Texas Game Wardens have uncovered a sprawling network of illegal deer breeders and smugglers engaged in the black-market wildlife trade, they say. The case stems from a previous deer smuggling bust that occurred north of Houston last month. According to the Texas Department of Parks & Wildlife (TPW), it involves a staggering 1,200 charges and 22 suspects spread out across 11 Texas counties.
The bust that led to the current charges mad news in early February 2025. As Field & Stream reported at the time, the two men involved in that case were charged with smuggling captive whitetails across the Lone Star State without the required paperwork, ear tags, or CWD testing certificates. They were transporting deer from a licensed captive breeding facility in East Texas to Brazoria and Duval counties with the intention of releasing the them onto "wild" private property.
The 22 suspects charged in the more recent case are tied to 3 licensed deer breeding facilities, 3 unregistered facilities, one deer management pen, and 10 deer release sites, states a TPW press release issued on Feb. 27. The agency did not identify any of the charged breeders or the ranches they were operating on but said wardens uncovered "approximately 500 Class C charges, 700 Class B charges, 22 Class A charges and multiple state jail felony charges."
Charges in the most recent case hint at activities like trapping and selling wild whitetails, releasing trapped whitetails for hunting purposes, and—like the February case—transporting farm-raised deer without the proper CWD testing and identification markers. They indicate that the accused were killing wild deer out-of-season before using their negative CWD test results to transport captive deer that hadn't been properly tested for the fatal neurological disease.
"These individuals and ranches operated with impunity, repeatedly violating established laws designed to protect Texas’ natural resources and safeguard the state’s wildlife against disease transmission," said TPW Law Enforcement Director Col. Ronald VanderRoest. "Systematic abuse of the regulatory framework governing the deer breeding industry will not be tolerated as we focus on our mission of conservation law enforcement."
Captive Deer Generate Big Bucks in the Lone Star State
Licensed deer breeding is big business in Texas valued at upwards of $1.6 billion, according to research complied by Texas A&M University. The industry accounts for some 17,000 jobs, and it includes breeding operations for exotic deer species as well as genetically-enhanced whitetails bred for large trophy racks, the Fort-Worth Star Telegram reports. It also comes with substantial risk for CWD spread and transmission.
Texas is one of a handful of states that allows licensed deer breeders to release captive whitetails into the wild, as long as they check all the regulatory boxes. Conservation groups, like the National Deer Association (NDA), say the practice contributes to the spread of CWD and other "novel diseases from captive cervids to native wildlife." In fact, NDA opposes the "captive propagation of deer and other cervids" altogether, according to the organization's website.
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"A large-scale outbreak of CWD could pose a significant threat to white-tailed deer hunting, which has a $9.6 billion annual economic contribution and could irreversibly alter Texas’ rich outdoor heritage," noted TPWD Executive Director David Yoskowitz in the press release. "By circumventing requirements, disregarding regulations and falsifying official records, the suspects in this case intentionally placed the state’s entire deer population at risk," VanderRoest added.
