Denton Poacher Sentenced

Would have been #1 bow kill in Texas. This is the conclusion of the story that was posted here last year when it happened.

http://www.kens5.com/mobile/article/news/local/man-sentenced-in-poaching-of-whitetail-buck/511571593

http://bit.ly/2rDjUId

Chapter closed....

53k that's going to hurt

They should keep his probation and license suspension going until he pays the fine in full.

I bet the land owner still thinks he got off easy.

He lives 3 blocks away from CA

Helps settle the question of what county/s have/had the biggest bucks.

not his first time to get caught it appears..id say he needed a lifetime ban from hunting

Read on another news source that he pled down to a class A misdemeanor instead of a felony. In my opinion, he definitely got off light with a fine and a misdemeanor.

That guy is a fool. He got off easy. I’m certain he’s a lifetime poacher and this wasn’t his first time. The things people will do for a deer is mind boggling

Agreed.

I would like to know the results of genetic testing of the deer.

IMO this is a much more serious offense than the dude that killed the bighorn. I would have thrown the book at this guy

x2

Yep.

Agree!

Firmly disagree. Texas sells how many hunting licenses, and there is no draw, anybody can buy one. Utah had 38 sheep tags, 3 OOS, 35 resident. The sheep hunter moved to another state in order to circumvent his inability to get a tag and denied a true resident what may have been his only lifetime shot at getting that tag. To me the TX poacher committed a crime of opportunity, while the UT hunter committed a year's worth of fraud with a lot of planning. There's a reason first degree murder carries stiffer punishments than the lesser charges.

Both need to have justice served, and it sounds like it has been. $53k is pretty severe.

The guys mom started replying to people on the Texas Game Wardens post about how good of a kid he is, never drank or did drugs and his life is destroyed now... and he has never made a mistake in his life and most of this is all lies. Guess she didn't read what he confessed to.

Accidentally killed the deer on his way from choir practice to the Boys & Girls club to help serve under-privileged kids, right?

I'm glad my mom never would have said that or put up with any shenanigans. Sad what qualifies as 'parents' these days.

The guy poached a deer and they fined him $53K. What do y’all want them to do, cut his hands off?

A hand for a hoof!

Not the whole hand, but I'd settle for just the trigger finger.

I do find it disappointing that he was allowed to plead down to a misdemeanor. they should have brought the full weight of the law down on this guy.

With all of his friends and family still behind him, he can open a go fund me and fine is paid in no time and he will be hunting again in 2 years. Hopefully on his own land this time.

They keep deleting and locking threads about this over on TBH probably because he was wearing a TBH shirt in the poached picture, the clique over there is terrible. I hope they punish this man to the fullest extent.

This is not his first offense, there is a deer in question from two years ago and he was also caught poaching deer out of season in grayson county in 2004.

But his mom said this was the one and only mistake he ever made in his life... Guess she meant poaching in general.

LOL they just locked another thread over there, it ridiculous and making them look bad.

The old "dindu nuffin" defense.

I'd be interested to know more about where he shot it "property he wasn't supposed to be on". An adjoining neighbors place?

No telling how many deer are poached from neighboring places in Texas every year.

OK that made me laugh.

He had a blind and feeder setup 70 yards on the other guys property. This is not in an area folks have traditional hunting leases. Deer are poached all over the place. Hunters are respectful of legal property lines. Poachers are not. Go watch Lone Star Law or read the GW field notes.

Please keep the post about this poacher.

I heard it was on the Turners property. They own a lot of the land below the dam On Ray Roberts. The Turners own the Dollar General chain

The only reason this guy got caught, I assume, is the size of the deer. Poaching happens all over just like this, except nobody knows because they don't advertise their deer on social media, & they ain't a state record.

The majority of deer hunters are legal & decent folks. But there's a lot of "hunters" who would be "poachers" if they ever got caught, just like this bozo.

But hell, a lot of y'all are ok with neighbors hunting your fenceline, why can't they just move a little bit onto your place like this ol boy? They ain't your deer, he's just gettin a little head start on hunting, is all. According to his mammy, he's an upstanding citizen, never been in trouble, & dindu nuffin.

All I know is if you want to commit a crime, move to Aubrey and the whole town will be behind you on social media.

It's their fenceline too.

I have never been able to understand why someone would risk their right to hunt over a set of antlers, no matter how big they are. When you get right down to it all antlers are is a piece of bone. Whatever happened to hunting for the enjoyment of the sport and the meat? Hunters have lost their way.

