Job Security

By Dru Polk, McCurtain County

Pulling out of my driveway around 7 pm in the fall of 2001, a grin began to form on my face and then eventually into a full blown smile. I had become an Oklahoma State Game Warden! Something I had dreamed of since I was a young boy. The fall air was cool as it began whipping into the cab of my truck. The scent of pines was ever so present. The fall colors had come into full swing and the wildlife seemed to know full well that winter was upon us, as they had begun their preparation.

As a "Rookie", I had just been cleared from the standard probationary period and was now able to roam like the wind, or so I thought. McCurtain County was my assignment and I was glad to be here. I always wondered why when people asked me where I was stationed and my response was McCurtain County, they would just smile or ask if I had good life insurance. I knew this place was rough, but it was a sportsmen's paradise as well as a Game Wardens'. I'd just smile back and say "Job Security" not really understanding full well just how true my ignorant response really was.

I had received a call from Randy Fennel who was my FTO ( Field Training Officer) and an excellent Game Warden. Randy is "old school" and I mean that as a compliment. He asked if I would like to help him put out the decoy in an area where he'd received complaints of a "oneeyed beagle" being let loose to hunt (spotlighting) and was kicking around the idea of us giving them something to look at and possibly to shoot at. I thought about it for about a millisecond and asked "when and where?" He chuckled and said "be at my house around 8:30 pm and I'll fill you in on our little adventure", and boy was it ever.

Upon driving up to Randy 's house around 8:00 pm (I was 'spry' and not wanting to miss out on anything), I opened the door to my truck just as Randy walked out of his front door and asked "are you ready?" Gathering my gear consisting of a ticket book, flashlight, toilet paper (mother nature can 'call' at the most inopportune times), camouflage, handheld radio, bottles of water, and a can of Vienna sausage, I was now ready for 'wildlife combat'! Did I mention throwing in a pair of Fruit of the Looms? Oh, I must have forgotten that, but I would need them after this crazy night was over. Jumping into Randy's single cab 1997 model Ford 4x4, we pointed it north up highway 59 as he filled me in on our game plan. Randy had received a complaint south of Poteau in Leflore County of a wheat field being `shined' about every night next to a house on the outskirts of town. So, off we went to meet with the landowner and see if we couldn't solve his problem and 'stick another feather in our hats' in the process.

After twenty minutes of driving and Randy snapping me out of my day dream, (of catching a couple of dingbats shooting our decoy), we pulled into the landowners' long driveway and around to the back of the house. Great care would be taken so as not to be seen by any would be violator or opportunist who might venture by a little later on. The landowner who we'll call "Bob" and his son who we'll call "Bobby" met us in their backyard. We talked of their ever present problem and discussed our plan of action. Looking to the west side of their house, laid the prettiest wheat field (I've ever seen) in southeast Oklahoma. It spread for a ? mile starting at their backdoor and stretched west along the county road. Now I understood the powerful lure it probably had on a few poachers who could drive by and shine this unique (to our area) food source. Hopefully, we could catch a couple of these yay hoo's with hands in the "deer cookie jar" and end the problem Bob was having. After being introduced and listening to their problems of several shots being fired close to their house the night before, we brought out "Precious" from the back of the truck. Precious was the name of Randy's decoy deer. I don't know why he named it Precious and I didn't ask. What I do know, however, is for the next few months Precious cost a lot of violators some "precious" cash from their back pockets! All it usually took was the positioning of the decoy, attaching antlers, pinning small, round, reflective discs to the eyes of the decoy (used to imitate the reflective properties of a deer's eyes) and we were set.

The master plan was to drop me off about middle way down the road along their wheat field in an unmarked truck. The unmarked truck was used in case any suspicious person drove by they would see a "regular truck" along the road and not be alerted to Game Wardens in the area. This worked well by the way! Randy would be stationed in a warden truck, hidden on the driveway ready to respond if anyone shot the decoy and as a 'catch vehicle' ready to apprehend any fleeing vehicles. In this case, Bob and Bobby transported me and Precious in the back of their personal truck to the best wheat field location. But, they only slowed their truck when we decided to make our decoy set. I would of preferred they come to a complete stop so we could retrieve the decoy from the truck safely. It's pretty difficult for a grown man (even with my long legs) to run along side a moving truck, grab up forty or so pounds of various dead weight items all the while in a semi sprint! I think the two 'Bobs' were concerned about a speedy and undetected set up. After a few near 'train crashes', I had the decoy out of the truck and into the field. I moved out about 10 yards and behind a tall stand of Johnson grass. I stopped and turned on my handheld radio to make contact with Randy. I advised him I was in the field and would contact him when Precious was ready for 'combat'. A double click from his radio confirmed that he'd heard my message.

