Holidays are active times for state game wardens and this past Labor Day weekend was not an exception.
Statewide, wardens were out in force, logging 2,110 patrol hours of mostly water safety compliance checks.
“With sharp increases the previous two years in water-related recreation and accidents, our agency took every precaution available to ensure the safety of everyone on the water and in our parks,” said Cody Jones, assistant commander for marine enforcement for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “We had 374 Texas Game Wardens on patrol and they made contact with at least 3,182 vessels on the water confirming everyone aboard was equipped with life vests, and boats followed state law.”
In addition to issuing 305 citations and 433 warnings for various boating safety law violations, wardens arrested three individuals for Boating While Intoxicated and filed four other charges for Driving While Intoxicated.
Additionally, they arrested 22 people on various other charges.
Here in the Rio Grande Valley, things were even more hectic for the wardens, who also had to monitor hunters during the Special White-Winged Dove Days in the South Zone.
“Even though it’s like a huge holiday throughout the state as far as boating is concerned, down here it’s of course opening white-winged season Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so of course we were gearing up for that and having to cover the water as well,” said Texas Game Warden Calvin Atkinson, stationed in the Rio Grande Valley. “We had to do both hunting checks and water safety compliance and fishing checks throughout the weekend, and a lot of hunter education. We still picked up a bunch of those citations as well.”
Hunters born on or after Sept. 2, 1971, must show proof of completing a hunter education course.
Wardens did find some early hunters, eager to be in the field. But they were hunting before noon, when the special white-winged season stipulates daily hunting hours are between noon and sunset.
They also found unplugged shotguns (dove hunting is limited to just three rounds in the gun) and one baited field in Cameron County. On the water, they cited several boaters for not having a sufficient number of life jackets on the boat.
The most serious violation wardens here in the Valley documented over the holiday weekend was a large group of people illegally riding all-terrain vehicles on private land in Hidalgo County.
“A couple of our game wardens encountered some ATVs in some private property, trespassing in the IBWC (International Boundary and Water Commission) area in the floodway, and they had some kind of event where a bunch of them were trespassing and running through there and they ran into some individuals who were intoxicated, open containers, and of course, trespassing,” Atkinson said. “Some evaded and they ended up dealing with that.”
Statewide, wardens conducted several search-and-rescue operations over the holiday weekend and assisted with three reportable boating accidents on Texas lakes and rivers.
They helped one woman back onto her pontoon boat after she had been trying to pull herself out of the water for nearly an hour. Game wardens performed a search and rescue for a five-year-old boy who was found within 10 minutes.
In addition, game wardens recovered a stolen personal watercraft and a vehicle reported stolen in April 2020. Game wardens also seized a rifle connected to a deadly conduct and tampering with evidence case in El Paso County.
