Joseph Michael Franz of Clive was found not guilty in a decision handed down by the Iowa District Court on Friday.

Franz had been charged with three counts of use of bait hunting deer and one count of use of bait taking deer in Marion County Franz’s taking of the Palmer deer, one of the largest known deer in Iowa, in October of 2014 has been source of controversy after he was charged by the Department of Natural Resources. The court decided that despite Franz hunting within 57 yards of soil containing minerals attractive to deer, he did not place the bait for deer hunting. The court pointed out that he may have hunted on the land because of this advantage, but picking a particular piece of land to hunt on is not illegal.