Lone Star Law - Discussion Thread

Someone mentioned earlier that Benny Richards has retired from the TPWD. All I can say is the outlaws in Hunt County sure won't miss him.

Benny is/was the Clint Eastwood of TPWD. Maybe he will go into making Westerns, he's got the moxie for it. None the less good luck in retirement.

Lone Star law educated me on the fact a Hunting Lease License was required to lease land out for hunting. Went through all the steps this week to obtain the license. Did not know about it.

Any one else know about this License?

Yes, but I've never seen it enforced in East Texas. There was also a time when landowners were required to keep logs of deer taken on their property so maybe officers stopping paying attention to the lease license requirement when the logs were no longer required. It may have also become something that was seen as increasing landowner liability and for that reason both officers and landowners started ignoring it.

Hunting Lease Licenses 43.042 TPW Code

Required of a landowner or landowner’s agent who leases hunting rights to another person on property they own or control for pay or other consideration. The license must be displayed on the property.

Three types of hunting lease licenses are available

Small: 1 through 499 acres
Medium: 500 through 999 acres
Large: 1,000 acres or more


About GW Richards, I was going to contact him about one of the shows with him. He was trying to catch a guy with a warrant at a house. He believed he saw the guy running into the house, but a uncooperative female at the house said he wasn't there. I'm a former LEO who worked in our agency's warrants office, and I was going to advise him that if he had good reason to believe a person wanted on a felony OR misdemeanor warrant, which was based on probable cause and signed by a judge(which the VAST majority of warrants are), he had the authority to enter the residence, search for and arrest the guy - no search warrant needed.

Of course, even though an officer has the authority, safety and 'stirring up the hornet's nest' are big concerns when actually partaking in this act. It is best to catch the guy when he is out and about so the guy's vehicle can safely be stored.

Most of the law abiding ones aren't going to miss him, either.

I definitely learn a lot from that show. A lot of people fish without a license and a lot of folks forget the harvest log on the back of the license. These are two for starters.

"Dis not know there was a law about having a loaded gun in camp."

Only in a "public" hunting area.

Wonder how they view concealed hand guns?

I'll never forget the year my license happened to be printed on the previous year's paper. Didn't realize it until a game warden told me I had checked the wrong box on the harvest log after shooting a wide-rack buck. The current year's license paper said to check the box if the deer had a 13-inch spread or better, but my license had instructions from the previous year that said to check the box if it was a spike. The officer finally took my word after he read the instructions on my harvest log.

Hate to hear this. He was my favorite. Didn't put up with any crap.

Going to miss him.

Benny's FB page appears to show him driving a boat. I bet he thought to himself many times during all those years as a LEO that one day he's going to hang all this chit up and spend more time on the lake. Glad he made it.

Good luck to him, that dude cracked me up! In last week's episode he helped a hunter track a buck he'd shot and later said "I can't believe they pay me to do this job". To feel like that about a job you've done for so long says a lot!

Saw that also,thought the same thing. I found it funny they tagged the deer at the truck.

Why would you say that?

Knowing now that he probably retired not too long after these episodes were recorded, I can see a man letting things go that he probably wouldn't have just a year or two ago.

Shouldn't have said most. But there are a lot of folks who were ready for a change.

I have personally met Mike Boone on several occasions, he is a client of my father's. All I am going to say is don't believe the aw shucks, good ol' boy routine.

Benny Richards was one of my favorites on the show.

Wonder how and who is getting paid while they are working for Texas Parks and Wild Life while on duty?

Are they drawing a salary/stipend from the State and from the Film Company?

Are those who are being checked receiving money as actors?

Film company getting paid for their trailer credits?

They came to an opening day dove lunch out at our place one year, we all had to sign waivers that we might be on TV. (and had to pour alcoholic beverages into foam cups.) If you didn't sign, they'd hide your face. No money exchanged for any of us.

If they do get paid by the film channel I’m sure it ain’t much.

A good friend of mine/hunting buddy and his wife were on a bunch of the early episodes of the original “Hogs Gone Wild” show on the Discovery Channel. They didn’t get paid much.