Joe Franz made headlines twice in the past year or so. First, he killed the largest whitetail deer ever bagged on film; then, the Iowa Deparment of Natural Resources charged him with hunting over bait. While baiting deer is legal in various states, it is illegal in Iowa.
The charges stemmed from an old mineral site on the property that was in place prior to Franz owning the property.
Franz was found not guilty; having filmed his hunt was likely the only reason he was acquitted. The video evidence helped prove the deer was not drawn to the area by the mineral site and that the buck had no interest in it.