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December 24, 2010
Lone✯Star Outdoor News
LSONews.com
GAME WARDEN BLOTTER TRAFFIC STOP LEADS TO MULTIPLE CHARGES A Department of Public Safety highway patrol trooper in Wise County made a traffic stop on a truck and noticed blood and deer parts in the bed. The trooper contacted Wise County Game Warden Chris Dowdy. The driver stated he brought three bucks back from Kansas and was going to process them in Texas and return the meat to Kansas. However, there were only two tags. It was also discovered that the driver had shot a buck two weeks ago in Montague County and never tagged it. The wardens went to the individual’s house and located a six-point buck from Montague County along with the Kansas tags. Unfortunately, the two tags were for one buck and one doe. Cases pending. GOOD DEED GOES PUNISHED A deer with its head cut off was found by a roadway and reported to Wilson County Game Warden Jesse Garcia. The caller agreed to meet with Garcia at the site of the dead deer and arrived appearing very unsteady. The man said he loved drinking beer in the afternoon. He said that he hoped Garcia wouldn’t arrest him for DWI, but that’s what happened. It was the man’s second arrest for driving while intoxicated. FEEDER, FENCE DON’T MIX A live doe was impaled on a bar of a decorative iron fence in a new housing subdivision. Grayson County Game Warden Dale Moses responded. The doe had to be put down. The owner of the fence advised he would either remove the deer feeder or alter the fence. DEER IN COOLER THWARTS DENIALS When Polk County Game Warden David Johnson checked a local hunting camp, a man said he had just
TRESPASSERS SHOOT POPULAR NEIGHBORHOOD BUCK A white-tailed buck in Brown County had been living on a landowner’s property for seven years and would not jump a fence. Trespassers shot the deer, breaking its back. A neighbor called the landowner and stated that something was wrong with the buck. Around dark the landowner found the deer down and did not know what had happened arrived at camp and was unaware of any deer being killed that weekend. A check of the skinning rack proved otherwise. An inspection of the man’s ice chest resulted in the discovery of a freshly cleaned deer, in a trash bag, with no proof of sex or tag. The man then admitted to killing a buck that did not meet the Polk County antler restrictions. The head was retrieved from the woods and several citations were issued.
to the deer. The next morning the deer was gone and there were drag marks and blood throughout the property. Brown County Game Wardens Travis Allen and Matt Marek located and cited the two trespassers for taking a whitetailed deer without landowner consent. The buck scored approximately 155. Cases pending.
DOGS CAN FIND GUNS, TOO Constables from Spring notified Game Warden Kevin Malonson that they had encountered an individual hunting near a neighborhood with two firearms, and upon making contact, the subject ran back into the woods. Later the subject emerged from the woods without the firearms. A Precinct 4 Constable's K-9 Unit was brought out and they immediately found a rifle and shotgun. Case pending.
in an attempt to scare the deer away from the road. The man, concerned about the welfare of the deer, was found to have an arrest warrant for aggravated assault. In Rusk County, Game Wardens Chad Gartman and Kirk Permenter watched a truck pass by and then turn around. After the truck’s occupant located the decoy in his headlights, the driver accelerated and ran over the decoy, breaking it all to pieces. In Milam County, Game Wardens Charlie Mayer, Justin Valchar and Braxton Harris had a car roll by the decoy slowly, go a couple of miles down the road, and then turn around. The car came back and stopped and the occupants shone their lights on the decoy. An individual got out of the car and tackled the deer decoy. Before the wardens could get to their trucks and get to the county road, the individual had jumped back into the car and taken off. The wardens were unable to catch up with the car.
DECOY DEER BRINGS SURPRISING ACTIONS Van Zandt County Game Warden Steve Stapleton and Rains County Game Warden Nathan Wilson teamed up to run the decoy deer in a problematic road hunting area. After several hours, a vehicle slowly approached, stopped and headlighted the decoy. After several minutes, a passenger in the vehicle began screaming at the deer. Soon the passenger exited the vehicle and approached the decoy
SPECIES IDENTIFICATION ERRORS BRING CITATIONS Floyd County Game Warden Mark Collins and Hockley County Game Warden Jay Oyler encountered a group of waterfowl hunters with many ducks, geese and sandhill cranes. The hunters were filleting the meat from the breasts and discarding the carcass, and failing to leave a wing attached for species identification. The group also had hunted the previous day and had many more birds
in an ice chest back at their hotel. The ice chest was located, and as suspected, contained a multitude of filleted waterfowl breasts. EXCITEMENT TURNS TO IMPROPER TAGGING Harris County Game Warden Kevin Malonson encountered a deer hunter in possession of two white-tailed bucks. The man was proud to display the first two deer that he had ever taken. While inspecting the tags, Malonson discovered that both bucks had been tagged as turkeys. PROCESSOR DUMPS DEER CARCASSES IN CREEK Anderson County Game Warden Karen Gray received a call from a landowner that someone was throwing deer carcasses in a creek on his property. The investigation revealed it was a processer who dumped the deer. He had 15 doe deer come in, matching the number of deer in the creek. Case filed and the judge instructed the subject to pick up the carcasses. MAN IN ILLEGAL AREA NEEDS SHOOTING LESSONS A man hunting illegally on City of Fort Worth park property was apprehended by Tarrant County Game Wardens Clint Borchardt and John Padgett. After checking the area multiple times, the wardens pulled into the area believing no one was there and ended up pulling up right next to
the man, who was sitting on a crate with a .22 rifle equipped with a laser sight. The man admitted to shooting at a deer only 10 minutes before the wardens’ arrival. The man also admitted to shooting at two other deer with a bow and also missing. The rifle was purchased the day before in hopes of improving his accuracy. No deer was found. Cases pending. WOMAN DROWNS AFTER FALL IN CRAPPIE HOUSE Young County Game Warden Brent Isom responded to Lake Graham for a possible drowning. Upon arriving at the local crappie house, Isom discovered an older woman's body floating in the middle of the fishing area. It is suspected that the lone female was attempting to take a fish off the line and fell into the water during the night. Apparently the victim was unable to get out of the water. During the body retrieval, a fishing line was found that still had a crappie attached. MAN’S BEST FRIEND TURNS HIM IN Burleson County Game Warden Sophia Hiatt was driving down a county road and saw a dog walking with a deer head in its mouth. After chasing the dog away from the head, Hiatt removed the tag from the antlers and found the deer to be in violation of the antler restriction. She found the responsible hunter and a citation was issued. DEER DECOY DOWNED Burnet County Game Wardens Ronnie Langford and Brent Whitus set up their decoy deer on a county road. At 11 p.m., two individuals drove down the road shining a flashlight from one side of the road to the other. When they got to the decoy, they shot at it two times. The men were stopped and cited for multiple charges. Cases pending.