Two Ohio game wardens are speaking out about CJ Alexander and being at the center of online backlash against the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Alexander tried to sway public sympathy in his favor. But he ultimately pled guilty to 14 charges of poaching. The DNR ended up sentencing him to jail and requiring to pay fines. What happened is Alexander poached a record-breaking deer and claimed to have killed it legally. He recounted a made-up story to outlets like Outdoor Life and other places.
"Normally you kind of have to be listening to hear a buck grunt, but this was loud, like almost a roar," he said at the time. "This time, I peek around the tree and at about 125 yards, I see this buck step out. Instantly, I'm floored and thinking, Holy s—t. What is that thing?'"
Game Wardens Speak Out
"I made an absolutely god awful shot," he continued. "I don't know if it was so close I was holding on the wrong spot. Or if I just got buck fever, or what. I have no clue."
Following the story, the DNR opened up a poaching investigation. Over the next year, Alexander tried to sway people to his side by blasting the federal organization. Now game wardens Officers Matt Roberts and Isaiah Gifford are speaking with the Outdoor Life Podcast about their side of the story.
"You know, [Alexander] can tell a very good story, and he ultimately got a lot of the country to believe his story," Gifford told Outdoor Life. "It was our job to kind of pick apart that story and figure out the facts from lies."
Meanwhile, Roberts said that they had to get it right with everyone watching.
"I know there were a lot of people online and on social media thinking we were out to get [Alexander] and we set him up ... and it's hard to sit back when you know that he's already confessed to all this, and you can't tell people why it's taken so long to do this investigation," Roberts explained. "Especially on a big deer case like this, when the whole world's watching."
