The Possum Cop Chronicles

The Game Warden’s Point of View

It might start with an Operation Game Thief (OGT) call. Then again, maybe the person wishing to report a wildlife crime doesn’t care about a cash reward, so they call a game warden directly by finding the game warden’s phone number on the Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) homepage. It’s as easy as clicking on the “Game Warden” tab at the top of the main page and then searching “Find a Warden” to select, by county, someone to talk to. It’s a good way to get county-specific information from the horse’s mouth, and yes, maybe even report some suspicious activity.

But just because you dialed their number doesn’t mean a game warden will be able to answer their phone and handle whatever issue you may have right away. So, the best way to get prompt attention is to call the OGT hotline at 800-792-GAME (4263). If you forget that number, you can always Google; just be sure you put in more than “OGT” or you’ll be directed to things like “Oxford Gene Technology”, or “Ohio Graduation Test”, or maybe even a page about O-GlcMAc transferase (whatever THAT is). Anyhow, the TPWD OGT line is answered 24/7 and reported violations are guaranteed to get passed on to a game warden in a timely manner.