Exactly, he should have lost his right to hunt anymore. Three strikes and your out.

He appears to have a lot of self confidence. I was pretty sure this would end bad, some people don't think the rules apply to them.

they been looking bad over there a long while..ol poacher boy was in their clique

There will be more deer killed by that guy. I'll put money on it.

Judge should have told him next place you hunt you must lease over 2 hours away like most folks and just hope to see a legal deer all season. They should have banned him from Denton and Grayson counties for life.

And wear a scarlet letter P on all his clothes!

He's shown he's a repeat offender. I'm sure being banned from hunting wouldn't stop him from doing it but it might make others think about it a little harder before they did it.

needs a lifetime ban

And what happened to the game warden that poached a trophy deer and was caught illegally hunting at least 3 times. He transitioned into law enforcement mode when he investigated someone he thought might be hunting illegally. He still has his job. This special treatment puts a bad taste in most peoples' mouths regarding law enforcement and the judicial system. I am not condoning this man's action one bit, but where is the equal treatment.

He didn't shoot the #1 bow deer. Antlers is what caused this guy huge fines. Spike we would have not heard about it except in GW field notes. Both lost hunting privelages for a bit. For the GW, sounds like it was a insurance debacle as to why he wasn't fired and fined more. All the idiot did was forget the $48 permit for whatever reason. Easy way out. Everyone gets off easy here. Attorneys cost a ton of money. More than the fines.

Was it a free range buck or a HF? All I see is land owner. A guy down the way has all kinds of Texas not so records in a HF. Catchin a free range state record buck slippin really aint practicle. More like a miracle or a sham now days. It will be somebody's HF that gets out and gets killed. It happens all the time or somebody lies and kills it in a HF to dexlare it a free range record. Honestly it they break out of the 180s free range I get suspicious.

100% free range. I photographed the deer 3 times last fall. There are no high fence ranches near where this deer was killed.

As for the people saying this wouldn't be big news if it were a smaller buck, he wouldn't have sat in the stand through the night to kill a spike.

Forgot that permit at least 3 times because he didn't have it, the it was written. The trophy deer he was pictured with was killed on an illegal hunt before this last time, sounded as he kind of justified it because he donated the meat. As stated before I in no way condone this man's behavior, but no wild animal is worth $57,000. Lose all hunting rights for life and a very hefty fine.

No, the state record buck would have been worth WAY more than $57,000. That deer taken legally could have been worth some big bucks in endorsements and sponsorships.

Made today's DMN Sports section. Celebrity for the wrong reason....

The anti-HFers on here will tell you how many 100s and 100s of miles a buck will travel during the season. That being said, that buck could have come from a HF anywhere.

I shot a 188 6/8" buck on the Buckle L ranch just south of Childress. Low fence ranch back in 2004 no high fence ranch around any where ..........Suspicious???

It was shot in Denton county. The area has produced quite a few big bucks over 180. There is not a HF anywhere around.

This guy shot what would have been the second biggest buck ever in the state of texas, he needs to be made an example of. He won't be shooting a deer in texas (at least legally) for at least a few years, and more if the state has its way, I'm sure they will keep that buck in question from a few years ago in their back pocket as a second case later if they need, supposedly its a monster too.

couple of high fences I saw added on 922 (Cooke County)west of Ray Roberts......more likely trying to keep deer out !!!! Have seen a couple more sprinkled here and there but really haven't paid attention much as to where. With the price of land skyrocketing up here and deer like that making the news I bet we start seeing a lot more of it, folks from DFW with plenty of money. Already seeing land being sold to middle eastern investors on tollway extension routes, and areas near it.....

Glad he got busted. Wasn't his first rodeo with illegal hunting.

There are some huge deer in Cooke and Grayson county and some have come down from Oklahoma.

The fact that y'all can't believe big deer can exist outside of high fences might be the greatest argument against them.

