Thursday, March 28, 2024

Local game warden, family featured on reality show ‘Lone Star Law’

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Those who love the outdoors and reality TV may be familiar with “Lone Star Law,” a reality show that airs on Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel.

For some, the show may have been their first introduction to Preston Whisenhunt, one of Hood County’s two game wardens.

The 31-year-old was recently featured on two episodes, leading friends, family and fellow StoneWater Church members to nickname him “Hollywood.”

“He doesn’t like that,” Molly Whisenhunt said, grinning. She is Preston’s wife and an assistant principal at STEAM Academy at Mambrino.

“I tell people all the time, I’m just a guy that puts my pants on just like you do, one leg at a time,” Preston said.

Although Preston appears low key and modest, the notoriety that came from appearing on national television has been fun for his family. Molly and the couple’s two young sons appeared on air briefly.

The couple prefers that their sons’ names and ages not be publicized for security reasons.

“It’s a unique experience, you know?” Molly said. “The boys enjoyed seeing themselves on screen and the family, they think it’s really cool. My extended family lives in Michigan and so they got a big kick out of just getting to see what it is that he does because when you tell people, my husband’s a game warden, they don’t know unless they’re a hunter or fisherman.”

On the episodes, film crews followed Preston as he hosted a youth hunt for children of first responders, veterans, and those in the military on property near the dam that is owned by the Brazos River Authority and investigated a man who allegedly broke the law when he shot and killed a white-tailed deer.

An arrest warrant was issued for the man and the case is being prosecuted by County Attorney Matt Mills, Preston said.

During normal shifts, Preston doesn’t have a film crew with him when he confronts armed people who may have broken the law, and that is something that Molly has had to come to terms with.

She doesn’t worry quite as much as she did when he first became a game warden five years ago after giving up his job as a teacher and coach.

“He could be in a situation that’s not safe, but I trust that he has the training and guidance and can do what he needs to do to stay safe in those instances,” she said. “I think, overall, I just trust that the Sheriff’s Office, the police department, they all have each other’s backs.”

Molly’s concerns, though not as great as they used to be, aren’t unfounded. Preston said that there are areas of the county where he has no radio or cell phone reception. Not only can he not text his wife when he’s in those spots, he might have difficulty calling for backup or even describing his location.

“I might be five miles in on a piece of property,” he said. “Even if I need help, most of these deputies probably don’t know where the deer camps are.”

He knows where they are, though, because former game wardens told him and because he has made it a point to introduce himself to landowners. Some of them have given him their gate codes

Preston said that some people spot “a chunk of woods” and come out on a weekend and “just help themselves to it.”

He stated, “It’s our responsibility to catch those guys.”

Putting a stop to illegal hunting is important for preventing hunting accidents and for making sure “that people’s property boundaries are respected,” Preston said.

Overall, the community is “very supportive” of Preston’s efforts, Molly said.

“It’s been a shift for sure,” she said of her husband’s career change. “But it’s been a great fit for our family, and he loves what he does.”

That doesn’t mean that the road to fulfillment was a smooth one, though. 

U-TURN

Preston and Molly met in the sixth grade when they both attended Lamar Middle School in Flower Mound.

Preston first asked Molly out when they were in eighth grade.

The two graduated from Marcus High School, then attended Stephen F. Austin University together, graduating in December 2012.

They both landed teaching jobs close to home for the 2013 spring semester. Preston signed on with Clayton Downing Middle School in the Carrollton Independent School District and coached under his former high school head coach.

The couple later moved to La Grange, about 65 miles from Austin, and taught school there.

During that time, Preston became friends with a school resource officer and developed an interest in law enforcement. He particularly was keen on becoming a game warden.

He figures that the job appealed to him because he has always loved the outdoors and hunting, fishing and boating. He feels he was also influenced by a tragedy that occurred during his sophomore year of high school: a classmate was killed on Lake Lewisville by a boat driven by someone who was drunk.

Preston decided to apply to the Texas Game Warden Training Academy in Hamilton but knew it was a long shot.

Between 1,500-2,000 people apply every year and only 30-50 are accepted, he said.

Molly was supportive but apprehensive. They had just bought a house and had started a journey together only to change course.

“I was having mixed feelings,” she said. “I don’t do great with a ton of change. I was just nervous.”

Despite the odds not being in his favor, Preston prepared by doing ride-alongs with local law enforcement and two workouts a day. If he was accepted into the seven-month-long academy, he wanted to be in good physical shape so that his main focus could be classroom learning.

On a day in September while he was waiting to hear whether he would be accepted, he and Molly were watching movie previews before the start of “The Girl on the Train” when his phone rang. He stepped out of the theater to answer it.

“I came back in and she was like, you got it? And I was like, yeah, I was offered the position,” Preston recounted. “And we didn’t talk the rest of the night.”

A HOME IN HOOD

During the time he attended the academy, Preston was in class from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, with physical training twice a day.

Those who passed their test were able to head home for the weekend on Friday evenings.

There was only one test that Preston failed, and he failed it by just one point. A passing grade was 80 or above and he scored a 79.

Since he would only have about 24 hours to spend at home after retaking the test Saturday morning, Preston was going to skip coming home that weekend, but Molly insisted that he make the trip.

He thought there must be something to repair at the house, or that Molly simply missed him.

But there was another reason.

Molly had important news to share: The baby they had longed for was on the way.

As graduation from the academy approached, Preston and Molly poured over the “open county” list — a list of counties that needed game wardens. There were no openings in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“The closest was Comanche,” Molly said.

The next week, an opening in Hood County opened up because a game warden had been promoted.

Preston applied, but so did 10 others.

“Ninety percent of the guys that graduate go to the border, so we were probably going to end up living on the border,” Preston said, adding that he would likely have to work 10 days straight, then be home for four days.

The couple nervously waited for captains and lieutenants to make the decision.

On the day it was to be announced, an anxious Molly was home unpacking baby shower gifts.

“That was the most nerve-wracking morning ever,” she recalled. “And he called me and he’s like, we got Hood. I just immediately started crying.”

Preston had beaten the odds again.

Molly said that when she and Preston were waiting to hear whether he would be assigned to Hood County, she drove to Granbury with her mother to take a look at the community.

She remembers that something odd happened when she spotted a sign for the city that says, “Where Texas History Lives.”

“I just all of a sudden had this calm,” she said. “And chills. It was really strange.”