One Tennessee man recently lost his hunting privileges for life. A tip to a wildlife hotline led game wardens to Austin Hale’s home, where they found 18 deer mounts, 52 turkey beards, 84 turkey spurs, and one fan mount. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) says the vast majority of the wildlife parts were obtained illegally. They were confiscated as evidence and later ordered forfeited when Hale pleaded guilty to six counts of possession of illegal wildlife.
TWRA received a tip in March about two wild turkeys they believed were killed illegally near Alexandria. The concerned citizen gave game wardens photos of the suspect’s vehicle, which led them to Hale, who admitted to being in the area when the turkeys were shot. However, he did not admit to doing anything illegal.
During the investigation, game wardens noticed several discrepancies in Hale’s harvest reports. He had apparently killed deer outside the legal season and then reported them as if he’d tagged them on legal dates.
This wasn’t a case of a hunter making one questionable decision and ending up on the wrong side of hunting regulations. TWRA built a case involving multiple deer and turkeys over several years.
The investigation moved beyond harvest dates when game wardens executed a search warrant for Hale’s digital devices. The devices showed evidence of illegal harvests dating back to 2023, according to TWRA. That discovery led to a warrant to search Hale’s home, where game wardens uncovered “a substantial amount of illegal wildlife parts,” including deer mounts and turkey beards and spurs.
Hale pleaded guilty on July 24. The court ordered the seized trophies forfeited and revoked his Tennessee hunting license for life as part of the plea agreement. Hale’s Tennessee revocation was also reported to the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, which means all participating member states will recognize the loss of his hunting privileges. He was also given six years of supervised probation.
Hale was allowed to keep two of the seized deer mounts in exchange for a $1,000 donation to Tennessee’s Hunter Education Fund as part of his deal.
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