The Poacher's Nightmare

Stories of an Undercover Game Warden

Kennie Prince, James L. Cummins

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN:
  9781496846907
• Print ISBN:
  9781496850317
• Subtopic: Zoology

Raccoons are not the only bandits wearing masks in the wilderness. Growing up, author Kennie Prince spent most of his time in the woods and creeks near his home in Rankin County, Mississippi. A highly skilled outdoorsman, Prince began his career with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Conservation in 1983 and dedicated his life to protecting Mississippi's fish and wildlife resources in dangerous undercover work. The Poacher's Nightmare: Stories of an Undercover Game Warden contains dozens of hair-raising accounts of covert wildlife operations, often spanning years, requiring ingenious planning, complicated secrecy, and deft coordination.

Prince infiltrated bloody-minded, wary criminal groups, winning their trust. When his traps were fully set, he involved other state and federal law enforcement officials to bring an abrupt halt to abominable thefts of vast fish and wildlife resources from the public trust. Smart, creative, knowledgeable, tenacious, disciplined, passionate, and a natural-born actor, Prince bore a unique skillset that made him an ideal fit for this perilous undertaking. This memoir details how Prince gained the confidence of tightly knit circles of loyal, leery poachers and put an end to their destructive evil.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Editor’s Note
• Preface
• Chapter 1 — A Game Warden in the Making
• Chapter 2 — The Job of a Lifetime
• Chapter 3 — Law Enforcement: Never a Dull Day!
• Chapter 4 — You’re Late! A Dove Case Resulted in a Friendship
• Chapter 5 — Ducks in the Darkness: Where’s Bob?
• Chapter 6 — The Real Quack!
• Chapter 7 — Chasing a Friend: Illegal Nets
• Chapter 8 — High-Speed Headlighters
• Chapter 9 — Officer under Fire!
• Chapter 10 — Going Under: Transferring to Special Ops
• Chapter 11 — Chasing Home Boys in the Bitterroot Mountains
• Chapter 12 — The Big One: Operation Cold Storage
• Chapter 13 — Turtles Going to China!
• Chapter 14 — Deer, Dope, and Beer: Operation Triangle
• Chapter 15 — Operation AST: Lacey Act Violations
• Chapter 16 — Sweet Victory: The Carrollton Zoo
• Chapter 17 — Crappie and Whitetails along the Mississippi River: Operation Delta
• Chapter 18 — Duck Mercenary
• Chapter 19 — Muddy Caviar
• Chapter 20 — Hot and Fully Automatic: Operation Rooster
• Chapter 21 — Black Market Bucks
• Chapter 22 — Wild Turkeys for Sale
• Chapter 23 — Duck Hunt with My Dentist
• Chapter 24 — Champion Trap Shooter!
• Chapter 25 — Operation Stoned Duck, My Last Op
• Author’s Note
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author