A routine conservation check on a Missouri turkey hunter took an unexpected turn when agents began looking through the back of his truck and found a deer skull, buckets of old fish and other wildlife remains that raised questions about illegal possession and waste.
The host of the bodycam channel Arrest Cam reviewed the May 3, 2025, encounter, explaining that Missouri regulates both the possession of found deer remains and the waste of fish or wildlife meat that would normally be fit for people to eat.
The hunter, identified in the footage as Travis, was ultimately cited for wanton waste of edible wildlife meat and warned over the deer antlers. He later pleaded guilty, paid $295 in fines and costs and received four points on his state hunting and fishing license record.
Routine Turkey Check Leads To A Strange Discovery
The encounter began when Missouri conservation agents approached Travis as he was finishing an unsuccessful turkey hunt.
He sounded frustrated about the birds, telling an agent he had hunted the area more than once without getting a turkey.
The agents first checked ordinary hunting matters, including his permit, shotgun and ammunition.
One officer asked whether the gun was still loaded, and Travis said it was. The agents later warned him to be careful because the firearm appeared to be stuck with a round still inside.
Nothing about those opening minutes suggested the truck would become the main focus of the inspection.
That changed when an agent noticed a deer head in the back.
Hunter Says He Found The Deer Skull A Month Earlier
When asked where the deer head came from, Travis said he had found it near Turpin Branch while mushroom hunting.
He told officers there had been two buck carcasses in the area and suggested the deer might have died while fighting.
Later in the conversation, he said he and his daughter had found the skull lying on a bank roughly a month earlier.
Arrest Cam’s host explained before the footage that Missouri allows people to possess a deer or deer parts they find, including roadkill, but they first have to contact a conservation agent and receive instructions and a disposition form.
Travis acknowledged that he had not done that.
“I didn’t know how to go about tag for that,” he told the agents.
Rather than cite him for the antlers, the officers decided to issue a warning and provide the paperwork necessary to legally possess them.
That was probably the easiest issue for him to resolve, because the officers clearly treated the violation as something that could have been avoided with a phone call.
Buckets Of Fish Raise More Questions
The smell coming from the truck soon led the agents to another problem.
One officer asked whether there were fish in several buckets, and Travis initially suggested the odor was coming from the deer head.
The officer quickly noticed fish as well.
There were bluegill in one area and catfish in another bucket, some of which had apparently been sitting in the truck for days.
When an agent asked what was inside one bucket, Travis responded that he did not know.
That answer immediately stood out because the bucket was sitting inside his own truck.
“This is my truck,” he confirmed.
“But you don’t know what’s in the buckets in your truck?” the agent asked.
Travis then said some of the fish were not his and claimed he had picked up one of the buckets near a dam with the intention of throwing it away later.
Host Questions The Explanation
Arrest Cam’s host was openly skeptical of that account.
He pointed out the unusual coincidence involved in a hunter allegedly finding both a deer head and multiple buckets containing old fish.
“It makes you sick,” Travis said at one point as officers examined the decomposing material.
The host responded that Travis was the one driving around with a deer head and several-day-old fish in the back of his truck.
He then asked viewers whether they believed the hunter had simply happened to find all of it.
The bodycam itself does not establish who originally caught every fish, but possession became the more important issue.
Travis eventually admitted that some of the bluegill were his, saying one batch had been caught the previous day and another came from the day before that.
The agents also found bait fish, which they treated separately.
Agents Explain Wanton Waste Violation
Once officers had gone through the buckets, they told Travis they saw two possible violations: wanton waste involving the fish and improper possession of the deer antlers.
Missouri rules discussed in the video prohibit wasting deer or fish meat that is ordinarily suitable for human consumption.
The agents told Travis that the fish fit that category.
He appeared resigned to the outcome.
“Let’s just get it over with,” he said, asking the agents to write whatever tickets they needed to issue.
He also immediately became concerned about whether the citation would add enough points to affect his hunting or fishing privileges.
When asked about his history, Travis said his last wildlife-related ticket had been years earlier, around 2018.
That detail mattered because Missouri uses a points system for conservation violations, and accumulating enough can eventually affect hunting and fishing privileges.
One Citation And One Warning
The officers ultimately chose not to pile on multiple charges.
Travis received one misdemeanor citation for wanton waste of wildlife meat commonly used as human food.
Regarding the deer skull and attached antlers, the agents issued only a warning for failing to report the find within 24 hours.
They also arranged to provide him with the proper disposition documentation so he could legally keep the deer head.
The officer explained that finding a skull or antlers was not itself the problem.
“If you pick up a deer head like that, it’s totally fine,” he told Travis. “You just got to let us know.”
That distinction makes the case more interesting than a simple poaching story. The hunter was not accused of illegally killing the deer, and the firearms he had with him were not the basis of the citation; the trouble came from what he chose to keep in the truck and how long he kept it there.
He Later Pleaded Guilty
The citation gave Travis several options, including appearing in court in Benton County, handling the matter online or paying it through the courthouse before the scheduled July 8 date.
He told the officers he planned to pay it.
“I’ve been through this rodeo,” he said.
According to Arrest Cam, he followed through.
Travis later pleaded guilty to the wanton-waste charge and was ordered to pay $295 in court costs and fines, which the channel said he paid.
He also received four points on his Missouri hunting and fishing license record.
No hunting or fishing privileges were revoked.
In the end, what began as a routine check on a turkey hunter became a reminder that wildlife regulations do not stop once an animal is dead or a fishing trip is over.
The deer skull could have been legally possessed with the proper notification, while the discarded fish became the more serious issue because conservation laws treat wasting edible wildlife as an offense.
For Travis, a truck full of things he said he had either caught or simply found ended up costing him money, points on his license record and a misdemeanor conviction that likely could have been avoided by dealing with the wildlife properly in the first place.
Gary’s love for adventure and preparedness stems from his background as a former Army medic. Having served in remote locations around the world, he knows the importance of being ready for any situation, whether in the wilderness or urban environments. Gary’s practical medical expertise blends with his passion for outdoor survival, making him an expert in both emergency medical care and rugged, off-the-grid living. He writes to equip readers with the skills needed to stay safe and resilient in any scenario.
