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Three Men Charged With Poaching on King Ranch

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Raymondville Tx, – -(Ammoland.com)- A Willacy County grand jury has returned indictments against three Valley men charged with illegally killing a deer on the King Ranch.

Named in the indictments, which were based on an investigation made by South Texas Game Wardens William Plumas and Ira Zuniga, were Rene Efrain Flores, 67, a retired Willacy County resident; Carlos Carmen Garza, 71, a retired engineer and Willacy County landowner and Jesus Raymundo Valdez, 29, a McAllen attorney. All were charged with taking a wildlife resource (white-tailed deer) without consent of the landowner, a state jail felony. In addition, Flores was indicted on a Class C misdemeanor charge of not tagging a deer; Garza with unlawful possession of a firearm, a third-degree felony and Valdez with criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor.

Games Wardens became involved in the case on Dec. 12 when Plumas received a telephone call from an area rancher who reported seeing two men on the Norias Division of the King Ranch in the process of lifting a dead eight-point buck across a fence to two other men. The landowner and one of his hunting guides stopped and talked to the men with the deer, but left after they refused to say where they had shot the buck.

Working with a King Ranch security officer and a deputy constable, the two wardens found blood on the roadway where the witnesses had seen the deer being loaded into the back of a pickup. The wardens were able to follow drag marks and blood to the fence, where they also found blood and hair. Checking inside the fence, they officers found more blood as well as the point where the deer had been standing when shot.

The citizen who initially contacted Plumas identified one of the men he had seen and described the vehicle the deer had been placed in. A short time later, the wardens and other officers located the vehicle and interviewed its occupants — three men and a juvenile.

An untagged buck was found in the bed of the pickup truck, along with two bolt-action rifles and a semi-automatic pistol. The deer and weapons were confiscated while the three adults were released pending further investigation.

All three defendants are free on personal recognizance pending an arraignment hearing. The case will be handled by Willacy County District Attorney Bernard W. Ammerman.

While the tip in this case came directly to a game warden, anyone with information concerning a game law violation is urged to contact Operation Game Thief, the state’s wildlife “crime-stoppers” program. The OGT program operates a 24-hour, toll-free hotline to report crimes, 800-792-GAME. Rewards of up to $1,000 may be paid to callers, who may remain anonymous. Rewards and hotline operations are entirely funded with private donations. For more information, visit http://www.ogttx.com/.

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Maryland Governor O’Malley Honors Life-Long Conservationists
BPW approves naming of sites in honor of Tom Wisner, Julie Schweikert and Gary Yoder

Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Annapolis, MD, – -(Ammoland.com)- Governor Martin O’Malley and the Board of Public Works (BPW) today honored three Marylanders who devoted their lives to conservation and stewardship. At the request of the Governor, the Board acted to approve naming of Department of Natural Resources (DNR) properties in honor of folk-singer and educator Tom Wisner, Park Ranger Julie Scheiker, and long-timer DNR employee Gary Yoder.

“Today we honor three individuals who dedicated their lives to helping citizens and visitors better understand and appreciate the beauty and importance of our natural resources,” said Governor O’Malley at a meeting attended by family members, friends and colleagues of the honorees. ”Now their work will live on ― not only in the hearts and minds of all they touched ― but also through the land and education programs they loved.”

The Education center at King’s Landing Park in Calvert County will be named the Tom Wisner Hall at King’s Landing Park. Known as Bard of the Bay, Wisner has been raising awareness among children and adults for the past 40 years about the spirit, beauty, and human connection to the Chesapeake Bay through folk music. In 2002, the World Folk Music Association gave him the John Denver Award.

“Tom was Maryland’s first official environmental educator, who has connected generations of school children to the Bay through music, art, and poetry, and whose footsteps thousands of us continue to follow. Tom is a true hero of the Bay,” said Chesapeake Bay Foundation Vice President for Education Don Baugh.

The Nature Center at Janes Island State Park in Somerset County will be named for Ranger Julie Schweikert. An 18-year Maryland Park Service veteran, Ranger Schweikert worked first as a naturalist, then as park manager until her untimely death in 2009 at the age of 43.

“Julie had a passion for providing interpretive programming for local school children and park visitors,” said MPS Superintendent Nita Settina. “She touched the lives of thousands of young environmental stewards through her passion for getting kids involved with their natural world.”

The Carrie Dixon property in Garrett County will be named the Gary A. Yoder Fish Management Area in honor of the 30-year DNR employee, who was instrumental in efforts to restore and promote fishing opportunities in the region. Yoder, who passed away suddenly in December, was DNR’s first manager of Deep Creek Lake and later worked extensively in land acquisition and planning. The Carrie Dixon parcel was DNR’s first acquisition for public boating and fishing access on the North Branch of the Potomac River.
“If I know my father as well as I think I do, I know he would be proud of this honor,” said Garrett Yoder, Gary’s 14-year old son. “He put everything into his work and now I’m happy that there is a way for everybody to know the important work he’s done.”

“The passion and dedication of Tom, Julie and Gary have long-inspired our DNR family,” said Secretary John Griffin. “It is our honor to be able to recognize them — their spirit and their remarkable contributions — in this way.”

About:
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources, (DNR) which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009, is the state agency responsible for providing natural and living resource-related services to citizens and visitors. DNR manages more than 467,000 acres of public lands and 17,000 miles of waterways, along with Maryland’s forests, fisheries, and wildlife for maximum environmental, economic and quality of life benefits. A national leader in land conservation, DNR-managed parks and natural, historic, and cultural resources attract 12 million visitors annually. DNR is the lead agency in Maryland’s effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay, the state’s number one environmental priority. Learn more at www.DNR.Maryland.gov.

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