Apologize for being vague - multiple reasons as there may be people involved here that read this and too many things I and others already know. I am not law enforcement.

Was out on public land today again. End of the day was making my way back to where I was parked. I knew generally where I was but I was still deep in the woods, or so I thought. I saw a vehicle parked in the woods off to my left - I was puzzled a bit and continued on to....Wait! …???? The math didn't add up - there shouldn't be anybody here, certainly not vehicles. I backtracked, made sure I was highly visible, and approached the vehicle - didn't know if it was occupied but certainly somebody was near. Ended up there was a guy in in in camo. We chatted. I discreetly collected information as we chatted hunter stuff, and made my way on...and proceeded to get Texas Game Wardens involved. I'm certain the guy went to jail - way too many things wrong here on many different levels.

A buddy who is part of this story said it was a ballsy move to approach the vehicle. He also said this was probably a big takedown for TPW. I was never totally worried but in retrospect maybe it wasn't as safe...?
Some of the basic info for the hunting is archery for feral hogs only, no vehicles, no sidearms allowed, permit needed, hunter orange, dedicated parking locations with permit prominently displayed. Let's just say my observations and interactions indicated multiple issues with these things plus more admitted/observed criminal and hunting violations than that.

Question, - was I stupid in approaching an obvious "What's wrong with this picture" situation? I was curious and I wanted to know what was up with a vehicle in the woods. Stolen and abandoned? Something more nefarious? I also know there is a lot of poaching, which ruins the fair chase myself and others pursue.

What would you do in that situation?

I would have kept walking, reported the vehicle to the game warden and let him gather information on any hunting violations.

Getting a poacher caught is a good thing. I don't know that it would necessarily be a "big takedown," not unless the guy was part of a bigger operation. Otherwise, just a poacher, and one that needed to be caught and dealt with. You did good in reporting him. The real question is whether or not the game warden found the guy. Did you see guy with the game warden? If you contacted the GW, you might contact the GW again to find out what went down.

Investigating because you thought the person was up to no good is that type of logical reasoning that should have been setting off all sorts of warning bells in your head that you are in a situation where you should be calling the game warden and letting the warden find out what is what. Maybe the guy was a poacher. Maybe the guy was a lookout for a nearby grow operation? Maybe the guy was disposing of a body where he thought nobody would find it? There is a definite distinction between being ballsy and being naive about potential danger.

You were trying to do that right thing, but doing the right thing which is good, but there is no reason to risk your life over the matter. Think about it. Had the situation gone south, how many witnesses were there to call 911 for you, to back you up? Who knew you would be at that spot and would know where to look for you if something happened to you and how long would it be before you were missed and folks came looking for you?

If you want to knowingly expose yourself to potential danger. That is on you. Understand that doing so is truly has the potential to turn out badly.

What would I do? Knowing that the vehicle is in an area where no vehicles are allowed and figuring that the person is up to no good, I would have marked my location with my phone's GPS, taken a screen shot of the GPS, and moved off to safety and then I would have called the game warden and expressed my concerns, forwarding the GPS screen shot to the warden so that he would know where to find the suspicious vehicle. If I could see the vehicle and thought something no good was happening, then the said bad guy (or worse, bad guys) could see me. I would remove myself from the situation.

DNS Has made some excellent points...
First lease was on, we had rules like most...
One was , 1) at arriving ta lease, check in... Opening day each sat in thar own stand..
After the weekend, it was first come had choice ta stand.. place your washer on stand at camp.
Twice seen a person in a stand early morning, people ajouning the land, weather public or private, know
most hunting accrues during weekends... The guy parked his truck at side of road, both times, headed twards person they got down & headed for truck...
On another day, heard shooting, during week, eased twards shooting. Two guys, asked if they had any luck, told em i was part of lease..Asked their names, they said they had permission ta hunt squirrel & hog from lease member..
Informed them they were told wrong... Was polite about it.. They left , no problems...
We ended up losing lease,.
Just one of the bad things about leasing hour or so away, never know what's going on...
Seen people, spend time, effort, & hard earned money, only ta loose lease ta Bigger Buck$. .
In public hunting forum. Have stated. Hunters are the eyes & ears...
With today's cell phones, call, let some one know what ya see, take pic's, GPS location...

& ya, i'd have done same...
Keep your head held high & your powder dry...

Sorry if I’m being a bit vague as well but nothing about this event adds up as being factual. It’s a good story though.

And drop a pin, label/save it, so you can text or email it to law enforcement so they can follow it roght where you saw them.

