Taxidermist mounts mule deer killed by poacher

Story by Craig Nyhus, Lone Star Outdoor News

A big mule deer poached last November will soon be adorning the wall of Operation Game Thief’s Wall of Shame trailer.

According to the Texas Game Wardens Facebook page, a Seminole man was convicted on June 19 of poaching a 209-inch Yoakum County mule deer on private property without landowner consent. The conviction included the following terms: a $4,300 fine, civil restitution in the amount of $11,048, $329 in court costs, forfeiture of the 9mm pistol used in the commission of the crime and license revocation of three years.

The conviction followed a social media post by an accomplice to the crime with a photo showing the blurred-out subject with the mule deer with a distinctive, spiraled drop tine. The subject, although the photo was blurred, was tagged in the post.

The post received immediate responses from people who had seen the deer and knew it was in an area where no hunting was allowed. Hayden Harris, of Rawls, has had his hands on the deer since last fall.

“I caped it out and did the European mount on it,” he said. “I’ll be doing the shoulder mount on it with another friend.”

Harris got into taxidermy at a young age with his own deer.

“I got into it about 10 years ago,” he said. “I did my own European mounts — then it spread from there. I don’t do a whole lot, maybe 40 a year.”

The Texas Tech graduate in Conservation Law Enforcement, who currently farms cotton with his father, hopes to become a game warden.

“I’ve been doing ride-a-longs with them for a few years,” he said. “I offered to mount it for the Operation Game Thief trailer, and had to do the European mount first to preserve it for court.”

He’ll still be paid for the work, though.

“I offered to donate it, but the wardens said they could pay an average price,” he said.

The mule deer’s antlers were so large, Harris had to cape the buck and do the European mount right away.

“He wouldn’t fit in the freezer,” he said.

Harris said the buck could have been even bigger, given time.

“I checked his teeth and didn’t think he was over 4 ½ years old,” he said. “I can’t imagine what he could have been.”

Harris plans to keep trying to get accepted into the Game Warden Academy.

“There are nearly 2,000 applicants for 30-50 spots,” he said. “It sure is a competitive job.”