Billy Platt, Sr.

Region: Piney Woods

Topics: Wildlife, Game Laws, Hunting, Fishing, Big Thicket

 
Beginning in the early 1960s, Mr. Platt served as a game warden for Texas Parks and Wildlife in east Texas.  Especially during his early years, game law enforcement was an unpopular and dangerous effort, as stock laws, bag limits, hunting seasons, and restrictions on hunting with dogs were still new to the area.  Mr. Platt worked on numerous cases, ranging from fishing violations, such as gill nets, wire nets, trammels, hoop nets, and shocking, to night-hunting, poaching rings, meat hunting, trespass and other illegal practices.  Following his service as a warden, Mr. Platt worked as a pasture rider, overseeing hunting clubs within more than 500,000 acres of privately-owned east Texas timberlands.