Thanks! Hard to believe that was 34 years ago. Even harder to believe I can’t spell border correctly. Lol

https://www.thedailybeast.com/texan...eadly-mexican-cartel-shootout?ref=scroll

Texas Deer Hunters Tell Tale of Kidnapping After Deadly Mexican Cartel Shootout
BAGGED
Michael Daly
Special Correspondent
Updated Dec. 04, 2019 9:41AM ET
Published Dec. 04, 2019 4:23AM ET
EXCLUSIVE
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
A Thanksgiving weekend deer-hunting trip to Mexico took a terrifying turn for two Texans who say they suddenly found themselves the ones with rifles pointed at them.

Donald Chapman and his nephew, Colby Williams, said the gunmen who appeared before them on Sunday apparently had been part of a convoy of cartel sicarios that rolled into the nearby town of Villa Union the day before.


The sicarios had mounted a surprise attack on the town hall and killed four police officers. But the hitmen got a surprise of their own and found themselves the target of a fierce government response that included Mexican marines and military helicopters.

Photos posted online showed several bullet-riddled and abandoned pick-up trucks bearing the letters C.D.N., for Cartel del Noreste, the Cartel of the Northeast. The occupants not among the 10 sicarios killed in the first hour seem to have fled into the surrounding countryside.

The government pursued the remaining sicarios on into Sunday, killing at least seven more. It appears that’s when a number of the hunted gunmen then encountered the hunting Texans.

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VENDETTA
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Chapman, 62, and Williams, 30, were out on a 10,000-acre ranch they had leased with a single purpose.

“It’s just really good deer hunting,” Williams told The Daily Beast.

As they faced the sicarios, Williams and Chapman also faced the possibility of being as dead as a bagged buck.

But they said that as soon as they obeyed a command to get down on the ground, the Mexicans threw their guns over their shoulders.


The Texans said their captors took their rifles and their cellphones. But that was just a precaution. What they really wanted was Chapman’s pick-up along with Williams’ pick-up, which they had left back at the ranch house.

“They were walking,” Chapman later said. “They were lost.”

They were also hungry and thirsty. The two Texans said they gave them food and water.

“You do those kind of things if you have a weapon at you,” Williams noted.


Another thing you do is get in a car when instructed. By Chapman and Williams’ account, they all rode off in the two vehicles.

“They used us to get where they wanted to be, which was home and their families,” Williams said.

“They were nice to me, and to be honest with you, did not hurt us in any way.”
— Colby Williams
The Texans said their captors treated them surprisingly well.


“They were nice to me, and to be honest with you, did not hurt us in any way,” Williams reported.

Chapman recalled, “Every other word out of their mouth was, ‘No problem, you’ll be OK. We don’t hurt Americans.’”

After 11 hours, the captors had arrived where they wanted to go. They gave the Texans back their cellphones and the rest of their property.

“Everything that had been taken,” Williams said.


But that was not the biggest surprise.

“It seems wild, but they washed our vehicles and put fuel in them,” Williams said.

Chapman recalled that they only washed his nephew’s truck.

“And detailed it,” Chapman told The Daily Beast. “Mine’s still dirty.”


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MATANZA
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The gunmen had made it back to their families and now they were freeing the Texans to go back to theirs.

Their gas tanks full, the Texans headed straight for the border.

“We got across as soon as possible,” Wiliams said.


Chapman said he checked his phone and saw missed calls and messages from seemingly every law enforcement outfit.

“The FBI, Secret Service, Homeland Security, all the agencies,” Chapman told The Daily Beast. “Apparently, I was important to be found.”

Reports of their disappearance had already surfaced in the Mexican media and on social media, and their families had seen a report online that they had both been murdered. When Williams and Chapman called home to say they were on their way back, Caller ID was the first signal to their loved ones the two were alive.

“They were excited to see our call,” Williams said with a Texas boy’s understatement.

Anyone who is a USC who goes to any part of Mexico is ignorant about what is going on there.

My dad has a lease we hunted that boarded the Palo Blanco and My uncle actually leaded a pasture in there. Crazy stuff

That is cool Greg. Very good story Sir

Yep. The dopers will deny it though and blame some other source.

My dad and grandfather have great stories from bird hunting in Mexico....a lot of which couldn’t be repeated here! It really is sad the situation down there. The fun they had is something that wouldn’t be experienced elsewhere. Even then (back in the lat 80s) they were paying bribes to get guns/ammo across but it was safe and an amazing time. All the birds were given to the locals and the money hunters provided helped those communities stay afloat. Unfortunate the times have changed. Last time I went to Mexico a week after we left the mayor or police chief (can’t remember) got his head cut off and left in the town square back in 2008 or 2009. That was the end of my fun down there.

I hunted across the river years back, it was bad then, 97 to 2006 as I recall. We had drugs being run throght one of the ranchs we hunted for about four years. Ranchers were in on it, not a good situation and not much those ranchers could do about about it but go along or die.

