Dummies and Deadly Force
When faced with having to use deadly force in response to a threat, peace officers are taught to keep shooting until the threat is eliminated. And although it’s not a very smart idea, there are some road hunters who apply that same model to shooting dummy deer.
And that was the case on an undivided property located along the Navasota River in Brazos County, Texas some years ago.
Game Warden Milton “Bubba” Vincent got some information about a group of hunters that were hunting white-tailed deer with a spotlight.
So, Bubba snuck down on the group a couple of nights to see what he could see but soon quit after one of the yahoos he was watching fired a .22 pistol into the campfire they were all gathered around.
The bullet ricocheted a little too close to where Bubba was hiding.
For Plan B, Bubba enlisted the help of Game Warden Mark Simmons and an official TPWD dummy deer.
One Saturday night, he and Mark set the dummy up about 70 yards off a bend in a road that led into the camp.
The two wardens then went and hid behind a tree that afforded a nice view of the road and the dummy deer.
It wasn’t long before they saw headlights heading their way.
A truck stopped in the bend of the road. Every game warden knows the feeling… the anticipation and the whispers of, “Come on! SHOOT!” Then, BOOM, blam, blam, BOOM-da-BLAM! Several guns from the front and back of the truck erupted into what was more akin to a Compton, California drive-by shooting than an East Texas pot shot at poaching a deer.
Bubba and Mark jumped out, pulled their pistols, and ran towards the truck. Bubba ran to one side of the vehicle and Mark to the other.
They lit up everyone with their flashlights and yelled, “STATE GAME WARDEN! PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN!!” Unfortu nately, nobody listened to nothing, and they just kept shooting – BOOM, blam, blam, BOOM-da-BLAM!
In fact, these dudes kept shooting till they ran out of bullets. One of them in the back of the truck kept jacking the lever on his open sight 30-30 and pulling the trigger even after the gun was empty.
When the shooting stopped, Bubba and Mark secured all the firearms, procured IDs, and lined everybody up. T here were six of them. A decision was made to stop and look at what they might have in camp, and then, they were all going to see the justice of the peace (JP).
Before they headed out, Bubba shined a light on the dummy deer and told Mark that he’d pick it up. Upon seeing the dummy in the light, one of the violators said, “LOOK – that son of a $!+@# is still standing!”
Bubba stifled a laugh and climbed in the truck with the violators for the ride to the camp. Mark went to get his game warden vehicle.
There were several people at the camp when Bubba and his bunch drove up, and they were alarmed to see some of their buddies return with a couple of game wardens in tow.
One of them was even more alarmed when he discovered that he hadn’t removed a bag of marijuana from the pocket of his coat before offering it to one of the guys who was on his way to the JP.
When Bubba found the baggie, the owner of it was added to the transport.
It was after midnight when everybody got to the JP’s house. When all was said and done, the group pooled up enough money to pay three of the fines and agreed to settle up with the rest later, at which point they’d all be given their guns back.
The guy with the weed bonded out. Good times.
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