Recently, three Texas teenagers were given a citation by a game warden for “taking” a 7-foot alligator in closed season. They caught the wild alligator at a popular fishing spot in Orange County and, according to news reports, after catching the animal they tried to enlist the help of another person to kill it.
The animal wasn’t killed. Instead, it was taken into custody by a nuisance control hunter.
It was probably the thrill of a lifetime for these youngsters to capture such a dangerous wild animal. While not an endangered species in Texas, an alligator isn’t the kind of critter you come across every day so it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that they didn’t know the regulations for hunting alligator in TX.
They probably didn’t even think they were hunting an alligator – until they were cited for a Texas hunting violation. After all, the alligator was just there in the fishing spot being a nuisance.
TX Hunting Violations for Alligators
Some people are specifically tasked with handled “nuisance” alligators. They have a nuisance alligator control permit issued by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. And alligator hunting regulations say that if a person doesn’t have such a permit they may not “take, kill, transport, sell, or release a nuisance alligator, or offer to take, kill, transport, sell, or release a nuisance alligator.”
State regulations say no one can hunt an alligator in the State of Texas unless they have a valid hunting license and a valid, unused alligator hide tag in their possession. A lot of private homeowners may not know these alligator hunting regulations and could run into trouble if they believe they can take immediate action against alligators on their private property.
There are a number of other ways one can run afoul of alligator hunting regulations, such as:
- “Taking” more alligators than are allowed,
- “Hunting” alligators out of season (some counties allow hunting in spring, some in fall), or at the wrong time of day,
- Using the wrong kind of snare or weapon, and
- Failing to file a report.
If you or your son or daughter has received a wildlife citation for intentionally or unintentionally killing or ensnaring an alligator, call the criminal defense attorneys at Lee and Wood, LP: 817-678-6771 or contact us online. We handle all types of hunting and fishing violations in communities all across the state of Texas.