On Sunday, February 18, Maryland Natural Resources Police charged Donald Ray Wathen, 28, of Hollywood with failure to maintain required records as a taxidermist licensee; failure to maintain required records as a taxidermist licensee in department-issued log; and possession of untagged whitetail deer.
The charges were filed as the result of an investigation that started in January after officers inspected Wathen’s taxidermy business. NRP found and seized as evidence two improperly tagged wild turkeys; one improperly tagged mounted whitetail deer head; one untagged whole whitetail deer head; 38 sets of improperly tagged whitetail deer antlers; and 37 improperly tagged whitetail deer hides.
On February 12, NRP returned 21 whitetail deer hides; 21 sets of whitetail deer antlers; two wild turkeys and the mounted whitetail deer head to Wathen after checking the DNR harvest master records and determining that the animals were legally harvested and checked-in. The remaining seized items are still being investigated to confirm their legal harvest.