Picking Precious up with her or his (being that it had antlers on this night), beautiful glow eyes, I searched for the perfect spot to fool my worthy opponent. After locating a good 'hump' on the wheat field, I began trotting towards it as I held Precious. His head held a nice, 140" class 8 point rack looking directly over my shoulder. As I was moving to the location I'd picked out I heard a vehicle coming from the west. I assumed it was Bob and Bobby who had turned around to return to their house so I didn't give it much thought. Oh, how some lessons are learned the hard way! I had nearly made it to my well chosen spot when low and behold out came a spotlight shining the field. Again I assumed (you know what assume stands for?) it was Bob and Bobby looking to see where I was and how Precious looked from their point of view. I thought to myself "that would be a good idea, they could tell me if I needed to turn it one way or another" to get the full effect of the reflective eyes and the best view of the nice antlers. That helpfulness would make up for them nearly killing me during the 'rolling dismount' from their truck earlier. Holding Precious with my back turned and his eyes and nice rack facing the road I waited for them to tell me if the spot in which I had picked looked good. Looking back over my shoulder at the vehicle doing the shining I noticed it had trailer lights being towed behind it. After some careful thought and accessing the slow memory hard drive I call a brain, I realized Bob and Bobby were not pulling a trailer. I would have remembered that because it probably would have run over me during the decoy retrieval process. About the very moment "I put two and two together", the spotlight hit me square in the face and the face of Precious. Now, if you've never been standing in a wheat field in southeast Oklahoma where everyone has a high powered rifle, in the middle of the night holding a 140 class buck with reflective eyes that look just like the real thing, it's not a pleasant feeling. I made peace with God and decided to distance myself from what they intended on shooting. I think Precious sprouted wings that night as well because he must have flown 20 feet in the air and luckily in the opposite direction!
Realizing we'd found 'our boys' but just a bit too soon, I parted ways with Precious and began running to the road. I could just imagine what must have gone through these fellows' minds as they hit me with that spotlight. Now many people have spotlighted deer in their life, that's a fact. But, not too many people can say they've spotlighted a Game Warden while he held a deer. I just hoped they weren't trying to bag 'two trophies' in one shot. Realizing the err of their ways and knowing that deer can't fly, I heard the 'romp' of their accelerator. The sound of dual exhausts and a double barreled carburetor echoed in the night. As I was running in what seemed like slow motion toward the road, I radioed Randy to what had just occurred. I told him to get to the road quick!! I knew my message had been received because I could hear him start up and gravel spinning beneath his tires. That was a beautiful sound not to mention that screaming wail of a siren. I knew Randy had captured them. Somehow I found humor in the hair raising experience and began to laugh. Randy had made contact with the occupants of the truck and trailer about 150 yards down the road and that was just fine with me. It gave my sphincter muscles a little time for some much needed relaxation. As I made it to the road, here came Bob and Bobby who'd gone up the road just as I thought they had. They had turned around and were heading back to their house. Mind you, this whole incident all took place in less than two minutes!

That's called "being at the right place at the right time". As the two Bob's drove up I dropped their tailgate and attempted to plop down hoping to hitch a ride to Randy. The only problem was they again decided not to stop completely so my hind end didn't quite make it onto the tailgate but rather the ground! As I sat on my butt watching my ride pull away towards Randy, I thought "maybe I just need the exercise". Running down the road and catching up to Bob and Bobby about the time they arrived at Randy's location, I ran by Bob's truck and slammed his tailgate shut. I don't think they ever knew I wasn't on it. I walked up to Randy and began to assist him with the 'jerking of knot heads out of a truck' and retrieval of two highpowered rifles and spotlights from their vehicle. The driver was a convicted felon and the passenger was not too far behind. We finished our paper work and vehicle (evidence) inventory and sent 'the boys' on their way (with a handful of citations)!

After laughing for a while and considering how the night was still young we decided to try it again. Randy dropped me off where I thought I had last seen Precious and after spending about ten minutes looking for a lost antler (that had come off during his short flight) we were back up and running. We worked a few more hours with no more takers and decided to call it quits for the night. After reminiscing on the night's adventure with the landowners, we shook hands saying "thank you boys"! We pointed Randy's truck south down highway 59 and back towards home. Driving home that night with the cool fall breeze still whipping through the cab of my truck and reflecting on what this night had held for two Game Wardens in southeast Oklahoma, I thought to myself "yeah, you could call it "Job Security"!