In the outdoors, as everywhere, things sometimes are not what they seem.
That group of sea gulls hovering and diving into the bay look for all the world to be birds pouncing on shrimp being pursued by a school of speckled trout. But when you ease close, anticipating fish-a-cast action, you see the gulls are scavenging by-catch tossed overboard by a bay shrimper.
See that log over there – the one slowly drifting toward the clump of water hyacinth where a raft of coots poke and peck for a meal? Look closer, and you see the “log” has nostrils and eyes, and is, really, an alligator hoping for a meal of poule d‘eau.
Nope, things sometimes aren’t what they appear to be, as the first and final entries in the below-listed latest selection of recent cases handled by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens amusingly illustrate.
The rest of the brief reports, culled from the past month or so, are not so amusing.
Sometimes, sadly, things are exactly what they seem to be.
- On a May evening, Howard County Game Warden Matt Woodall was patrolling Moss Lake when he heard the tail end of some law enforcement radio traffic about something happening about 2 miles down the road from Woodall’s location.
Warden Woodall called dispatch to see what was going on, and was advised a caller had reported seeing a gray passenger car on the side of the road and watched as a woman got into the vehicle’s trunk, a man closed the trunk, got into the vehicle and drove away.
The caller had followed the car and saw which house the car had pulled into and said no one got out of the car or the trunk.
Warden Woodall responded from the lake to the intersection where the incident occurred and met with the caller and Howard County deputies.
Upon going to the location reported by the caller, Warden Woodall and two Howard County deputies approached the house and made contact with the man who had been driving the car.
He was asked if he had been out driving the neighborhood. He replied, “Yes,” and asked officers if this was in regards to his wife getting into the trunk.
Officers said yes it was and asked if he’d please fill them in on what was going on.
The man told officers he suspected he had a wheel bearing going out on his car – he could hear the tell-tale squealing/grinding associated with such a problem, but, when driving could not tell which side of the car the bad bearing was on.
So he got his wife to climb in the trunk (which is isolated from road noise) where she could listen as he drove down a street and identify which wheel was making the noise.
Officers talked with the wife who confirmed the story. From her “listening post” in the trunk, she’d identified the wheel with the burned bearing.
Officers returned to their patrols.
- Travis County Game Warden Jeff Hill received a call that a man was harassing bass anglers on Lake Travis by slapping a paddle on the water, screaming obscenities and trying to hook others’ lines by hand.
The fishermen took photos and sent them to Warden Hill’s phone as the harassment was in progress.
Hill contacted the suspect who now has an appointment to discuss his actions with a judge. Intentional harassment of anglers or hunters is a Class B criminal misdemeanor in Texas.
- Val Verde County Game Wardens Dustin Barrett and Kirk Clendening on May 27 responded to a distress call concerning a small child in a boat that had accidentally gone adrift.
The boat had drifted into the middle of Lake Amistad with a 7-year-old child aboard, and the family had been unable to reach the vessel.
Wardens Barrett and Clendening responded immediately in their patrol boat, were able to find the vessel and safely reunited the young boy with a very grateful family. Crisis averted.
- On a late-May evening, Hemphill County Game Warden Mark Collins and Ochiltree County Game Warden Mike Wheat observed a group of nine people in a remote section of Palo Duro Lake, upstream from the main lake in an area seldom used for recreational purposes.
Undetected, the two wardens approached the group on foot and observed various actions associated with possible illegal fishing activity.
After a short surveillance, the wardens split up and approached the group from different directions.
When the wardens approached the group and announced their presence, the group split up and scattered.
The wardens then saw that one of the men was carrying a scoped black rifle.
After several tense moments as the wardens confronted the man with the rifle and a language barrier made the situation even more stressful, the man finally put down the rifle.
The wardens rounded up nine individuals from Oklahoma who were found to be in possession of 24 undersize crappie and 5 undersize channel cats.
The fish were removed from the subject’s possession, measured, photographed and released.
The wardens attempted to the best of their ability to explain our regulations and the violations committed.
Cases pending.
- The Sunday before Memorial Day, Lubbock County Game Warden Mallory Brodrick and Deaf Smith/Castro/Parmer counties Game Warden T.J. Tweedle were patrolling Buffalo Springs Lake for water safety compliance when they noticed two young girls trying to swim across the lake in an area with very heavy boat traffic.
Both girls appeared to be very exhausted and were struggling to stay above water.
The wardens quickly responded to the scene, as one of the girls went underwater for an extended amount of time.
The girl then surfaced as the patrol boat arrived at their location.
Both girls were rescued and pulled aboard the patrol boat, then delivered safely to the shore.
The wardens then took a moment to educate the very grateful girls about the dangers of trying to swim across the lake.
- Smith County Game Warden Chris Swift was patrolling boat ramps around Lake Palestine when he observed three people in the water who were hand fishing.
(Editor’s note: Hand fishing – also called “grappling” or “noodling” – involves anglers reaching into holes, cavities, washouts under logs and other such submerged nooks where large catfish often hide, grabbing the fish by its mouth and wrestling the big fish from the water. Hand fishing has been legal in Texas for only a couple of years, but it didn’t take long for poachers to figure they could violate the hand fishing rules law by using snagging poles – short poles onto which a large, heavy hook as been attached – to snag the big catfish.)
