Winner of Texas deer-hunting contest stripped of title

The man who was winner of a statewide deer-hunting contest in southwest Texas was soon stripped of his title and disqualified after game wardens discovered he didn’t have a hunting license.

Game wardens assigned to monitor Webb County’s annual Muy Grande deer contest were making routine license checks on hunters who turned in trophy bucks as part of the Macho Grande Division, which awards winners the most points, and one lucky hunter turned in bucks that won both the 1st and 2nd place trophies.

“The hunting license check revealed that the hunter only possessed a valid ‘Resident Year-From-Purchase All Water Package’ fishing license, not a hunting license,” the notes say.

The following day the warden contacted a Hunt County game warden, who checked the contest harvest log for the ranch where the two winning trophy white-tailed deer had been shot, along with one other buck.

“Turns out the hunter had recorded in the harvest log his hunting license number from the previous year,” the notes say.

Wardens seized the deer from a taxidermist and the hunter was cited for hunting without a valid license, the resolution for which still is pending.

Closer to home, a Freestone County game warden began an investigation after he got received a tip from a local Department of Public Safety trooper about a white-tailed buck that may have been taken illegally.

The trooper said he’d stopped an individual riding an ATV on a public roadway, and the operator said he had been hunting and was on his way to transport a deer he had just killed.

The warden located the hunter’s camp and while there saw the head from a freshly killed buck that he determined did not meet the county’s minimum antler requirements and was not tagged.

The warden soon found the carcass, already butchered, stored in a nearby ice chest.

The hunter told the warden the carcass was untagged because he wasn’t sure what county he was hunting in.

Ultimately the warden issued citations for taking an undersized buck, tagging violation and hunting log violation.

Finally, near Abilene, a landowner reported to a game warden a vehicle spotlighting and shooting from a county road.

The warden quickly located the vehicle and after he followed it for a short time, he saw occupants shooting from inside.

The warden stopped the vehicle and asked the driver what they were doing, to which a female passenger inside said she and her boyfriend were teaching her son how to drive while they were drinking and shooting feral hogs off the road.

A search of the vehicle later revealed “A small bag of methamphetamine…located next to where one subject was sitting,” and was seized.

One of the occupants was taken to jail for possession of controlled substance and another received a citation for open container and hunting from a public roadway.