AUSTIN, Texas — Game wardens in the Special Operations Unit of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Law Enforcement Division have arrested six men and executed two search warrants as part of Operation Texas Shuffle, a year-long investigation into the black market deer trade in Texas.

"Our focus here is stopping two main areas of criminal activity: deer being brought illegally across state lines, and wild deer being illegally laundered into deer breeding facilities," said Col. Pete Flores, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement director.

Five of the men were arrested yesterday, including William Kornegay, 42, of Eden in Concho County; James Johnson, 60, of Florence in Williamson County; and Jeff Arbogust, 48, of Austin in Travis County, Chris Sharp, 33, of Marble Falls in Burnet County; and Ronald Rogers, 39, of San Saba in San Saba County. The sixth suspect, Lance Clawson, 40, of Regency in Mills County, turned himself in this morning.

All six are alleged to have trapped, purchased or sold wild native whitetail deer. In addition, Rogers, Clawson and Kornegay are involved with permitted deer breeding facilities and are believed to have laundered wild deer into the permitted facilities. Kornegay serves as an agent for multiple licensed deer breeders. In one case, Clawson, a permitted deer breeding facility operator, allegedly darted wild deer and put them illegally into his facility.

Deer breeding is a legal and growing business in Texas, estimated by one breeder organization to be worth about $650 million per year for the state economy. It is illegal to capture or obtain wild deer and place them into breeding facilities. Breeders must obtain captive, pen-raised deer from other permitted breeders. There are currently 1,099 permitted deer breeders in Texas, holding 86,989 deer in 1,161 facilities. The vast majority of these are whitetail deer, and the rest are mule deer, the two native species in Texas.

"Money is driving the illegal trade in wild native deer," said Capt. Greg Williford with TPWD Law Enforcement Division’s Special Operations Unit. "A captive-raised breeder buck can sell for tens of thousands of dollars. So, catching deer in the wild seems a lot less expensive, until you get caught."

TPWD regulates deer breeding, issuing permits and conducting periodic facility inspections as warranted. A particular concern is monitoring breeding facilities for diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease. CWD has not been detected in Texas, but it has cost tens of millions of dollars in other states. Texas borders essentially remain closed to the importation of whitetail and mule deer because of disease concerns.

Clawson and Rogers were previously apprehended Oct. 16 by Texas game wardens and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agents for smuggling eight deer into Texas from Oklahoma. Such interstate smuggling is not only illegal but also poses a disease threat to native whitetail deer.

Numerous Class B misdemeanors (fines up to $2,000 and up to 180 days confinement) have been filed on all six men for violating state Trap, Transport, and Transplant regulations relating to whitetail deer. As the investigation continues, additional charges and arrests are anticipated, including possible felony charges of tampering with a government document, and possible illegal possession of tranquilizer drugs, also a felony.

Based on where the alleged offenses occurred, county attorneys in Mills, Bell, Lampasas and Concho Counties will be prosecuting the misdemeanor charges.

Anyone who observes illegal deer trapping, sale or purchase in Texas should call Operation Game Thief toll-free at (800) 792-GAME. OGT is Texas’ privately funded wildlife crime stoppers hotline, operating 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. Rewards of up to $1,000 may be paid to callers (who may remain anonymous). Game wardens recommend making the call immediately when illegal activity is observed, and say it is helpful to have a description of the activity, location of the violation, physical descriptions of alleged violators, description of any vehicles and the direction of travel.

Source: Texas Parks & Wildlife Division

No other details were available on this enormous triple drop-tine buck, or the fortunate hunter, other than it was purportedly shot in Kansas.

This 7-point buck was taken during Wisconsin's first big snowstorm of the season on December 9, 2008, with a muzzleloader. The deer was shot by Ray Smith, just north of Waupaca, as it chased a group of does through a stand of spruce trees. Smith, who was still-hunting through the snowstorm late in the afternoon, yelled at the buck to stop it and that provided a broadside shot.

The buck weighed 190 pounds and had an unusually long body. Smith wondered whether it was the second rut, the snowstorm, or both that compelled deer to move during the winter white-out conditions.

Submitted by Jerry Ciuk
Michigan Web Pro Staff

I shot this 9 point on 11/16/08 around 4 pm in Michigan’s UP. The day started off with a spike coming along and rubbing on a stump. Shortly after, a 3 point came out and the two bucks started to fight in front of me. This was very cool as I have never witnessed this before. After the fight, the two started to stare in one direction, they then ran in that direction. I’m guessing a doe was in the area and they went after her, as 10 minutes later the spike came back. He was rubbing on the same stump for awhile before heading back into the swamp. Right at dark this guy came out and I double lunged him at 41 yards.

Submitted by Chris Kleist, D&DH Web Pro Staffer

I was bow-hunting tonight and on four occasions had does cruise past my stand bleating their heads off. I think there were at least three different deer, although one of the sightings was possibly the same doe twice. Two of them I could only hear in the brush; I couldn't actually see them. But one of them was a very young deer, and I could tell by the tone of the bleat that it was a young deer. The other one that I could actually see was a bigger, more mature doe, and just by her bleat she sounded more mature. They sounded just like that heat bleat call that's on the market the last couple of years. I bought one last year and watched the little DVD that came with it: The footage was of some does actually making that bleat. Anyway, these does tonight all sounded just like that, so if indeed what I heard was some sort of "heat bleat," they must be in that second rut now.

— Chris Kleist

The e-mail accompanying the photo of the Chris Wood buck, reportedly taken in Iowa, states:

Attached is a picture of a buck my buddy Chris Wood from Des Moines shot this Saturday, December 6th with a shotgun during the 1st shotgun season.

He was hunting with a group of guys from Perficut Lawn Care, they were hunting in Taylor county by Bedford, IA. It was Woody's turn to post on this push. He was standing just inside the timber when a group of does came running by. This buck just walked by trailing the does, he was about 60 yards away when Woody shot. He only ran about 40 before piling up.

We scored the deer Sunday night and came up with a green score of 264-0/8", it has 33 scorable points and it has one drop tine. If the score holds close, it will be the 2nd largest buck harvested in Iowa; next to the Albia Buck.