Selling Hunts Illegally
A ranch manager in Live Oak County, Texas, has been nailed for selling deer hunts on a property he was paid to look after. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TWD) game wardens recently wrapped up a six month multistate investigation of an illegal commercial hunting operation on a ranch in Live Oak County. The result: Ranch manager busted.
A landowner contacted game wardens regarding his ranch manager selling white-tailed deer hunts under the table and hunting without landowner consent. Sounds like a bad decision by the ranch manager. Furthermore, it’s a bad deal for everyone involved from the landowner to deer hunters.
Ranch Manger Busted
The landowner learned of the illegal deer hunting activities when contacted by a taxidermist regarding an unpaid balance for several buck mounts belonging to the ranch manager. The landowner did not give the ranch manager or his family permission to harvest any animals on the ranch.
During an extensive investigation, wardens determined the ranch manager sold trophy buck hunts to out of state clients, pocketing their money, and falsifying the ranch harvest records.
Ranch Manager Busted Over Bucks
The ranch manager was responsible for brokering illegal hunts for 14 white-tailed deer (with scores ranging from 245 B&C to under 100 B&C) and numerous exotic game animals. The ranch manager and his daughter also unlawfully appropriated $17,450 from the ranch owner. Okay, that’s just straight up taking cash out of the register.
Hunters paid for their deer hunts by check made out to the ranch manager or daughter instead of to the ranch. The wardens obtained arrest warrants for the ranch manager for hunting without consent for white-tailed deer and exotic animals. Basically, ranch manager busted. He was arrested without incident.
If you’ve got a deer hunt scheduled for this fall in Live Oak County, then you may want to touch base with the ranch to make sure you’re still good to go.
Very good advice to contact the ranch before going ahead with a deer hunt. Hopefully, we are in the clear. Thanks!
Sarah, best of luck during the upcoming season!
I use to work at this ranch. The man that commited these horrible acts toward doctor Alexander’s ranch is a scum bag. I could feel that he was a bad egg when I was showing him around the ranch and training him on where water valves were located and the ranch objectives while working for Doc. I left that ranch in December of 2014. My concern now is that I have a lot of people in this large but small industry calling me and asking if I did this, or telling other people they heard I did this. Which is anything but true.
Is it possible that you can add an edit or update to the story with the mans name Johnathan Ericson, that actually did this, thus clearing my name in the process. This is important because the ranch I just recently got hired at is now questioned me over rumors they are now hearing. Please feel free to call me and talk with me about this matter regardless of how you may or may not be able to handle or correct it. Thank you in advance.
Jason, thanks for offering some additional details regarding this story out of South Texas.