Operation Venado Macho: Part 2
Operation Venado Macho was set up to target veteran outlaw hunters, initially identified by a confidential informant, who were good at not getting caught. Their techniques varied. Some would trespass onto a ranch before deer season and bury stashboxes that contained things like food, clothing, rattling horns and extra gear, and the location would be marked with a GPS. When it was time to hunt, they’d have a nice spot to lay up during the day in between night hunts. Some would use high-tech equipment and tactical gear, while others just kind of winged it and got by on outlaw savvy, determination and grit. Many of them shared a common M.O.; if they killed a trophy buck, they only took the head.
So, what’s it like for a game warden who used to spend countless hours on patrol trying to catch poachers to now be a running- buddy riding shotgun in a truck and watching it all up close and personal? Bubba, who is retired now but spent 19 years as a field game warden and 15 years undercover, said, “When I was a field warden, I thought I knew a lot. When I first went undercover, I found out I didn’t know squat, especially when it came to poaching and the commercialization of wildlife.” He continued, “In covert mode, you’re wound up tighter than an eight-day clock. You gotta always be alert, but you also gotta be loose and try not to show your emotions, even if you’re disgusted by what’s happening around you. I was ecstatic, though, to finally be able to catch some of these hardcore poachers.”
As it had been for Tommy and Bubba’s informant, poaching is a family tradition for some folks. Bubba described a Venado Macho hunt where he and Tommy went to pick up a client, and the guy wanted to bring along his five-year-old son. They weren’t keen on the idea, but when you run with outlaws, you got to act like one or people get suspicious. The kid came along. When the hunt started, the father turned on a spotlight and handed it to his boy. “Don’t point it too high in the sky,” he said, “a game warden might see it.” When the kid waved the light too high, the father yanked it away and gave it to Bubba. A short while later, Daddy got his deer, an eight-point. A few months later, Daddy got his due in court.
Yep – things can get crazy in a hurry when you work undercover. Operation Venado Macho lasted about a year. During that time, Tommy and Bubba facilitated 20 poaching trips in which a total of 14 deer were killed. In the weeks following the end of the operative part of the investigation on Feb. 5, 1998, over 100 charges were filed, mostly misdemeanors, on 14 individuals for drug, firearms and poaching-related offenses.
More importantly, Operation Venado Macho left a legacy on wildlife conservation in Texas that few wildlife investigations ever have. In the following State of Texas legislative session, changes were made to the way serious wildlife crimes would be prosecuted and punished moving forward. Some poaching-related violations that, prior to Sept. 1, 1999, were misdemeanors, can now be prosecuted as felonies.
Tommy passed away in December of 2008 at the age of 56. Bubba retired that same year. During their undercover careers, they missed out on a lot of the accolades and public pats-on-the-back their work may have merited. They never worried about that much. They knew there’s no honor among thieves, and that’s just not how the game is played. If your cover is blown, the game is over. So, they took all that in stride, got ready for the next case in the next town, and got on down the road.
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