Got off easy, how can we keep giving the opportunity to buy their hunting privileges back. I guess since he was a poacher anyway why not take his money cause one way or the other he'll get the animal

Just read the Affidavit from the game warden. It details where and when everything happened. He hunting just east of the greenbelt trailhead on east side of river on someone's residential property that totals 15 acres with no real hunting area based on satellite I looked at. He set his stand and feeder on neighbors property that is much bigger and has cover and lives in Switzerland which he was told he could not hunt there. Second fatal shot was at night with his bow. Moon was out. He did throw the carcass out at the taxidermist claiming meat was bad from first shot. He erased pics from SD cards showing deer came in after dark when shot. He also shot a giant from the neighbors property 2 years ago. He admitted to everything once pressed. The neighbor even put notes on his stand to remove it but he ignored it and even put a new stand up when his broke. That is one entitled dude.

for the doubters and defenders

Well, that sure answers a lot of questions. Shot after dark and on a neighbors property, both of which he knew when he was doing it. Also sounds to me like the deer from 2 years prior was shot from the same stand on the neighbors property, which makes it poached as well. Plus the incident in 2004 sets a pretty solid pattern of behavior. For sure it wasn't just a simple "Ooops I made a mistake." Pretty cut and dried in my book. For sure that GW report was not "speculation".

Guess we will see if the mods over on TBH let the current thread over there run. My bet is it gets whacked too. The members over there actually need some closure since he was a member in good standing, yet he has confessed to poaching two record class deer. At some point admin has to let the chips fall where they may.

link?

It's the thread labeled 271" or 278". No additional entertainment exists in it. The dudes defenders are gone or at least shut up now.

Looks like they are letting it stay for now, if so good for them, maybe Michael pulled some to the the problem moderators credentials

Crazy there are people defending this guys action. As one guy said it’s just poaching as if it’s not a big deal at all lol. Was this guy a forum member on here?

Sorry Sapper, I ain't gonna link to over there. Too many hurt feelers. Probably shouldn't even have said what I did, even though what I did say was conservative IMO. The truth is out though, which is all I really cared about hearing anyways.

Lots of folks want to say it isn't anyone's business, but I disagree. If it had been a legal shoot, it would have gotten all kinds of publicity (and possibly a financial windfall), whether he wanted it or not. That is what happens when a potential new state record is shot. But it wasn't a legal shoot, and the same rules still apply. When you drop the string on a buck like that, you are going to get attention, one way or the other. Lots of it. The decisions a hunter makes determine which kind of attention it is going to be.

Well I stand corrected, thread is gone

Not surprising!

I knew it would get pulled. Folks get off work, the whiskey starts flowing, and they can't (or won't) control what they say. Opinions flare, personal rivalries get mixed in. Next thing you know it is a dumpster fire. I didn't watch it go down in flames last night but I imagine it did so in typical fashion. It usually follows the same pattern.

It's a predictable pattern on that board, lol...

Man, all of this went down really close to my house.

How does the state of Texas determine the amount of the fine? Just curious.

I think in a couple days I’ll post a link and pretend like I don’t know they have had 50 threads about it. Title something like. Did anyone see this huge buck poached in Denton? Then I’ll just sit back and watch lol.

Inches of antler..

Ay, caramba!

I imagine they know about this thread and are watching it too. No secrets on da innanet. You have already ratted yourself out. I don't know that for a fact, but....

Oh they do and some of the posts here had been flagged for removal because they didn't like the content here either... you think I'm kidding, nope.

They sound like Dem's...

Y'all should have seen the thread over there from when I tried to choke a live bobcat. Those pansies freaked out.

What happens if for some reason he doesn't pay all the fine?

is start by taking all his hunting equipment and selling it at auction until the fine was paid.

There were a couple removed that contained a direct link (or quoted a link) to another forum. Pulling that is pretty much SOP regardless of material.

He won't be able to hunt here and most states until it is paid. Then you pay $100 more to be reinstated. I guess if you don't pay it in a reasonable time, they could take you to court and figure out a way to get it.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdo...ies-restitution

if a man will poach not once but THREE times, why the #@$% would he care if he can buy a license too hunt legally?

the more i think about it hes paying a pretty good plenty at 53k and owning his own business im fairly certain the state will have no issue slapping a lien on his income. what aggravates me is the defenders still claiming a set up etc..

You make a good point, he has shown a pattern here, I don't doubt he will do it again in his lifetime. To be caught 3 times since 2004 how many times has he not been caught?

TBH double standards at their best. Each of the threads devoted to the 270/280/stealing are hilarious to watch, and I'm drawn like a moth to the light. Mods keep trying to sweep it under the rug, and someone digs it back up.

They will, if people can have a civil discussion. Unfortunately, that is hard for some folks to do when they're ticked off about something. And this qualifies as something to be ticked off about.

Interesting side note on this, guy last year got busted for killing Grayson county deer, big one, with a rifle from a road. $18,000 fine and has to spend every weekend of deer season in jail for next 5 years......