Texas Wardens Uncover Black-Market Whitetail Breeding Ring that Smuggled ‘Ghost Deer’

During a traffic stop outside Houston earlier this month, Texas game wardens caught two deer breeders trying to move captive whitetails illegally across the state. The men pleaded guilty, and they were convicted of more than 50 deer breeder violations for disobeying the state’s CWD rules and transporting unidentifiable “ghost deer,” which they planned to release “into the wild” on private property. All seven of the deer were euthanized by game wardens, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. 

But that was just the tip of the iceberg, according to a report issued Thursday by TPWD. The report mentions a follow-up investigation that uncovered a much larger ring of 22 suspects, who were allegedly involved in a black-market deer breeding operation spanning 11 counties.

The suspects now face around 1,200 criminal charges, including hundreds of misdemeanors and multiple state jail felonies, for “circumventing requirements, disregarding regulations and falsifying official records,” according to TPWD. Most of those records, requirements, and regulations are related to Chronic Wasting Disease, and the risk of disease transfer from captive deer to wild populations. 

“An operation of this size and scope did not develop overnight,” TPWD law enforcement director Col. Ronald VanderRoest said in a statement Thursday. “And the widespread violations may have continued unchecked, posing an even greater risk to Texas’ deer populations and the integrity of the deer breeding industry.”

Authorities say the 22 suspects are associated with three deer breeding facilities, ten release sites, one deer management pen, and three “illegal facilities” that were not registered with the state and were operating well outside of the law. A TPWD spokesperson told Outdoor Life Friday that the agency cannot release any names of the suspects or facilities, as the investigation is ongoing.

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The report issued Thursday, however, breaks down some of the charges that have already been filed. These include:

• Transferring deer without valid CWD tests, identifying tattoos, or transfer permits
• Illegally selling and purchasing wild whitetail deer
• Hunting deer in a closed season
• Possessing wild deer in breeder facilities to replace dead breeder deer
• Trapping and moving free-range whitetails for release for hunting
• Trapping previously released wild deer and reselling them
• Taking whitetail deer without landowner consent
• Hunting exotic animals from a public road way
• Tampering with government records
• Falsifying CWD tests by swapping tissue samples from poached wild deer with tissue samples from breeder deer
• Swapping tags between breeder deer, and swapping tags between breeder deer and replacement deer captured in the wild 

Deer breeders have always had to follow specific regulations around raising, transporting, and releasing whitetails, since high-fenced deer are still considered a public resource in Texas — even in captivity. As CWD continues to spread, those breeders are facing increasingly strict rules regarding the sale and transportation of deer from high-fence operations, which have proven to be hotbeds for the neurological disease. 

This includes preventative measures, like the establishment of CWD containment zones, where breeders are required to test their animals before transporting them. In worst-case scenarios, when captive facilities experience full-on outbreaks of CWD, wildlife managers have killed off entire herds.

Read Next: In the War Against CWD, Deer Breeders in Texas Are Being Cast as Both the Enemy and the Answer

The Texas deer breeding industry, valued around $1.6 billion, has complained and fought against these stricter rules, saying they are burdensome and bad for business. At the same time, many Texas deer hunters and wildlife managers say the CWD rules and firewalls in place are necessary to protect the state’s free-range deer.

“These individuals and ranches operated with impunity, repeatedly violating established laws designed to protect Texas’ natural resources and safeguard the state’s wildlife against disease transmission,” VanderRoest said. “Systematic abuse of the regulatory framework governing the deer breeding industry will not be tolerated as we focus on our mission of conservation law enforcement.”