Washington: Authorities have no idea how many deer the Berry family and their associates illegally killed in the fields and forests of southern Missouri over the last decade, but the details of their poaching operation would make any animal lover's stomach turn.

Over nearly nine years, David Berry and his two sons, David Berry jnr and Kyle Berry, killed the deer, mostly at night, then cut off their heads and antlers - leaving the bodies to rot where they fell.

David Berry jnr was ordered to watch the Walt Disney movie Bambi at least once each month during his one-year jail sentence. Credit:Lawrence County Sheriff/AP

There was some financial motivation in the carnage, but authorities said collecting the deer heads was mostly about ego.

"Taking just the heads is their version of obtaining a 'trophy' and leaving the carcass behind is merely an afterthought," Randy Doman, the division chief of the Missouri Department of Conservation, told the Springfield News-Leader. "While there are some cases where poachers go after the antlers for profit, with this bunch it was more about the thrill of the kill itself."