Walkabout - fully understand. I called a friend of mine who knows all of the wardens in the area, so I did not call the wardens directly, at least initially. Protecting my friend and his relationships is part of the secrecy. Wardens don't like giving their info out willy nilly so I was working through my friend. The other is protecting myself. I have a low profile on line on purpose. I don't trust many people. I'll provide details as I can, and will when I know there wont be any damaged relationships. Sorry that I'll run the fringes for now. The mostly redacted text has all of the guys info, location, vehicle description, etc.

DNS - hindsight is 20/20. As an FYI I text family every hour with location and direction of travel for safety. There were a lot of things that went through my mind[i][/i][/b][b][u][/u] in deciding what to do. I was in a NE cornered part of this land. I thought perhaps I was closer to the N border than I thought, and it was a ranch truck. Then I checked my location. Grow operation never crossed my mind even now as I've run that whole property over the years and never seen anything close. The vehicle was old and beat up - I honestly thought initially it was abandoned in the woods as it was pretty deep in. My second thought was somebody had a stand nearby (illegal) and I was already seen at that point anyway. It was my interaction with the guy that had the calculus going off in my head. The only thing I could get would be a very vague description and coordinates of the vehicle if I didn't approach, and the additional details caused the Wardens to put it in high gear - they may not have responded in force and had another vague report of some sort of activity (this is not state property BTW).

Again, more details later when I can. I'm really not trying to troll here.

What are you talking about????? They absolutely do give out their information. They aren't some secret society. Their cell phones are their work phones and their work phones numbers are listed online!!!!!"

https://tpwd.texas.gov/warden/game-warden-list.phtml Click on the county and see who your game warden(s) is(are) and their phone numbers.

I am starting to believe you may be fairly naive.


That's good. So if you were stabbed or shot, you would be found in the next hour or two. No way you could bleed out or die in that amount of time. People in the city are upset they can't get a cop to their house in under 10 minutes in an emergency and your folks may not even start thinking about missing you for an hour, much less deciding whether they should come look for you.



Do you cover the entire property every week? They can pop up that fast. Grower locates and area he feels is remote, does some brush clearing, plants, maybe hooks in a water system, and he is in operation with a few acres planted.



Is it really worth your life to do the investigation work first? Did the game warden need to respond in "high gear" because their was some sort of life or death situation going on?

Doesn't matter if the land is state property or not. The game is state property.

Sounds like you did good to me. The world has gone soft and men are afraid of their own shadows these days.
It is your job as a citizen to see what is happening and doing it in a sneaky way was good.
What if you stopped some terrorists, a murder, a rapist, child abduction. Many would say protect yourself but I say protect others from harm. What if you found out that guy had a child in the car with bad intent and you just snuck out of there and did nothing.
The recent church shooting turned out like it did because a few real men were there to diffuse the situation regardless of what "might" have happened.

Yep, after the shooting started, they went to work. Actually, it was just one, a former cop, gun range owner, and firearms instructor, and current head of the church security team that actually "diffused" the situation by shooting the guy in the head.

DNS - we can agree to disagree to an extent - I'll say again hindsight is 20/20. If I knew the end before I started I would have merely marked and reported, but I don't think the outcome would have been the same because of the specificity. I don't have personal relationships with wardens as you likely have, and I think that changes the dynamic a bit.

I was looking on the Denton County web site this morning and found his mug shot. My description of white male, brown hair and long beard, balding on top, 5'11 200# was pretty good. We was charged with two felony drug charges Group 1 and Group 2. I was looking at his background and he had some run ins in 1999 that looked like felonies. I suspect the guy is a convicted felon based on the 1999 charges. As I was researching, my buddy called me and confirmed what I had found publicly. Likely multiple more charges pending. We think dude's going back to the pen. Not going to out him publicly but enough info here for those curious enough.

[Get's on soap box]

Going back to the beginning, yeah - it could have turned out differently. And badly. No question. But it certainly wasn't naïveté or ignorance of situation and that's where I'm a little butt-hurt at the judgement. My skills, experiences, knowledge, limitations, relationships etc. led me to do what I did in the way I did them. I'm not a big risk taker.

Here's also what I'm not going to do - live my life scared. All things in life are a calculated risk but we cant be paralyzed or drastically altered by "What-if" isms, but-ifs, and could have's. I will live cautiously as I always do, and keep my personal risk profile low as practical, but I won't live scared.

