A man who admits to being an unethical hunter but doesn’t care because he claims to be addicted to venison was in court last week for a pretrial hearing regarding the 10 charges he faces relating to illegal deer hunting in Michigan.
Scott Kevin Meisterheim, 55, of Kalamazoo was arraigned earlier this month in 8th District Court of Kalamazoo County for taking white-tailed deer outside of lawful hunting hours (one count), hunting white-tailed deer without a license (two counts), using deer hunting licenses of someone else (two counts), taking an over-limit of antlered white-tailed deer (two counts) and transporting/possessing untagged antlered white-tailed deer (three counts).
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources also reported that it requested additional charges for illegal baiting, failing to immediately validate/attach kill tags and using another’s hunting license.
DNR conservation officers began investigating Meisterheim in February 2022 after receiving tips via its Report All Poaching Hotline.
Several witnesses spoke to Conservation Officer James Nason about the suspect’s illegal hunting activity from October to December 2021.
From the DNR:
Evidence collected during the investigation revealed that Meisterheim took at least 11 deer from Oct. 1-Dec. 24, 2021, including three deer Oct. 1, and that he believed he was “tagged out” the first week of archery season. Within three days, Meisterheim let two deer spoil; those were rejected by the processor due to their condition…
Meisterheim, who was hunting without a hunting license, during all hours of the day and while using illegal bait [sic], also obtained other people’s deer tags to cover his illegal deer, if he even tagged them at all.
While serving time in the Kalamazoo County Jail for domestic abuse, Meisterheim made his outrageous claims and admissions in an interview with Nason.
“Sure, I love to kill deer,” he said. “If I could kill more I would, to be honest with you.”
He also said he “is not the most ethical hunter, tagging other people’s deer, but I don’t care—I am addicted to the venison.”
Meisterheim also claimed that injured deer would stumble to and die near his hunting location. This was the reason he gave for being in possession of so many deer.
He also hunted several private properties without permission in Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
“This is an excellent investigation of a poacher who shows no respect for the resource or the ethics of fair chase,” said Chief Dave Shaw, DNR Law Enforcement Division. “Violations of this type deprive law-abiding people of their opportunity to have access to and enjoy a public trust natural resource, in this case white-tailed deer.”
Meisterheim is due back in court in February. He is currently serving 18 months’ probation for aggravated domestic assault in Kalamazoo County.
Photo of the suspect with a deer and generic image of a white-tailed deer courtesy of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
