Deer poaching suspects appear in court
By Greg Seubert
The wheels of justice can move slowly at times and that’s the case with two men facing more than 100 felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with a deer poaching case in Waupaca County.
Eric A. Feavel, 40, of Menasha, and former Appleton resident Travis J. Vander Heiden, 37, now of Pampa, Texas, were scheduled to make their initial appearance on the charges April 11 in Waupaca County Circuit Court in Waupaca.
Feavel appeared before Judge Raymond Huber via Zoom from the Door County Jail in Sturgeon Bay, where he is currently incarcerated on unrelated charges, while Vander Heiden called in from telephone from Pampa.
Feavel is facing 51 charges, including one misdemeanor count of failure to obtain a deer hunting license; 25 misdemeanor counts of illegal shining of deer as party to a crime; and 25 counts of felony bail jumping.
Vander Heiden’s 51 charges – all misdemeanors – include one count of failure to obtain a deer hunting license; 25 counts of party to a crime of hunting after revocation (second offense within five years); and 25 counts of illegal shining of deer as party to a crime.
Both men had their initial appearances rescheduled.
“I would like to get a public defender if I could,” Feavel told Waupaca County Circuit Court Judge Raymond Huber. “I do have one that was court-appointed (for the Door County case). I asked if he would take the Waupaca case and he said he would not, so I don’t have an attorney.”
Feavel left his court appearance to meet with Zach May with the Stevens Point Public Defender’s Office, which serves Waupaca and Portage counties, and found out he does qualify for a public defender.
“We would request for this to be continued so counsel can be appointed and Mr. Feavel can speak with his appointed attorney before his initial appearance,” May said.
Feavel’s initial appearance is now set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 25.
Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Bolz is prosecuting the case on behalf of Waupaca County.
“It’s my understanding that Mr. Feavel is going to be incarcerated for a significant amount of time based on his Door County case,” he said. “I think the state there is going to be recommending a term of imprisonment for four years of initial confinement. Given that, we would not object to a signature bond since we do not believe he is a flight risk given his incarcerated status. We would ask for conditions of bond to include that he go through the booking process, that he not engage in any Chapter 29 privileges, which would include fishing or hunting of any sort, that he not possess any firearms or crossbows during the case and that he have no contact with the codefendant, Mr. Vander Heiden.”
Vander Heiden said he has not received a copy of the criminal complaint, which was originally filed Feb. 20.
“When the stuff was filed, I was already in Texas,” he said.
Vander Heiden will receive a copy of the criminal complaint by mail and his initial appearance has been rescheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 2.
Case background
The investigation that led to the charges against Vander Heiden and Feavel included six Department of Natural Resources (DNR) conservation wardens: Jeff Nieling, Zachary Seitz, Kaitlin Kernosky, Jonathan Kaiser, Jason Higgins and Mark Schraufnagel.
According to a criminal complaint filed Feb. 20, Nieling was on patrol near Weyauwega shortly before midnight on Nov. 12, 2022, and followed up on reports of someone shining deer from a vehicle.
The illegal shining was taking place near a farm field on Hwy. U, where a decapitated buck carcass had been found two days earlier.
“An examination of the buck carcass showed that it had been shot,” according to the complaint. “At that time, Warden Nieling located a vehicle that was traveling west on Railroad Grade Road traveling slowly and shining deer with a handheld flashlight from the driver’s side of the vehicle. This illegal shining activity was taking place approximately 1/4 mile from where the decapitated deer was located.”
Nieling followed the vehicle and conducted a traffic stop at Railroad Grade Road and County Trunk X.
“He contacted the driver and identified himself as a state conservation warden,” according to the complaint. “The driver was identified by a suspended Wisconsin driver’s license as Vander Heiden. He asked Vander Heiden if he knew the reason he was being stopped and he stated because they were shining too late. He asked Vander Heiden if he had any weapons in the vehicle. Warden Nieling shined his flashlight in the back seat and saw a cocked crossbow on the seat and bolts on the floor. Vander Heiden said he forgot the crossbow was there because it was the passenger’s – later identified as Feavel – crossbow.”
Background checks on Vander Heiden and Feavel indicated that Vander Heiden’s hunting privileges had been revoked and Feavel was out on bond with an ankle bracelet, according to the complaint.
Seitz arrived at the scene and he and Nieling found a blood-stained tarp in the rear of Vander Heiden’s vehicle. Vander Heiden said the blood was from a deer that his ex-girlfriend shot two weeks earlier, but Nieling noted the blood was still wet.
Nieling and Kernosky returned to the field Nov. 14 where the decapitated deer had been shot to conduct a search for a crossbow bolt.
“During the search, a crossbow bolt was found in the same field in proximity to the decapitated buck,” according to the complaint. “The bolt was an identical match to the 10 bolts that were seized from Feavel.”
Nieling and Kaiser drafted a search warrant on Nov. 23 for Vander Heiden and Feavel’s cell phones and investigators found 37 photos on Feavel’s phone, including photos of a buck in the back of a truck, a dead buck in a field, Feavel posing for a picture while holding a buck’s head, carcasses hanging in a garage, buck heads on a tarp and a buck’s head in a trash can.
Vander Heiden spoke with Kernosky and Schraufnagel at Vander Heiden’s Appleton home on Nov. 25, while Higgins and Nieling met with Vander Heiden’s ex-girlfriend the same day.
“Warden Nieling asked her about hunting and registering deer,” according to the complaint. “She initially said that she had been hunting, registering deer, and Travis Vander Heiden was with her calling the deer in. She eventually stated she did not hunt and Travis would call when he had a deer. She had a crossbow buck registered in 2022 and 2021 and admitted both deer were not harvested by her. She had a picture of a European mount of the buck she registered in 2021 and referred to the buck as a big boomer. She allowed Warden Nieling to take a photo off her phone of the buck and she said it was on the wall at Vander Heiden’s residence.”
Vander Heiden told wardens that he and Feavel used a handheld flashlight to shine deer on Nov. 9 or Nov. 10.
“Vander Heiden said they saw a nine-point deer in the field, drove past it and came back to the location,” according to the complaint. “Feavel used a crossbow to shoot it outside of the passenger side of the vehicle and they watched the deer drop in the field. Vander Heiden said he used the handheld light and shined the deer for Feavel shot it with the crossbow. Vander Heiden said they came back around 45 minutes to an hour later and Feavel dropped Vander Heiden off in the field, where he used a machete to cut the buck’s head off. Vander Heiden said it took him 20 minutes or less to get to the deer and remove its head.”
Vander Heiden admitted to shooting at eight to 10 deer during the fall of 2022 using Feavel’s crossbow with the aid of a light and told wardens he had recovered two of the deer. He also told wardens that Feavel had shot at about 20 deer last fall while Vander Heiden aided him with a light. He said Feavel had hit about eight deer, but recovered only three.
“Vander Heiden said that he and Feavel have been shining and shooting at deer since 2019,” according to the complaint. “Vander Heiden said the only person he shines and shoots deer with is Feavel to spend time with Feavel and because he enjoys eating venison.”