West End man poached 37 deer, Pa. State Police and Game Commission allege
A Kunkletown man faces numerous poaching and weapons charges after 37 sets of deer skulls and antlers were discovered on his property.
David Frantz Sr., 59, waived a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Colleen Mancuso on Friday, and the case will proceed in the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas. He is in the process of obtaining a public defender.
On Nov. 15, Pennsylvania State Police were called to Molasses Valley Road in Polk Township because Frantz had parked his pickup truck on a neighbor’s property. Inside the truck was a rifle, which he was not allowed to have due to a burglary conviction from 2000.
Frantz was found collecting field corn from another nearby property where he did not have permission to be, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by Pennsylvania State Police Corporal Kyle Gruber and State Game Warden Bryan Mowrer. Frantz admitted to taking the corn, to driving the truck with the rifle inside and to having more weapons in his home, the affidavit said, but he “claimed that he had not shot any deer at that time.”
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Frantz was arrested and taken to the PSP Lehighton barracks, where he again admitted to driving the truck with the rifle in it, but that he hadn’t been hunting in years, according to the affidavit.
“He initially denied that any deer carcasses would be found on his property, but later stated that several road-killed deer heads were there,” and that he had not reported these to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. “He also admitted to having processed deer sticks at the residence,” the affidavit said.
At Frantz’s home, troopers “observed several scavenger birds perched in the trees at the rear of the property,” the affidavit said. They also spent rifle casings and a buck skull with antlers outside.
After receiving a warrant and conducting a search, authorities seized multiple rifles, multiple calibers and gauges of ammunition, casings, 11 rifle scopes, a Treeline flashlight and a flintlock pistol, according to the affidavit.
In addition to the weapons and accessories, they found 37 skull and antler sets, 31 pounds of “processed meat sticks” as well as venison meat in four gallon bags, one quart bag and one bucket.
Frantz faces 88 charges related to weapons possession; agricultural trespassing and vandalism; unlawful killing, taking or possession of game; and buying and selling game.
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Gerry Kapral, who is the information and education supervisor for the northeast region of the Pennsylvania Game Commission and encountered Frantz when he worked as a game officer in Monroe County, called Frantz a “career game law violator.”
He added that many of the racks “were rather large sized deer, and he took them away from the sportsmen. A lawful hunter didn’t have the opportunity to get them.”
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: PA State Police: Monroe County man allegedly poached 37 deer
