Texas Game Wardens break up deer smuggling operation 👮

The weekend might not be here just yet, but your favorite dispatch from the great outdoors is. And let me tell you, this one’s juicy.

So grab your coffee or whiskey (no judgement) and let's get caught up on the outdoor news and views from the past 24-or-so hours. 

Here's what's worth reading about today:

• Smuggle me not - Texas officials break up deer smuggling operation 🚔

• Restitution, please - Cali pronghorn poacher gets nailed with big fines 💰

• No open season - Wyoming’s mountain lion bill seems to be headed for defeat 🐈

• Oldest deer in the country? - A Georgia man might have shot it 👴🏻

• 35-mile-an-hour headbutts - Muskox don’t mess around 🐂

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THEY’VE BEEN BUSY IN TEXAS
TEXAS GAME WARDENS UNCOVER ILLEGAL WHITE-TAILED DEER SMUGGLING OPERATION

exas Game Wardens have concluded an investigation that led to the arrest and conviction of two individuals involved in illegally moving captive white-tailed deer.

A South Texas deer breeder and his business partner were caught attempting to smuggle seven deer from a licensed deer breeding facility in East Texas through Montgomery County to Brazoria and Duval counties, where they intended to illegally release the deer into the wild on private property.

The case unfolded when a Montgomery County Game Warden conducted a traffic stop and discovered the illegally possessed deer being transported without required documentation or identification…

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🤝 CDFW and the local Attorney’s Office get their man in pronghorn poaching case. Working in tandem, California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife along with the Modoc County District Attorney’s Office announced the settlement of a poaching investigation that kicked off last summer in northeast California. According to reports, an anonymous tip pointing CDFW investigators to a private property in Modoc County where a pronghorn antelope was allegedly shot with a bow. After officers took witness accounts and canvassed the area for information regarding the pronghorn purloiner, their evidence pointed towards 53-year-old Ernest Davis as a person of interest.

With the evidence officials had, it didn’t take long for them to pin the crime on him, initiating the prosecution by the County District’s Attorney’s Office. Just last week, Davis was in court where he and prosecutors settled on an agreement involving the illegal take of the pronghorn on private property. 

The terms of the settlement resulted in a one-year summary probation term for Davis; the loss of hunting privileges while on probation; the forfeiture of the pronghorn’s meat; the requirement to complete a hunter education course; and payment of $3,000 in restitution.

🐈 A New Wyoming Bill that proposed year-round, open season on mountain lions gets push back. In an attempt to completely de-regulate mountain lion hunting in Wyoming, House Bill 286 was introduced last week and would remove any and all bag limits for mountain lions and would allow them to be hunted 24 hours a day.

In a move that seems aggressive to say the least, State Rep. Mike Schmid, who introduced the bill, has stated that he believes the bill will only serve to help the state’s embattled big game animals. While an attempt at saving ungulate species is admirable, those in opposition to the bill were weary about completely stripping away the Game and Fish Department’s ability to apply bag limits to a predatory game animal like mountain lions.

“In the end, we came to the conclusion that wildlife management is better left in the hands of wildlife managers,” Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association President Lee Livingston told lawmakers. “There have been many in this building that railed against biology from the bench. We don't want to see our [hunting] seasons starting to be set by legislation rather than by wildlife managers.” 

After more than 40 individuals showed up at the state’s capitol this week - with all but two of them being opposed to the legislation - it looks as though this one is dead in the water.

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😳 Just watching these two gives me a damn headache.  These fellas likely weigh between 600 and 800 pounds - now add in 35 miles per hour of force. Holy sh*t.

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More farmed deer test positive for CWD in 3 Louisiana parishes: Hunters across Ohio checked 238,137 white-tailed deer – the fourth-highest number of deer taken on record during a season – during the 2024-25 hunting season that concluded on Feb. 2, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.  Read the full story.

F&G Surveying Mule Deer Across Southern Idaho Units, Here’s What They’re Looking For: Beginning at the end of January and for the few weeks, wildlife biologists from several regions in southern Idaho will be flying a mule deer abundance survey on winter range in the Smoky-Boise DAU, which includes portions of Units 39, 45, 48, 49, 50, 52, 52A, and 53. Read the full story.

20-Year-Old Doe Killed In Lowndes County, GA:  Jeremy Kendrick, of Lowndes County, may have just killed the oldest confirmed deer taken by a hunter in the state of Georgia and possibly tied for the oldest in the country. Read the full story.

Two DeQuincy men accused of duck hunting violations near Sulphur: Two DeQuincy men have been accused of duck hunting violations in Calcasieu parish, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Read the full story.

BC issuing special hunting permits for CWD testing: The government is working with the Kootenay Wildlife Association to reach hunters and issue permits and more permits may be issued in the future.  Read the full story.

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The older I get, the more I like these old trucks.

📸 :leetimms

Oh, and one more thing…

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