Witness tells Michigan oversight panel DNR seized antlers, urges new rules for cross‑state enforcement

Chair Regas opened the Oversight Subcommittee on Weaponization of State Government hearing Tuesday by criticizing what she called excessive enforcement by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Dan Stan Dammer, who identified himself as an ordinary citizen, told the committee that a multi‑state enforcement action beginning with an Iowa wildlife inquiry led to Michigan officers seizing and holding his deer antlers for months, interrupted his work and family life, and left the returned property damaged.

Dammer described the sequence that began after a successful hunt in Iowa. He said he harvested a whitetail on Oct. 21 and took parts of the animal to a taxidermist on Oct. 4, 2021. He testified that Iowa investigators later examined a trail‑camera SD card, issued citations in September 2022 and that certified mail containing those citations was sent to his employer on Sept. 19, 2022 even though he already had legal counsel in both states.

"By weaponization, I mean the use of government tools, inquiries, surveillance data access, seizures, or administrative maneuvers, not solely to secure compliance with the neutral rule, but in a way that predictably chills protected activity, punishes lawful behavior or coerces a citizen to surrender rights," Dammer told the panel.

Dammer said Michigan officers obtained his antlers from a taxidermist in…