TPWD Game Warden Field Notes

It’s like an undercover officer I was working a hand-to-hand drug buy with in California once said, “If criminals were smart, we wouldn’t catch them.”
The TPWD occasionally releases their “Field Notes” which amount to a blotter with a lot of the more humorous moments taking the lead.

Keep in mind I do sell a book of these gems in the FLY SHOP – “Poachers, Crooks and Other Turkeys.”

Long distance bust: TPWD’s La Porte communications office received a call Sept. 13 from an individual in California. The caller said he had been on a Chinese website when he found a fisherman bragging about all the fish he had been catching. The fisherman even posted several pictures. The photos and website information were forwarded to Captain Tanuz, who in turn contacted the complainant in California. The photos showed an individual with four ice chests of fish, most of which appeared undersize. The photos also showed a fisherman standing in an area that appeared to be the east end of Galveston. This information was forwarded to Galveston County Game Wardens Ray Canales and Antone Jackson, and on the evening of Sept. 15, they caught the violator on the east end of Galveston Island in the process of setting an illegal gill net. Cases pending.

Different kind of bachelor party: On Sept. 10 Erath County Game Warden Zach Havens saw a group of vehicles parked in a coastal field and heard a variety of reports that sounded like pistols, large caliber rifles, and shotguns. Warden Havens stayed concealed in the brush and watched the group for a while. Soon he started seeing birds drop from the air as they flew near the vehicles. Closer inspection revealed a bachelor party in progress. Killed were several beers and even more scissor tails. Cases pending.

Undersize snapper haul leads to empty ice chest: While patrolling the Aransas Channel Sept. 8, San Patricio Game Warden Albert Flores inspected a vessel and found 50 undersize red snapper. Citations were issued and the fisherman sent home with an empty cooler.

Busted by a cell phone: Travis County Game Wardens Christy Vales and Braxton Harris were checking dove hunters on Sept. 2 in a field adjacent to a residence and noticed two hunters. After checking the first hunter, they were unable to locate the second hunter they saw earlier. Shortly after driving the outer parts of the field, they found the second hunter crouched down in the tree line. When asked to produce his hunting license, he said his wife had just bought it that day and it’s up at the house. The wardens loaded the hunter and his birds up in the truck and took a ride to the house. The wife of the hunter stepped out with an online purchase receipt for his hunting license. The wardens noticed the time of purchase on the receipt and asked to see the hunter’s cell phone. Based on the time the hunter called his wife and the time on the receipt, the wardens could tell that the hunter had his wife buy his license just as the wardens pulled into the field. The hunter admitted to hunting without his license hours before the wardens arrived. Citations were issued and seven doves were seized.

Category: Culture on the Skids