Swift also observed a fourth man on the bank, putting fish in the truck and watching the parking lot.
Warden Swift watched the fisherman from the bushes for about 45 minutes, and when the subjects quit fishing and came out of the water, the last man out eased a snag pole to the man who was looking out. That man quickly put the pole on the back of the truck.
Warden Swift then made contact with the group.
Citations were issued for no fishing licenses and for taking fish by illegal means and methods.
The fish were returned to the water.
- Grayson County Game Warden Dale Moses and Taylor County Game Warden James Cummings were checking two fishermen who were in a small john boat that did not have required registration displayed.
As Warden Cummings was issuing citations for the registration violation and for an under-size crappie the anglers had in a bait bucket, one of the fishermen continued to pull in a trotline he had out.
Suddenly, the man retrieving the trotline began to yell. His trotline weight had hung up and two hooks on drop lines snagged one of the subject’s hand and arm and the man was being pulled over the side and under the patrol boat.
Warden Moses quickly deployed a knife and was able to cut the trotline before the subject was pulled out of the boat.
- Rockwall County Game Warden Clint Brown and Cadet John Newman were patrolling Lake Ray Hubbard for water safety violations when they found a boat operator to be intoxicated. On board the boat was a 7-year-old girl on board without a Personal Flotation Device.
Cases pending.
- Angelina County Game Warden Phillip Wood was patrolling Sam Rayburn Reservoir when a flat-bottom boat came into the no-wake zone creating a hazardous wake. Warden Wood stopped the boat and observed several empty beer cans.
The driver was given field sobriety tests, which he failed.
The driver gave a specimen of his breath and the results were .101 and .102, well over the .08 blood/alcohol level defining intoxication.
Wood filed Boating-While-Intoxicated charges on the suspect.
- That evening, after returning to Sam Rayburn Reservoir from Angelina County Jail after dealing with the above-described BWI, Game Warden Wood patrolled just past the no-wake zone and observed a boat sitting with no navigation lights on.
One of the subjects in the boat said, “It’s the Game Warden. Get out of here!”
The boat began to flee and Warden Wood pursued, utilizing his blue light on his patrol boat.
After a short pursuit the boat stopped.
Warden Wood observed several beer cans in the bottom of the boat. On-the-water float tests were given, and the driver failed.
The driver was asked to put a life jacket on and board the patrol boat, at which point he was observed struggling to put on the life jacket and nearly falling down in his boat.
Warden Wood proceeded to the bank and gave the driver further field sobriety tests, which the subject failed.
The boat operator’s gave specimens which were tested twice and gave blood/alcohol readings of .112 and .116.
Wood filed BWI charges against the subject.
- Montgomery County Game Warden Brannon Meinkowsky and San Jacinto County Warden Aryn Corley spent a May evening patrolling Lake Conroe for water safety violations.
Throughout the night, the wardens issued numerous citations, apprehended a wanted fugitive, and arrested two subjects for boating while intoxicated.
In addition, while leaving the lake the wardens arrested an additional suspect for driving while intoxicated.
All suspects provided breath samples of .12, .19 and .12, respectively.
- Maverick County Wardens Gregg Johnson and Cody Buckaloo were patrolling the northern part of Maverick County along the border county’s intricate canal systems when they approached a known local hangout and observed an older model Chevy pickup with four male occupants and a 1-year-old child.
The canal systems are private property, and the individuals were trespassing.
Wardens made contact with the vehicle just before they reached the public road.
Two of the males were riding in the bed of the pickup, and one was holding what appeared to be some sort of a rifle, which turned out to be a BB gun.
None of the individuals had identification, the driver didn’t have a valid driver license, and all individuals (except the 1-year-old) were intoxicated.
The truck registration had expired in November, 2011.
The vehicle had no insurance and no inspection.
Two of the males couldn’t be identified.
Border Patrol was contacted and took custody of the male individual who said he was hunting birds with the BB gun.
Family members were contacted to pick up the intoxicated individuals and take custody of the vehicle to tow home.
A driver license check of the family members who came to the scene revealed none of them had valid licenses.
So now the wardens had two trucks, four adult males, two adult females and six children who had to wait for licensed drivers to come and take them home.
A few hours later and well after dark the wardens finally made their way off of the canals.
- Harris County Game Wardens Jennifer Inkster, Cullen Stakes and Ross Sidman were patrolling Clear Lake at night when a boat almost collided into the port side of the wardens’ vessel.
A water safety check was initiated, and the operator of the boat was arrested for Boating while intoxicated.
After the arrest, the suspect informed the wardens that his boat was the restored original that made the infamous “jump” in the James Bond classic, Live and Let Die.
This left the wardens wondering if he was trying to reenact the jump (over their patrol vessel) that night.
Case pending.
- Freestone County Game Warden John Thorne responded to a call from the sheriff’s office regarding a woman who, the dispatcher said, had been attacked by a bobcat and was in route to the hospital.
After arriving at the hospital, Warden Thorne determined that the woman had been “attacked” by a skid-steer front-end loader Bobcat machine, not the wild feline.
