Texas Poachers Busted

[IronNoggin]

Texas Poachers Busted in Historic Kansas Sting After Slaughter of 119 Monster Bucks​

An outlaw ring poached giant bucks and allegedly stole trophy semen in one of the most astounding illegal hunting cases in U.S. history.

Hack off a head of magnificent antlers. Slice away a scrotum of trophy semen. Roll the carcass onto its snowy belly to conceal the crime. High-five. Make bank. Fly away in a jet. Do it again.

One of the most astounding illegal hunting cases in U.S. history unfolded in the pastureland and crop rows of southwest Kansas with the poaching of at least 119 giant bucks, representing a minimum of 16,600” of horn, a mind-boggling quarter-mile stretch.

Who was killing the monsters of Kansas? Who triggered one of the wildest conservation busts on record?

“The sickest bunch of outlaws I’ve ever come across,” says retired game warden Tracy Galvin. “They came up here out of Texas and Louisiana, and raped our deer country.”

https://www.agweb.com/news/business/farmland/texas-poachers-busted-historic-kansas-sting-after-slaughter-119-monster-bu

 

[RockAndSage]

Man, that is one hell of a story. So infuriating, but glad they were nailed.

 

[Dave Thomas]

Hang em by their balls. No reason for something like that.

 

[casey36]

As a retired Deputy Game Warden, I love to see these dirt bags get arrested. They certainly got off easy though. I hate thieves and that is exactly what these guys are, greedy theives.

 

[SCHUNTER73]

Hard to wrap my head around that level of wildlife violations.

 

[yfarm]

This article was published in September 2025, the crimes and convictions occurred between 2003 and 2011, slow time for articles on AgWeb?

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Trophy semen???

 

[BBob]

This article was published in September 2025, the crimes and convictions occurred between 2003 and 2011, slow time for articles on AgWeb?

And the main guy is deceased

 

[Reburn]

The warden wanted the collar so bad he ignored the drug trafficking? And then went on record for an interview and said it?

Galvin describes. “We knew there were drugs involved and we searched their Blazer parked at the airport. A K-9 drug dog hit all over the vehicle, but we steered clear of that pursuit because if the DEA got involved, the drug charges would wash out the wildlife charges.”

 

[realunlucky]

The warden wanted the collar so bad he ignored the drug trafficking? And then went on record for an interview and said it?

Galvin describes. “We knew there were drugs involved and we searched their Blazer parked at the airport. A K-9 drug dog hit all over the vehicle, but we steered clear of that pursuit because if the DEA got involved, the drug charges would wash out the wildlife charges.”

This very case did change the way states classify wildlife violations and the punishments that can be associated with those crimes. So in the end the avoidance of having the DEA take over was a huge win for fish and game enforcement across the country.

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[Pacific_Fork]

Trophy semen???

I’m going to use this term with the wife haha

Kidding aside, although an old case this is wild. What's amazing is how many people paid knowingly to fly in a jet and go poach bucks. Glad that one dude died in a helicopter crash, karma is a biatch.

 

[ReaptheHeat]

"Forty-one months in prison for James Butler and 27 months in prison for Marlin Butler, in addition to fines, restitution, and prohibitions from hunting and guiding activity. However, the siblings appealed, and a judge reduced the original sentences to 10 months and 8 months."

Hilarious sentence.

 

[realunlucky]

Hilarious sentence.

The finial sentence is exactly why almost all states have since passed "trophy" definitions within thier poaching laws which now carry a mandatory restitution amount and sentence recommendations.

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[AZ_Hunter]

10 and 8 months… I wonder what they are doing now. So all the “clients” must’ve known they were poaching; that is what is weird. Someone pays to knowingly break the law while understanding there is a paper trail?? Just doesn’t make sense to me. Did the group advertise? The article said they had a film crew, did they broadcast their activities?

That is such a light sentence. I would assume the potential drug violations would’ve netted longer time, but I don’t know.

 

[casey36]

Until the penalties are commiserate with what the crimes actually are, they will continue. I look at it as a theft of a public owned, state controlled commodity. Same as if someone is stealing timber, minerals or even embezzlement. There is no lower life form than one who steals, not for financial gain, but for notoriety. Granted, these people did so for both. Wasting a majestic animal for just the rack is the most egregious act of greed I can think of. In today's climate, they would be prosecuted for everything. The drugs, poaching. Lacey Act violations, wire fraud, fraudulent statements to obtain tags or permits, and theft of the game to which value have been placed on now. Just with the amount of agencies involved, cost of prosecution charges would run into the millions. The should have been hitting their knees everyday thanking God that's all they got out of it. Today's societal values would probably put them away for the rest of their natural lives.

 

[Reburn]

This very case did change the way states classify wildlife violations and the punishments that can be associated with those crimes. So in the end the avoidance of having the DEA take over was a huge win for fish and game enforcement across the country.

Sent from my SM-S926U using Tapatalk

Yes sir I understand the words.
However the sentences dont match them.

They would have likely gotten more mandatory time with drug sentencing.

We all know poachers care about a hunting license to poach like felons dont care about a permit to have a gun. And the state will never see any money from these guys.

I would like to eat my plate of crow and tell you in a year this case changed everything and we are better off now but I am a pessismist. For the record in writing if it happens I will get my fork for my plate.

 

[Dan Carey]

Pretty light sentences for all the money spent by the state in prosecuting poachers.

 

[Cowbell]

10 and 8 months… I wonder what they are doing now. So all the “clients” must’ve known they were poaching; that is what is weird. Someone pays to knowingly break the law while understanding there is a paper trail?? Just doesn’t make sense to me. Did the group advertise? The article said they had a film crew, did they broadcast their activities?

That is such a light sentence. I would assume the potential drug violations would’ve netted longer time, but I don’t know.

The main guy still manages the high fence place in Texas and looks like he hunts all over the world. The brother is dead as well as the owner of the plane I believe. The taxidermist is still a very popular taxidermist in the area. What makes it worse, most locals have no clue this ever happened.

 

[taskswap]

Trophy semen???

It's like normal semen, but you put it on your wall (on purpose).

 

[RockAndSage]

Pretty light sentences for all the money spent by the state in prosecuting poachers.

Pretty light sentences for all the money those guys made with a lucrative commercial poaching business.

It's one level of illegal and immoral for some guy to poach a big buck because he had the chance - and another entirely to make a systematized business out of it, profiting by the plane-load.