Photo: Getty Images
(Cedar Rapids, IA) -- A Northeast Iowa man's headed to prison, for organizing and conducting illegal deer hunts. Investigators say 46-year-old Cory Fritzler of Lansing agreed to conduct an illegal hunt with two hunters who were actually undercover officers in 2015. The cost of the hunt was nearly $4,000 per person, plus $500 dollars for illegal hunting licenses. Fritzler pleaded guilty to conspiracy in March.
Investigators say Fritzler ran a guiding and outfitting business called NE Iowa Outfitters and also provided guiding and outfitting services to two non-resident hunters from Louisiana. In 2015, one of the hunters shot a valuable “double drop tine buck” but wounded this deer in its backside only. When the hunters did not get out-of-state licenses the next year to obtain this deer, known as “the Monster Buck,” Fritzler accepted $3,450 from the hunters to guide and outfit their illegal hunts during the 2016 hunting season.
Fritzler instructed the Louisiana hunters to tell people, falsely, that they were hunting in a public area in Wisconsin to hide the fact that they were illegally hunting on Fritzler's ground in Iowa. When questioned by law enforcement, Fritzler and the Louisiana hunters falsely stated they were hunting in Wisconsin. In the ensuing months, Fritzler later encouraged the Louisana hunters to continue to “stick to their story” as law enforcement was investigating the case.
Fritzler's been sentenced to two months in prison, plus two months of home detention, and one year of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.