{"id":9533,"date":"2026-04-12T19:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T19:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/tennessee-poacher-busted-for-killing-30-turkeys-in-two-years\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T19:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T19:19:14","slug":"tennessee-poacher-busted-for-killing-30-turkeys-in-two-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/tennessee-poacher-busted-for-killing-30-turkeys-in-two-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Poacher Busted for Killing 30 Turkeys in Two Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tyler Madden (20) of Dyersburg, Tennessee, has pleaded guilty to 24 hunting-related charges spanning Dyer, Crockett, and Madison Counties, which include illegally taking 30 turkeys over the 2024 and 2025 seasons. The charges include two counts of big game violation, seven counts of statewide wild turkey bag limit violation, small game season date violation, statewide waterfowl season date violation, hunting without permission, hunting from a public road, hunting from a motor vehicle, and ten counts of illegal possession.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On October 12, 2024, Madison County game wardens received multiple anonymous tips that Madden had poached a leucistic turkey, known widely by locals, on county-owned property.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Game warden Austin Parsley responded to the call, matching photos from Madden\u2019s social media to the parcel where the turkey had been poached. Parsley also verified that no one had permission to hunt that parcel (in Jackson, hunters have to obtain written permission from the mayor to hunt county-owned land). These tips launched a year-long investigation into Madden.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s been on our radar for a while,\u201d Parsley told MeatEater. \u201cWe knew it could be big if we let it play out. We were able to monitor the situation through social media and a couple other avenues.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Big indeed. Madden\u2019s sheer numbers are comparable to entire Wildlife Management Areas\u2019 documented turkey harvests in a given season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\nOfficials recovered the white turkey Madden poached in 2024. Photo courtesty of Austin Parsley<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Smoking Gun<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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On April 25, 2025, Tyler Madden and another individual not involved in the case were ticketed for hunting a property without permission. The other hunter didn\u2019t have a Tennessee license at the time either. Game wardens found a dead turkey in the back of their truck and confiscated Madden\u2019s Mossberg SA20 Tactical Turkey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Officers noticed 42 gold \u201ctick\u201d marks on the gun\u2019s receiver, Parsley told Meateater. When questioned by gamewardens, Madden admitted that they signified turkeys that he had killed with that gun or called in for other people to kill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s when the biggest breakthrough occurred,” Parsley said. \u201cI\u2019m an avid turkey hunter, and I know that specific gun was only released a few years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mossberg didn’t release the SA20 Turkey until December of 2022. Even if Madden had bought one that December, the math still wouldn’t add up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Madden let his ego betray him. At the time, he only had 11 total turkeys checked in\u2014well shy of the 42 kill marks on his receiver, Parsley told Meateater. Parsley noted that social media played a big role in the case. Officers were able to match turkey fans from Madden\u2019s social media posts to ones in his possession or other photos and determine which ones weren\u2019t tagged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Crime & Punishment<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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Officials confiscated 47 illegally harvested turkeys from Madden, 30 of which were taken between 2024 and 2025. The court ordered Madden\u2019s hunting privileges to be forfeited for eight years, pay $10,000 in restitution, $4,183.50 in fines and court costs, and forfeit a shotgun and compound bow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The investigation also led to the convictions of four other Tennessee hunters, one of whom is Madden\u2019s brother. In total, officers recovered 79 turkey beards, 17 fans, 4 shotguns, a compound bow, and the white turkey, which kickstarted the investigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Madden\u2019s staggering poaching numbers come as a gut punch to Tennessee hunters who have seen their season and bag limits decrease in response to declining numbers across the state. In 2023, the Volunteer State decided to delay its season and decrease its seasonal bag limit from three to two adult gobblers in hopes of providing better hunting opportunities in the future. Illegally taking 15 years worth of bag limits doesn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest turkey bust anyone can remember in our region,” Parsley said. \u201cAs a turkey hunter, this one just hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tyler Madden (20) of Dyersburg, Tennessee, has pleaded guilty to 24 hunting-related charges spanning Dyer, Crockett, and Madison Counties, which include illegally taking 30 turkeys over the 2024 and 2025 seasons. The charges include two counts of big game violation, seven counts of statewide wild turkey bag limit violation, small game season date violation, statewide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.ctfassets.net\/pujs1b1v0165\/1ur577x0wks6aZBImjYzbm\/49b829188d8017c05f7d53bc36b284d9\/image2.jpeg?fit=fill&w=1200&h=630","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hunting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9535,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9533\/revisions\/9535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}