Footprints in the Sand: 2 of 2
The wardens followed the tracks into some thicker brush before coming out on some sand dunes that were covered with small oaks. As Matt, Mike, Sam, Jason and Jeff were huddled up over the most recent sign, Jeff looked up, pointed and said, “There’s a face!” Mike yelled, “Get your hands up!” Matt took off running.
The following is the account of what happened next as told by the backpacker, the self-anointed “Prince of Poachers,” Charles Beaty, as released on the May 2, 2025, episode of the Western Territory podcast titled The Prince of Poachers: “They (the wardens) came over a hill at my back. They came up behind me. And I heard ‘em – and one of ‘em just couldn’t contain himself - he laid eyes on me, and he goes, “There he is! Right there!” he just, he screamed out! I turned around and came up to one knee and looked, and they were running. There was a wall of eight men running at me at 18 yards and closing fast, drawing guns guns drawn, - ran right up to me – “get ‘em higher!” I’m on my knees with my hands up; stuck five pistols to my head and stuffed my face down on the ground and handcuffed me and left me laying there for a while …” And this is Game Warden Matt Robinson’s account of what really happened: “I hadn’t seen him (the backpacker), but I took off running in the direction Jeff had pointed. I had taken about ten steps before I saw him sitting and eating a candy bar. He saw me about the same time and stood up as if he wanted to run, but didn’t know which way to go. I was shouting for him not to move as I was running toward him. I had noticed that Jeff and Mike had spread out to the left and right and were running to surround him. The guy never ran, and when I got to him, I put him on the ground and ended up on his back with him face down. Jason arrived almost immediately out of nowhere, knocked me off him and had him handcuffed in no time flat.” There were no guns drawn and pointed at his head. After he was handcuffed, Beaty was stood up and patted down for weapons. He was then placed under arrest and taken to the Kenedy County Courthouse, where he was taken before a judge and charged with Hunting Without the Consent of the Landowner and Hunting Deer in a Closed Season. He was placed in jail, and he bonded out later that evening.
When all was said and done, Beaty got off pretty light for a guy who, on the August 3, 2021, episode of “Hunters Advantage Podcast”, boasted of taking part in the poaching of 116 trophy bucks off the Kenedy Ranch in the years before his capture – 73 of which he killed himself. He received an 18-month probated sentence and paid $500 plus court costs.
Charles Beaty wasn’t on anyone’s radar prior to the day he got caught, but every guy like him is on every game warden’s radar each day they put on the badge. And on that February day in 1998, Joe Stiles and those seven game wardens gave their all. They spent nine hours tracking Beaty over 18 miles of rough terrain. When they finally caught up to him, they put on a masterclass on how to take down a poacher/ thief/outlaw in the brush. Beaty’s arrest was handled professionally by a group of game wardens (and Joe) who knew how to handle themselves, and as Matt acknowledges, it probably wouldn’t have happened if just one of them hadn’t been there. It was a team effort. They were relentless, and it paid off.
As a game warden, you just never know. Every day is something new. It’s a given that your pot of gold probably won’t come at the end of the rainbow, but sometimes, you might like what you find if you follow those footprints in the sand.
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