[Get's off soapbox]

I appreciate all of the posts on this board, the posters, etc. Have a happy new year and happy hunting! Let's all agree that having one less drug-induced poacher out there is a good day for Texas, and if we are dealt a similar deck in 2020 we make good choices.

What did you chat about with him?

Jet - laughing as this string has been a bit tense - asking the real questions.

Really just hunter to hunter talk. It was clear he had been smoking pot. He had been reclining in his truck. I didn't realize his engine was on or someone was even in it until I got fairly close, but the windows were pretty foggy save the partially down passenger side. It is really thick where I was and until I was 20-30 feet away could I make out any specifics on the vehicle. He was facing towards where I came from so I approached from the front on the passenger side. Bright orange gear, shouldered crossbow. He rolled the window all the way down when I approached. Traded wassups. Any luck? history hunting in the area, etc. He had cameras out (I had one stolen in that area last year). Swapped photos of hogs, deer, kills, tips, etc. I told him I was worried someone was stuck/stranded and see if everything was ok. Never saw a weapon but it was clear and admitted he was hunting. Annnnndddd…...all hunters brag I took GPS coordinates as I "searched for photos". Texted myself his license number, description, etc. while we talked. Got all I needed or wanted, bid him happy hunting, and off I went. I never saw a weapon nor did I look hard or ask - unnecessary risk. Called my buddy once I was far enough and got things rolling.

Doesn't sound like he was nervous or upset about the encounter.

Well what if someone had a life or death situation? I sure would do a little looking around , and have in the past. Too many assume that someone else will make the call . What if he had a person that was in need of help, would you just walk away? I wouldn't.
Pretty easy to make some observations while you're camoed up and with a weapon. Up here even archery only hunters can carry a concealed weapon or just a weapon for personal protection.
Good for you, now he knows someone may be watching at any time.

Sorry, you did what you thought was right, and I get that, but I would have handled differently. I do not live my life in fear, but I also know there are times to avoid potential drama. In this case, I would have dropped a pin, backtracked a few yards, and gone around while calling GW. Just too many wackjobs in today's world - in this case, you have already said he was a convicted felon, was up to no good, and there is the potential he will be returning to the pen. Lots of reasons here for this person to have decided you were a threat and, again, potential it could have worked out much differently.

A few years ago, and I've posted about this before, I was out filling feeders early on a Sunday morning, before season. I was alone, but armed, and heard music playing further in the woods. Started walking toward it, crossed a creek, and just on the other side (still on our private property) I walked up ALMOST onto an active meth cook. Yes, I was in the right and could have approached, but life too precious to get into a shootout with tweakers, especially alone and when no one is expecting me for some hours. I backed out, called the ranch manager and the Sheriff's office. In this case, by the time the Deputy showed the cookers were gone. They had left a pile of trash and several needles laying on ground. In no way did I feel small or cowardly for not confronting these guys - let the professionals do the investigating.

I appreciate the feedback. - I really do. (Side note sidearms are not permitted). It looks like opinions are about 50/50 which is about right. In foresight I did the calculus and made a decision. In hindsight it could have come out different. That's getting to 50/50 another way. Score is still 50/50 which is why I asked the question in the first place. Earlier the same day about a mile away I found a ground blind (illegal). I marked it and reported it without approaching or investigating.

Regardless - I am 100% certain this gentleman would still be out poaching had I just marked and reported a vehicle and gone about my day.

I’d have posted this story under an alias, if it were me.

Congrats and good on you for helping get rid of a poacher. Sounds like Corps land, and I'm sure we all know there's a fair share of poachers with the Corps of Engineers land. Just be careful out there.

this thread is comical. Things like this occur every week on Public Hunting areas around the DFW area.

Yes you was stupid could of got shot and You didn’t catch a poacher you ruined a dudes buzz lol walking up on someone in a truck who was not even hunting at the moment but you report poaching with no evidence ?

Had a guy trail me in town & turned me into Operation Game Thief as a poacher. I had an Axis head with 32” antlers in my truck in July. He told the game warden I was poaching trophy Whitetails. The game warden came to my house, after the guy followed me home & then sped off when I went outside. The warden was Randolph McGee. He said, “man, you sure ruined my fun. This would have been my first bust as an officer. I got out of the Academy three weeks ago, got my truck last week & I left supper on the table to come over here. I’ve been watching you from down the street for about 30 minutes. I could tell it was an Axis as soon as I pulled up. Good to have met you, I’m going back to supper.”

How do we know he was a poacher?