Game Warden Field Notes

 

Texas Parks and Wildlife law enforcement compiled the following recent reports.

 

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Pop-Up Blind.

Two Harris County game wardens responded to a request for assistance from the University of Houston Clear Lake (UHCL) Police Department when they were alerted to a suspicious person in a wooded portion of the campus. The campus police found a father and son, one of whom was holding a crossbow, in the process of cleaning a recently harvested buck. The officer detained the individuals and secured the scene until the wardens arrived. The officers and the wardens worked together to search the area and interview the suspects when they discovered a pop-up blind, corn, and drug paraphernalia. One of the men confessed to shooting three additional bucks during the last week in the same area. After further investigation, the father had a previous charge for poaching a 12-and-a-half-foot alligator from a nearby county park. When searching the individual’s home, the wardens later recovered the heads of two bucks. Charges for hunting without landowner consent, hunting without a license, and possession of drug paraphernalia are pending. 

If You Liked it, Then You Should Have Put a Tag on it.

A Lubbock County game warden was sitting near a well-known road hunting area when he saw a suspicious vehicle driving slowly down the public road. When the driver reached the bottom of a hill, it stopped and remained stationary for several minutes until the warden heard two gunshots. The warden approached the vehicle and found a man and his fiancée trying to load a mule deer doe into the bed of the small pickup. Upon further investigation, the warden learned that the man shot the deer with a .22 rifle off the roadway using the headlights of his vehicle. Officers filed multiple cases and charged civil restitution for the deer.

Double Whammy

When patrolling the Little Brazos River, a Brazos County game warden contacted two people fishing near one of the river access points. Both individuals did not have a valid fishing license, and one of them didn’t have any identification. The warden asked both for their information, and dispatch ran them, there was a hit. It turns out, the man who had no ID had an outstanding warrant. The warden placed him into custody and transported him to the Brazos County Jail. Once at the jail, officers discovered that he gave the warden false information that belonged to one of his friends who, unbeknownst to him, had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. The man was then correctly identified, and they learne that he had two outstanding warrants. The man admitted that he intentionally gave the warden false information because of his arrest warrants. The individual was booked into the jail for Failure to Identify Fugitive (class A), and the two outstanding warrants.

Oh Deer

While stopped at a gas station, a Lavaca County game warden noticed multiple elk antlers and legs sticking up from the bed of a pickup truck. The warden pulled up and congratulated the man icing the animals down and saw two whitetail deer. The man then told the warden about the high-fenced ranch from where the animals came. The property happened to be one that the warden investigated last year due to multiple hunters on the ranch hunting without licenses. After a short discussion, they determined that the man’s girlfriend, who was also on location, had killed one of the bull elk and had not purchased a hunting license in five years. The animal was seized, cleaned, and donated to a local charity organization. Case pending.

Mistaken Bacon

A Gaines/Andres County game warden received a call from a landowner about possible spotlights on her land. After making his way to the property, the warden approached two individuals that were hunting around a wheat circle. They claimed they were pig hunting and had harvested a pig earlier. The warden asked the subjects if he could see the pig they shot and determined that it was not a pig, but javelina. Charges and restitution are pending.