I spent a lot of time in Mexico in those days, I ran across all kinds and was really lucky. We had drug runners come into our hunting camp, ranch house. We drank beer and ate bbq with them. One of them was ranchers nephew.

The sad part about Mexico, not sure I ever met a honest person, they have good family values as a culture, but the buck stops there. When it comes to basic honesty and money all bets are off.

This country ain’t far behind.

X2

That could have gone very bad, in a heart beat! (R.K, Federal Security Director, Office of Law Enforcement, DHS Retired )

Awesome story....

Sadly too many nicer places to visit for me to ever step foot in Mexico ever again....

Pretty wild that this happened to people I know! I went to college with Colby, and Donald installed a sprinkler system for my parents years back. They were pretty quiet about it all on facebook

I use to want to go, I just don't think a big mulie or a bunch of quail is worth it.

Great story Greg. Sometimes we don't realize how good we have it and how fortunate we are (were) until much later.

please explain

You are correct 007. I’ve thought about those poor families numerous times in my life. It’s was like what you see on TV with the starving children in Africa. We are truly blessed to be here in America and live the way we do.

Or they saw their target buck on camera but he wasn't showing and they needed a few extra days at the lease to try and get him. What better cover story than "we were kidnapped by the cartel"???

I was thinking too much tequila in boys Town.

I'm just guessing here, but I think they are playing on the point that any contribution to the MX economy can, at some level, be considered a contribution to the cartels - because the cartels are that big and powerful in MX ... they have their hands in everything (legal and illegal business operations). And even industries that they don't have their hands in, some the people who work in those industries spend their earnings on things that make it back to the cartels (drugs, women, etc...) At this point in time, one could argue that the cartels hold more power in MX than the MX government does....

Not to mention the best way to get the Mexican governments attention to to remove US tourist dollars from the equation. The whole "hugs not bullets" campaign will come to a blazing halt when towns like cancun have no industry.

Actually we all know what goes on down there. They have no beef with everyday hunters. If someone interferes with their business well good luck with that. This was a wrong place wrong time deal though a pretty scary one.

In 82 i knew a cummuns engine dealer in mx, he also had 5 ocean going shrimp boats. The gov. took one of his boats and had it for a year at that time. He said he had been told that when the new president took office he would give it back,( kind of good public relations.)

I really belive the cartells run mx if not why don't the gov. do something about them?

They don't run it outright but it's pretty close. The level of bribery and corruption goes all the way to the top there. Police, military, politicians .... lots of people on the cartel payroll. They don't have everyone on the payroll, but they have enough.

The main reason the government doesn't do something about them is that it's a coin-toss on whether or not they can win an outright war on the cartels. Whenever they crack down on the cartels, bad things happen - lots of people die. I was in San Diego back in the mid 2000s and remember for several months they were warning people not to cross over into TJ to party (one of the safer cities in MX for Americans - because of its HEAVY police presence ensuring nothing happens to tourists) because the gov. vs. cartel issue had spilled over into the streets - cartel was literally gunning cops down in the streets. I have a friend who watched several cops and a few bystanders get mowed down in TJ while he was bar hopping during that time. They decided to heed the warning to not cross over after that. And that's pretty normal in MX when the tensions between the gov. and cartel get high.

I don't personally think the MX government has the power to take down the cartels. If they want to get rid of the cartels they're going to need outside help. Also, a LOT of people rely on the cartels for their livelihoods .... so in many ways, the fall of the cartels is a really BAD thing for MX ....think about all the money the cartels generate for the MX economy and what happens when that goes away.

If it was up to me, I wouldn't even ask. I'd designate the cartels as terrorist organizations and tell the MX government that we're going to start making strategic assaults against the cartels. They can either join in and make it look to the public like we're doing it with their permission or they can oppose it and we'll do it anyway - which will show the public how they can't stop the US even if they wanted to. They'd announce a joint cooperation agreement between our countries because no one wants to look weak on the world stage. The US dealing with the organizations next door that are harming our citizens, by doing crazy things like abducting our children and using them as sex slaves, is long past due. Help or step aside, just don't make the mistake of standing in our way.

If you really want to know how fubarred things in Mexico are, read this interview with a former Gulf Cartel sicario. Pay attention to the involvement and corruption from the top to the bottom of the Mexican government, and their complicity in killings and disappearances.

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2019/12/bb-interviews-cdg-sicario.html

I'm as white as can be and travel to Mexico frequently. There are certainly dangerous parts of Mexico, but it's not all full of cartels and violence. States south of Mexico City (apart from Guerrero) have relatively low violence. Most of the activity is concentrated around the border.

Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit - they all have higher rates of crimes than Mexico's most populated city, Mexico City. I spent 2 months there last year. Been quite a few times to Mexico City before that and spent lots of time in several smaller towns. I go to the resort areas at least once a year too.

My in-laws own a lot of property in Mexico so I keep up to date with the news and follow the politics there. I feel it's unfair for you to call all USCs "ignorant" about what is going on there...