Marvin Clark just wanted to keep the 14-point set of antlers he says he collected from a deer he killed out of mercy because it had a broken leg. Unfortunately for him, the antlers were taken away due to an investigation into four Oklahoma men who were suspected of illegally hunting deer in Iowa.
A farmer, Clark lives near Columbia, Iowa, and claims he shot the deer with a bow after finding him in a creek bottom with a broken leg.
The dispute of the antlers comes because Clark was given a landowner/tenant tag for the antlers, but according to him, he hadn’t attached the tag before cutting up and moving the carcass. On Thursday, a ruling from Knoxville, Iowa, Judge Paul Huscher of Iowa’s District 5A Court said Iowa law says a tag must be attached to a deers antlers before its moved from where it was killed.
Image: usatoday.com
“Clark urges the court should be more concerned with the spirit of the law than the letter of the law,” Huscher wrote. “The court finds that Clark complied with neither, and that he has not shown ownership or his right to possession of the deer or any of its parts.”
Clark simply didn’t report the deer had been killed fast enough – he reported it five days after the harvest.
Though Clark was initially charged with a misdemeanor for unlawful possession of the antlers, the charges were dropped. His attempt to get the antlers returned to him won support from individuals like Iowastate Rep. Greg Heartsill, who was against prosecutors keeping he antlers if there hadn’t been a conviction.
Since there is doubt that Clark will appeal the judges ruling, it doesn’t change that he lost the antlers due to a technicality the law.
The antlers themselves could either be destroyed or used as an educational display.
