Texas game wardens bust illegal spearfishermen in downtown Austin 🎏

If you’re still with us, that means you’ve made it to the middle of yet another week.

With that in mind, let’s all take a minute to grab a coffee or whiskey and get another mid-week dispatch out the door.

Here's what's worth reading about so far this week:

• Big bust - Texas game wardens bust illegal spearfishermen in downtown Austin 🎏

• Missing teens found - California duck hunters bodies have both been recovered 🙏

• Florida man fights bear - Who wouldn’t for a Pomeranian? 🐩

• Father-son duo taken down - Louisiana poachers come clean 👮

• Beautiful greenhead - This video is incredible 🦆

BRAZEN
POACHERS BUSTED OVER THE HOLIDAYS WITH 76 LBS OF ILLEGALLY-SPEARED BASS IN DOWNTOWN AUSTIN

In a bust that took place on December 30th, Texas Game Wardens followed up on a tip that would lead to a massive discovery of illegal spear fishing in downtown Austin. 

Snaking through the city, the river-like reservoir known as Lady Bird Lake attracts tourists and locals alike. Offering a place to chill, hangout or fish while still remaining in the bustling downtown core of Austin, the lake is a staple of city living in the state’s capital.

While fishing is encouraged along the banks of the famed waterway, there are rules and regulations that ought to be followed. After receiving a tip from the state’s Operation Game Thief hotline regarding some suspicious fishing activity, Texas Game Wardens took it upon themselves to head into the city and have a look.

As game wardens arrived at the lake, they noticed someone snorkeling in the reservoir with a companion located on the nearby shoreline. After some careful observations, game wardens noticed that the snorkeler was shooting black bass with a pneumatic speargun - a direct violation of Texas fishing laws…

🐩 Florida man takes a bite in the belly from a black bear to protect his dog. There’s not much that can come between a man and his best friend, especially if that best friend is a 10-pound pomeranian named Karen. 

After reportedly letting his little dog outside around midnight, the feisty pooch took off after a group of black bears that were unknowingly in the victim, Blake Sprout’s, backyard. Getting wind of the altercation, Sprout, uhhh…sprouted into action after one of the bear cubs grabbed his beloved pomeranian. Running up to the attacking bear, who now had Karen in its mouth, Sprout opted to kick the bear in the chest, which caused the bear to release Karen. Turning its attention away from the yappy dog, the bear then lunged at Sprout and grabbed ahold of his mid-section.

The bear soon retreated, allowing Sprout to put a call into Florida FWC about the incident. Officials later reported that they had captured all three bears and had since safely relocated them.

🧑‍🧒 Father-son poacher duo cited in blatant illegal take of deer case. Louisiana officials have cited two men for a slew of alleged deer hunting violations in Bossier and Caddo parishes. The incidents, which took place back in November of last year, involved 73-year-old James Coon of Benton and 42-year-old Jeffrey Coon of Vivian after the pair were found in possession of untagged deer.

According to reports, LDWF officers were patrolling near Plain Dealing when they first made contact with James Coon and found him to be in possession of an antlered deer that was properly tagged. As they continued to converse with Coon, officers soon found another buck in the same area in his possession that was without the proper tags and validation.

As agents pressed Coon, he soon admitted to harvesting both of the deer in the same hunting session. Taking him in for further questioning, he later came clean to officers about an additional three deer he had killed that same season and went on to roll over on his son, Jeffrey for doing the same.

In total, agents cited James Coon for failing to tag deer, failing to validate deer harvest, taking over the daily limit of deer, and taking over the seasonal limit of deer. Agents also cited his son Jeffrey Coon for hunting under hunting license revocation or suspension, hunting without a basic hunting license, hunting without a deer-hunting license, hunting deer without deer tags in possession, failing to tag deer and failing to validate deer harvest.

🙏 DNA confirms the body found in Northern California is the second missing duck hunter. After identifying his brother’s body on Dec. 31, search and rescue operations confirmed the identification of the second victim, Wesley Cornett, 17, this past weekend. After a grueling 22-day search operation, Juan Heredia, one of the divers who had been searching for the boys, posted on Facebook that the younger Cornett had been located, saying the search “is over!!! We go back home!” 

“We continued searching for Wesley on the surface as the sheriff brought cadaver dogs and restricted diving,” Heredia wrote on Saturday, what would have been Andruw’s 20th birthday. “Today, with full determination, I will dive. I am committed to finding this boy and bringing him home to his family.”

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office was first made aware of the situation back on Dec. 14 when the elder Cornett had reported that his younger brother’s kayak had turned over in Thermalito Afterbay as they were duck hunting. Despite neither one of the teens having a life jacket, Andruw ignored dispatcher’s orders not to go into the water in search of his brother, spurring a massive 300-person rescue operation that has now finally come to a conclusion.

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🦆 I’m sorry but the detail in this video is incredible. I couldn’t take my eyes off this insane video of a beauty mallard lifting his head out of the water.

Oh, and one more thing…