by John Jefferson

Retired game wardens, Craig Hunter and Jim Lindeman, recently spoke to the Austin Woods and Waters Club. Their program included humorous cases they had worked, though not together.

Lindeman was stationed in Lampasas when he retired but worked the South Texas coastal area during the trying time when commercial fishermen had over-fished the Gulf of trout and redfish. Netting for game fish, primarily speckled trout and redfish, was banned as a result.

Sometimes Game Wardens have to be creative in enforcing game and fish laws. Other times, law violators unknowingly help them make their cases. When that happens, some are downright funny. Breaking the law is usually not a laughing matter, however, and Game Wardens ‘work is often dangerous. Nineteen wardens have succumbed while on duty. Some of it is lonely while on surveillance, as pictured. (Photo by John Jefferson)

But old habits die hard. Illegal netting for specks and reds continued. Some netters evaded arrest when encountered. Enforcement became nightly speedboat races up and down the coast chasing illegal anglers.

Some former netters turned to trotline fishing, which was legal. But trout and redfish were illegal, if retained. However, a number of anglers ignored that restriction and carried a rod and reel so they could claim they had caught the redfish legally.

Lindeman located an illegal trotline, found redfish on it, wadded up his warden’s business cards, and carefully stuffed them inside the gills of some of the redfish hooked on trotlines. He’d then mark the fish’s tails slightly so he could tell which fish carried a TPW card. He left the hooked fish for the poachers to claim. When an illegal angler argued he had caught the fish legally on his rod and reel, Jim would remove the card from its gills … and reach for his ticket book. Free-swimming red drum aren’t known for carrying business cards – – neither their own NOR Game Warden’s!

Craig Hunter rose through the game warden ranks to become Director of Law Enforcement, holding the rank of colonel. Earlier, he was on the “Bucky Squad.“

That was the team that placed a replica deer near a road and waited to see who would think it was real … and take a shot (or two) at it. Game warden chase cars were hidden in the brush in case the shooter’s vehicle decided to high-tail it when the lights came on. The wardens named the make-believe deer, “Bucky.“

One shooter was in the pickup bed when he fired. Realizing they’d been fooled, the driver hit the gas. When the chase car finally apprehended the pickup, the driver seemed alone. The warden shined a light into the bed, and a man acted like he had been asleep and claimed to have gotten tired and taken a nap. He later had plenty of time to catch up on his sleep — in jail.

Another night, a man pointed a .44 magnum revolver out the vehicle’s window at Bucky, then pulled it back inside, and shot from INSIDE the vehicle.

When he fired, the pistol’s recoil catapulted it into the back seat. The dazed shooter blurted out, “I can’t see and I can’t hear.“

He told wardens he hadn’t wanted the buck to see the flash or hear the blast. Obviously, the shooter heard and saw them both … from inside close quarters!

Unfortunately, not all game violations end humorously like these.

JJ