray showed the fawn had a fractured pelvis. It was euthanized.

Montgomery admitted that he had shot at a deer with a .25-caliber pellet rifle in the past in order to “haze them from his garden,” the reports states. He denied shooting at the deer that day or harming the fawn; he said he found the young deer and was returning it to its mother that morning.