When photos and rumors started circulating about a massive 15 point, double drop tine buck near the West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Lauderdale County, most hunters assumed the deer had died of old age or been hit on the road. Instead, state wildlife officers say it was quietly poached off prison property by a man who knew exactly where those easy deer liked to feed.
Now that man, 53 year old Terry Sellers of Henning, Tennessee, has been convicted. He is out more than seventeen thousand dollars, three trophy bucks, and six years of his hunting privileges.
For a lot of southern deer hunters watching from the sidelines, the story feels less like a simple game violation and more like a gut punch to everything ethical hunters claim to stand for.
A Famous Prison Buck
Jan. 2025: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Lieutenant Tim Ward started getting calls about a very specific deer. Hunters and locals were talking about a heavy horned, 15 point, double drop tine buck that had turned up dead in Lauderdale County.
Ward was already familiar with that particular deer. It had been seen many times around the West Tennessee State Penitentiary, where hunting is strictly prohibited. People who worked at or around the facility had watched that buck for years, the way other communities watch park deer or neighborhood giants. It was almost part of the landscape.
When a deer like that suddenly “gets killed” without a clear, legal story behind it, good wardens get suspicious.
TWRA says that suspicion opened the door to a wider case. As Tim Ward dug in, he began to hear about more than one big buck coming off ground where no one had permission to hunt.
The Investigation Heats Up
From there, the investigation turned technical.
Ward interviewed witnesses who had seen the big deer at the prison, and people who had heard about Sellers’ kills. That work led to a court approved ping warrant for Sellers’ cell phone. In plain language, it allowed officers to see where his phone had been on certain dates and at certain times.
Location data, combined with witness statements and other evidence, painted a clear picture. TWRA says it showed that Sellers had killed three bucks on West Tennessee State Penitentiary property, where no public hunting is allowed.
Those were not ordinary deer. Together, the three bucks carried a combined gross score of 491 5/8 inches. Two had already been turned into shoulder mounts by the time officers lined up all the facts. The giant double drop tine still had not been finished in the taxidermy shop when the case came together.
In the end, all three racks were declared contraband by Lauderdale County General Sessions Judge Scott Lovelace. They will not hang in a private trophy room. TWRA plans to use them in educational displays to show what is at stake when people decide the rules do not apply to them.
Guilty Plea And Serious Consequences
Nov. 6, 2025: In Lauderdale County General Sessions Court, Sellers pled guilty to two counts of illegal possession and one count of hunting without permission.
The sentence was stiff enough to get the attention of hunters across Tennessee.
He was ordered to pay 17,500 dollars in restitution to TWRA. His hunting privileges were revoked for six years. He must also pay 850 dollars to a taxidermist, likely to cover work already done on the unfinished shoulder mount that now belongs to the state.
The bucks are gone. The tags and rights are gone. For the next several seasons, when other Lauderdale County hunters wake up before daylight and head for the woods, Sellers will be on the outside looking in.
TWRA summed up the case by reminding people why these laws exist in the first place. Their job is to protect and manage wildlife for everyone in the state, not just the ones willing to bend or break the rules.
Hunters React
When the story made the rounds on news sites and Facebook pages, the comments rolled in quickly.
Some folks tried to joke about it. One wrote, “But, should not that be public land? Haha” when they saw the words “state property.” Others shrugged and said they were not surprised, adding comments like, “I knew it was going to be either Tennessee or Florida.”
Many more were flat out mad. One hunter suggested taking the poacher’s guns and truck along with the license, saying a six year ban would not stop somebody already willing to sneak into a prison property to shoot deer. Another asked why there were no extra charges tied to having a firearm on prison grounds.
Plenty of people were simply confused. Was it clearly posted? How close was he to the actual facility? That kind of talk showed how easily some lines can get blurred in people’s minds when a big rack is involved.
The details in the court record are not confusing, though. This was not a gray area. Hunting is prohibited around West Tennessee State Penitentiary, and Ward’s investigation showed that Sellers knew exactly where he was and what he was doing.
