Word: williford
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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There are an estimated 10 million deer hunters in the U.S., and 80% of the annual $20 billion spent in the hunting industry is focused on the pursuit of the fleet-footed creatures, according to a federal census study released two years ago. For Captain Greg Williford, a Texas game warden, deer-hunting is a cultural tradition that has undergone major changes in the past decade; he now finds himself using the same undercover methods employed by federal drug agents to combat deer smugglers, who are lured to the illicit trade by big bucks for, well, big bucks...
...thus far free of the wasting disease and wants to stay that way. The threat, not only to animals on stock farms but also to those in the wild, is prompting Texas regulators to seek an increase in the penalty for smuggling from a misdemeanor to a felony, Williford says. Federal and state wildlife officials take smuggling cases seriously, but investigations take a long time to develop - a recent case was built over two years and then took 18 months to work its way through federal courts, where penalties are harsher...
Deer-hunting is a birthright in much of the nation and certainly in Texas, where the state's deer are regarded as a bequest from Mother Nature to be harvested, not depleted. "White-tail deer are a natural resource that is open to to everyone in Texas," Williford says. Texas law also prohibits taking wild deer and selling them to deer breeders - game wardens arrested six Texas men on that charge in December. But bans against the sale of white-tail venison and the capture of wild deer have not deterred smugglers and rustlers eager to grab a piece...