Frontier Shop Taxidermy

07/09/2026

07/03/2026

The craziest poaching cases in America was happening almost completely under the radar until an elaborate undercover investigation exposed it. Wildlife officers in Florida uncovered a black-market operation where a poaching ring leader coordinated a group of poachers to kill deer, wild hogs, turkeys, ducks, opossums, armadillos, and other animals in South Florida, then shipping the meat all the way to Brooklyn and Queens. Investigators later said the operation had been running for years and had moved more than 500 deer, 1,500 wild hogs, and thousands of smaller animals.

The case was called Operation Brooklyn, and the undercover work is what made it so crazy. The illegal wildlife business was already operating before the officers got inside. First, an undercover officer got close to the main suspect through legal wildlife sales. Then, once investigators realized they needed to see who was actually dropping off the illegal animals, a second undercover officer created a cover story. He pretended to start a plant nursery business, moved a trailer onto the suspect’s property, and parked it right beside the backyard butchering barn. That gave him a reason to be there every day while poachers came in at night with animals.

What he saw was a crude black-market processing operation with freezers, meat cleavers, hacksaws, blood, feathers, heads, hooves, and even a blowtorch used to burn hair off animals before processing. Then, in April of 1997, the suspects invited the undercover officers on a delivery run to New York. They loaded roughly 2,000 pounds of wild game into two trucks and drove it from Florida to Brooklyn, where it was sold to dealers, restaurants, clubs, houses, and customers picking through meat like a wildlife flea market. The case ended with 9 suspects arrested on 40 charges, including 14 felonies.

— Stephen Ziegler
Outdoor writer | Rack Junkies Podcast

07/03/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1RXeMnAL9a/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The craziest poaching cases in America was happening almost completely under the radar until an elaborate undercover investigation exposed it. Wildlife officers in Florida uncovered a black-market operation where a poaching ring leader coordinated a group of poachers to kill deer, wild hogs, turkeys, ducks, opossums, armadillos, and other animals in South Florida, then shipping the meat all the way to Brooklyn and Queens. Investigators later said the operation had been running for years and had moved more than 500 deer, 1,500 wild hogs, and thousands of smaller animals.

The case was called Operation Brooklyn, and the undercover work is what made it so crazy. The illegal wildlife business was already operating before the officers got inside. First, an undercover officer got close to the main suspect through legal wildlife sales. Then, once investigators realized they needed to see who was actually dropping off the illegal animals, a second undercover officer created a cover story. He pretended to start a plant nursery business, moved a trailer onto the suspect’s property, and parked it right beside the backyard butchering barn. That gave him a reason to be there every day while poachers came in at night with animals.

What he saw was a crude black-market processing operation with freezers, meat cleavers, hacksaws, blood, feathers, heads, hooves, and even a blowtorch used to burn hair off animals before processing. Then, in April of 1997, the suspects invited the undercover officers on a delivery run to New York. They loaded roughly 2,000 pounds of wild game into two trucks and drove it from Florida to Brooklyn, where it was sold to dealers, restaurants, clubs, houses, and customers picking through meat like a wildlife flea market. The case ended with 9 suspects arrested on 40 charges, including 14 felonies.

— Stephen Ziegler
Outdoor writer | Rack Junkies Podcast

05/11/2026

05/11/2026

Frontier shop Taxidermy
frontiershoptaxidermy.com

05/01/2026

Good luck gobbler hunters
Allow me to help you preserve memories
48 years experience, Washington county Pennsylvania.

04/05/2026

03/17/2026

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03/14/2026

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