Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Wardens are looking for anyone with information regarding the illegal killing of three pronghorn antelope in southern Bailey County on Sunday night.
“These were more than likely shot off the road at night and of course on property they didn’t have permission to be on,” Game Warden Aaron Sims said. “So, whether it be a thrill kill or just a disgrace of the resource it happened. We are following up on all leads and hopefully we will get to the bottom of this.”
Sims said these pronghorns were shot, killed and left for dead. While pronghorns are a game animal, they can only be legally hunted just nine days out of there.
He called the pronghorn poaching a disgrace.
“They were shot near the hind of the animal so they weren’t an immediate kill shot,” Sims said. “They definitely suffered for a while.”
Sims stressed that illegally killing pronghorns out of season can have immensely negative impacts on the herds population.
“When you start taking threes and twos and threes and twos out of season, they are of breeding age, they’re not going to breed, they’re not going to survive and we’re not going to have a population to legally hunt or enjoy,” Sims said.
According to Sims, this is the second pronghorn poaching incident in the last few months.
Back in November, he said three other pronghorns were illegally killed around the same area.
He said it’s unclear whether the two incidents are related, but they are both under investigation.
“We put our lives on the line everyday protecting the resource,” Sims said. “This is infuriating and frustrating and it’s getting to be ridiculous out there. So if anybody has any tips please come to us and we’ll follow up on them.”
To make a report to Operation Game Thief you can click here.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife tips can be made anonymously and Operation Game Thief offers rewards of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction for a wildlife crime.
