Do You Know What Chef Menteur Means? Are You One?
By Sr. Agent Eddie Skena

The city of New Orleans is known for many things. Our food, music, architecture, and culture are truly unique to this special place. There are those who love this city and those who hate it, but one thing is for certain. There is no other place like the city of New Orleans.
Horse racing at the Fair Grounds, the Jazz and Heritage Festival, Bourbon Street, and Mardi Gras intoxicate and capture the attention of hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. But it is the subtle surroundings that make this place home to those who live here.

The smell of the garden district after a light rain, coffee roasting in New Orleans East, jazz music played on the streets by unknown musicians, café au lait and the French Market. The city was built by diversity. French, Spanish, German and Creole influences can still be seen and heard in the city of New Orleans. These influences can be heard in the language and vernacular we use. Sometimes I hear visitors say, “are they speaking English?” or “You guys sure do sound funny.” This is especially true in bayou country were English and Cajun French are sometimes combined to explain a situation.

Case in point, the phrase Chef Menteur. Chef Menteur is the name of a large bayou which connects Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchartrain. The words Chef Mentuer mean Big Liar. Why the bayou is named this I do not know. Chef Menteur is also the name of a highway in New Orleans East. Now, I can almost guarantee you will never hear anyone in New Orleans say, “that guy is a chef menteur.” However, the translation has meaning for a recent investigation that took place in Region Eight.

Late in December, Sergeant Glen Jackson and I were working night hunters in New Orleans East near Chef Menteur Highway. Poachers have used Chef Highway to hunt from over the years because deer and hogs come to the edge of the secluded highway to feed at night. The poachers have the advantage because there are few places an agent can hide and the violators are usually long gone by the time an agent can find the location of a shot or kill.

The Region Eight office had not received many night hunting complaints, but on this particular evening the conditions for night violations were perfect. We concealed our patrol truck in one of the only spots available and settled in for what we thought would be a long night. This time, luck was on our side. Before the engine could cool, we heard a shot that was so close it startled us. When we turned onto Chef Highway, we saw two men loading a deer into the back of a pickup truck. When we approached the subjects, one of them started to cry. The look on a poacher’s face when he is caught and he knows it, gives an agent great satisfaction.

When we searched the subject’s vehicle we found a 12-gauge shotgun and a bandolier full of 12 gauge shotgun shells. Both of the subjects were arrested and booked into the Orleans Parish Prison where they probably spent the Christmas holiday. Their truck and shotgun were seized and are being held as evidence until the trial. In the end, each subject was charged with hunting from a moving vehicle, hunting from a public road, hunting during illegal hours and taking an illegal deer (doe) during an open season.

Because Orleans Parish is closed to all hunting, each subject was also charged with taking deer in a closed area. Each subject was issued a civil restitution citation for the cost of the deer and charged with the Orleans Parish Ordinance for illegally discharging a weapon in Orleans Parish.
The written statement the subjects provided stated that they were coming back from their grandmothers’ house when they saw the deer and decided to shoot it. According to their statement, they did not leave home specifically to go night hunting. Coincidentally, they were in the best spot to night hunt in Orleans Parish. And they just happened to have a shotgun and enough ammunition to defend the Alamo. All things considered. Chef Menteur!