Hunting Show Host Banned From Hunting Kansas Over Deer Poaching
Posted 2025-07-24 by
Matt Jennings was sentenced to five years of probation and must pay $25,000 in fines after pleading guilty to charges of illegally hunting deer
Matt Jennings, host of “The Game” hunting show, is no longer allowed to hunt in Kansas after pleading guilty to illegally killing deer in the state. (Image by William T Smith)
A hunting show host has been permanently banned from hunting or fishing in Kansas after pleading guilty to charges of illegally hunting deer and attempting to register the kill in another state.
In addition to the ban, the Department of Justice announced that Matt Jennings, 35, of Bowdon, Georgia, was sentenced to five years of probation and he must pay $25,000 in fines.
Court documents show that Jennings, host of “The Game” hunting show, pleaded guilty to two counts of illegal taking of a whitetail deer in interstate commerce.
Fox4KC reports that on November 11, 2022, Jennings killed an antlered deer near Florence, Kansas, but his antlered deer tag didn’t allow him to take a deer in that part of the state. The following day, he drove to Oklahoma where he fraudulently registered the kill in Oklahoma using an Oklahoma electronic tag.
According to the report, Jennings then killed another antlered deer near Wakeeney on November 19, 2022, and although he had a valid tag for that area of Kansas, killing a second antlered deer in the same year is a violation of Kansas state law, which allows only one antlered deer per season.
According to cjonline.com, Jennings featured both of those illegal hunts on his hunting show titled, “The Game,” which is aired on YouTube and streamed on CarbonTV. Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the case and used phone data and social media posts by Jennings to confirm the movements and the locations where he shot the deer.
A federal judge ordered Jennings to pay $15,000 in restitution to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, pay a $10,000 fine, and forfeit the antlers from the whitetail he illegally hunted.
During his five-year probation, Jennings is prohibited from guiding, hunting, trapping, fishing or being with anyone engaged in those activities in Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota.
