Racoons are not the only bandits wearing masks in the wilderness. Growing up, author Kennie Prince spent most of his time in the woods and creeks near his home in Rankin County, Mississippi. A highly skilled outdoorsman, Prince began his career with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Conservation in 1983 and dedicated his life to protecting Mississippi’s fish and wildlife resources in dangerous undercover work. The Poacher’s Nightmare: Stories of an Undercover Game Warden contains dozens of hair-raising accounts of covert wildlife operations, often spanning years, requiring ingenious planning, complicated secrecy, and deft coordination.

Prince infiltrated bloody-minded, wary criminal groups, winning their trust. When his traps were fully set, he involved other state and federal law enforcement officials to bring an abrupt halt to abominable thefts of vast fish and wildlife resources from the public trust. Smart, creative, knowledgeable, tenacious, disciplined, passionate, and a natural-born actor, Prince bore a unique skillset that made him an ideal fit for this perilous undertaking. This memoir details how Prince gained the confidence of tightly knit circles of loyal, leery poachers and put an end to their destructive evil.