A Kalamazoo man who admits that he’s “not the most ethical hunter,” was in court Wednesday for a pretrial hearing related to illegal deer hunting.

55-year-old Scott Kevin Meisterheim was arraigned earlier this month in Kalamazoo County for 10 charges, sought by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources:

1 count of taking white-tailed deer outside of lawful hunting hours, 2 counts of hunting white-tailed deer with no license, 2 counts of uses the deer hunting licenses of another, 2 counts of taking an overlimit of antlered white-tailed deer, 3 counts of transporting/possessing untagged antlered white-tailed deer.

The DNR requested additional charges for illegal bait, 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.

Evidence collected during an 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.

Meisterheim was interviewed at the Kalamazoo County Jail, where he was lodged at the time for domestic abuse.

Meisterheim said “Sure, I love to kill deer, if I could kill more I would, to be honest with you.”

Meisterheim, who was hunting without a hunting license, during all hours of the day and while using illegal bait, also obtained other people’s deer tags to cover his illegal deer, if he even tagged them at all.

He also stated “is not the most ethical hunter, tagging other people’s deer, but I don’t care – I am addicted to the venison.”

In explaining why he was in possession of so many deer, Meisterheim also claimed that injured deer would stumble to, and die near his hunting location. Meisterheim also hunted several properties where he did not have permission, including in Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.

Meisterheim is currently serving 18 months’ probation for aggravated domestic assault and is due back in court for the DNR charges in February.