OK sorry for the delay. Now I can post the full story and pics now that I'm in a place with solid internet and 3G cell reception.
So yesterday I took a joyride on the lake (Livingston) and tried to better map this creek channel I tend to deploy my juglines near or in. When I was done with that, I made my way up White Rock Creek to take a look up there (it is by far the prettiest view in Texas). As I turned the bend right where White Rock Creek gets narrower into an actual creek, I noticed a big floating white carcass. I moved closer and found it was this large white pelican with black wing tips:
It showed no signs of animal attack and I couldn't see any trauma to it. I looked up and noticed ANOTHER pelican that was still alive but it was holding its wing out... obviously injured. I then heard shotgun blasts off in the distance and knew immediately that odds were poachers were in the area. I turned around because I was unarmed and didn't want to be there to catch them out on the water.
Here's the injured pelican:
So I returned back to the lakehouse which overlooks just downstream from where the pelican carcass was. As I was watching TV I heard a boat coming down the creek into the lake and, as I always do, I looked out the window to see if I knew the people.
What I saw was a small aluminum flat-bottom boat with 3 passengers, one driving the boat in the back, and two guys in the very front standing up with shotguns. What happened next will stay with me the rest of my life. They motored up to within 20 yards of a beautiful grey herron and just shot him down in cold blood... two shotgun blast... then just left him there flopping in the water and took off slowly towards the lake.
Stunned I tried to grab my binoculars to get the registration off the side of the boat but they were just a hair out of range for me to make it out. They proceeded to shoot more birds including a few coots and one more herron (a white one).
I grabbed my cell phone and called the Trinity PD who forwarded me on to the Game Warden. Warden Cotton was his name. He is the warden for Polk Country and Trinity County. I told him what was happening and that I was going to go to the marina to get on my boat and see if I could get close enough to get a boat registration number. He said he could try to get there within 45 minutes.
So I quickly put on my boots and hopped in the truck and sped down to the marina. I quickly popped into the little country store to let the people in there know what was going on and to let the front gate know the game warden was on his way. After I was done relaying the story to the ladies in there, one of them looked at me funny and asked for the description of the boat and the passengers. I told her and she said that those IDIOTS had RENTED the little boat FROM THE COUNTRY STORE! She had all their info and knew their grandparents, who lived in Westwood Shores as well.
So I called Warden Cotton back and told him the situation. The lady at the country store called the boys' grandparents and had them come down.
Not 2 minutes after that we heard more shotgun blasts then saw the boat turn the corner into the marina. When they saw me and the other people standing outside, they knew something was up and they continued up Westwood Creek to dump their shells and other evidence.
Only one came back with the boat while the other two escaped to their truck and took off.
The country store lady was PISSED and yelled at the other boy and told him the game warden was on his way and that I had spotted them MURDERING wildlife in cold blood. As the little punk walked past me, he gave me a little smirk and I just smirked right back. I knew exactly where the bodies were and knew they would NOT get away with it.
I went back to the lakehouse to put on some proper clothes because I knew the carcasses were in some shallow areas and would probably get muddy. I'm in the Army Reserve so I usually put on my ACU bottoms and a regular shirt with my trusty combat boots. I headed back to the marina to meet Warden Cotton who just showed up a minute or two before I got back.
By that time, the boys had also been coralled by the grandparents and brought back to the country store/marina. All 3 looked at me with terrified eyes, especially when the game warden walked in behind me and I was wearing some quasi-military clothes. They knew the jig was up.
So the warden got my statement and asked me if I would take him to see gather the carcasses. I gladly agreed and we set out to launch the boat. I'll go ahead and say that Warden Cotton was the biggest bad-a on the planet and you'll see why in a bit.
Here's Warden Cotton on a mission:
When you see this at a boat launch, you better check your stuff!
Launching the Warden's boat:
Unfortunately, the motor on Warden Cotton's boat had trouble cranking (pull start), but there was a gentleman who was about to launch with his son to do some bass fishing who quickly and graceously volunteered to take us out to find the bodies. So we get in the boat and head out to find the carcasses:
That's Warden Cotton on the right, Tyler in the middle, and Tyler's dad (I'm TERRIBLE with names!!!) driving the boat. Thanks so much to him for voluteering his time and equipment to help out in the cause!
As we make our way up the creek, the warden spotted the grey herron I witnessed being blown away from my living room. We motored up to it and I picked him up out of the water. What a beautiful bird... so incredibly senseless:
After I laid the herron in the boat, the warden said "that's gonna cost 'em".
I said, "Warden, it's about get a lot more expensive."
And it did.
We moved further up the creek to locate the pelican. Tyler spotted it immediately, and we pulled up to it:
In silence, we pulled it from the water and laid it out on the deck. What a waste.
We went on up the creek and spotted the injured pelican, but the warden made the decision to leave it out there since there was just no way to get into the water he was in (too shallow) and he'd probably struggle too much and injure himself more or injure us in the process.
So we turned around and made our way back to the marina/country store. On the way back, we found 2 more coots floating dead in the water.
Here's the final body count that we found:
In total we found only one of the Herrons, one White Pelican, and two Coots. There's no telling what else they murdered because I know they were further up the creek shooting.
When we got back to the dock, I laid out the bodies and all the ladies from the country store came out and were taken aback by the absolute senselessness of it all. I know those boys could see out the window at the dock where I was standing with Warden Cotton... and I hope it was a terrible feeling they had come over them as they realized there was no way they were getting out of this one. I especially hope the little smirking punk felt even worse.
I stuck around a while as the warden wrote tickets for each bird for each person. I don't know the final total for each offender, but that pelican was federally protected, and they got a ticket for the other one too since it was clearly going to die a horrible, slow death in the cold. I would guess each boy got at least $4,000+ in fines if not more. The warden, of course, didn't reveal exactly how much but I also know he wrote the following tickets:
-Pelican
-Pelican
-Herron
-Coot
-Coot
-Shooting from a moving vehicle
-Hunting without a license
-Using lead shot
So if you add up all that, it has to be somewhere in the range of $4,000 - $5,000 a person if not more.
One of the boy's grandfather came up to me and apologized for what happened and was telling me that only 2 of the boys were related to him. The other boy (the one who smirked at me earlier) was a friend who is a bad kid... currenly on parole for theft and all sorts of stuff. They had been trying to keep his two grandsons away from that boy... but when they turn 18, there's not much they could do.
I hope they learned a lesson from all this. It's incredibly sad what happened... but incredibly STUPID!
After all was said and done, I helped Warden Cotton load the boat back on his trailer. We exchanged some war stories as he cut open two of the coots to find the lead shot for evidence. What a great asset to the State of Texas. He was very professional, kept his cool, and did his job to the book. He told me some stories about being sent to New Orleans after Katrina. It was a pleasant experience... just wish it was under different circumstances. He was very glad that I decided to follow these guys until we caught them. He said it's not too often that he gets a call and actually catches the offenders red handed. It was definitely worth the trip for him.
Thanks to Warden Cotton, Tyler, and to Tyler's dad who helped us tremendously (I'll find out his name again soon, he's a regular at Westwood Shores and owns several deer leases in the the county).
I love it! Biggest problem up here is deer poachers spotlighting. I've turned in 4 or 5 but with one game warden in a four county area I think only one incident ended up being prosecuted. Keep up the good work.
