Carroll County Poacher Placed on “Do Not Hunt” Registry

Christopher Robert Meyer

A Carroll County man convicted of multiple game violations and prohibited from hunting in Maryland for a year has been placed on a suspension list in 44 other states.

Christopher Robert Meyer, 35, of Westminster, was entered this week in the registry for the Interstate Wildlife Violators Compact, a reciprocal agreement that recognizes suspension of fishing, hunting and trapping licenses in member states.

In December, following a year-long investigation by the Maryland Natural Resources Police, Meyer accepted a plea deal and was found guilty in Carroll District Court of five of 44 poaching-related charges. The remaining charges were dismissed.

Meyer acknowledged to investigators that he hunted in multiple locations near the Jones Falls Expressway in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. In addition, officers found his tree stands in Druid Hill Park and in Arlington Cemetery of Chizuk Amuno Congregation in Baltimore.

The judge fined him $1,000, with $500 suspended, placed him on probation for one year and revoked his Maryland hunting privileges for a year. During probation, Meyer cannot possess firearms.

The case began in January 2015, when an officer conducting a taxidermy inspection in Carroll County noticed a number of transactions involving Meyer that used several different Maryland Department of Natural Resources identification numbers to record his deer and turkey kills. That led the officer to suspect that Meyer was exceeding his bag limits by using the identification numbers of relatives.

The subsequent investigation led to search warrants being issued last summer for Meyer’s records and home.

An officer and a Pennsylvania Game Commission conservation officer visited a Gettysburg taxidermy shop in August and seized two turkeys belonging to Meyer and his father that were untagged and unreported.

The officers went back to the Carroll County taxidermy shop and seized three antlered white-tailed deer belonging to Meyer: a 9-point buck, an 8-point buck and an 11-point buck.

In late August, officers located a tree stand and trail camera belonging to Meyer set up in Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park.

A month later, an officer staking out a tree stand, a trail camera and a pile of corn in Arlington Cemetery saw Meyer approach in his car. Meyer denied being there to hunt and told the officer he and his family were in the cemetery to learn more about their ancestors.

A search of the car turned up a trail camera, deer antlers and two bags of corn.

As part of his plea agreement, Meyer was also ordered to forfeit six trophy antlered white-tailed deer, multiple wild turkeys, one compound bow, one cross bow and a Remington shotgun, all part of the illegal hunting activities.