My View from the Mountain Gateway
“The Lucky Game Warden”
One early March morning several years ago I received a call from an angry landowner. He was upset about a couple of poachers he had run off his property. I knew the landowner fairly well and asked if he knew who the poachers were. He said there were two guys dressed in camouflage both carrying shotguns. He said they ran when they saw him driving toward them and he had no idea who they were. The landowner honked and yelled at them, but the two guys just kept running. The landowner got a vague vehicle description but that was it. Unfortunately, I was working that morning over thirty rugged miles away but I told the landowner I would be there as quickly as possible. Thirty minutes or so later I met with the landowner. He was still very upset needless to say. He said he’d been listening to several toms in the same area where he heard the poachers that morning. He said he suspected the owl and crow calls he heard were made by humans so he drove to the area and found the guys running away. They jumped across his back fence and made a short run to their truck and drove away. The landowner calmed down after telling me the story for a second time and seemed to realize there just wasn’t much I could do. We drove around the general area looking for the vehicle but found nothing.
The next morning I decided to go back to the area and see what I could find. I got up before daylight and drove to a high spot to watch and listen. I heard turkeys gobbling that morning but no sight or sound of hunters. “A day late and a dollar short as usual” I discouragingly said to myself. Out of curiosity, I decided to drive to the landowners back fence where he described the poachers truck had been parked. I found the logging trail and a fresh set of vehicle tracks from the day before. I followed the tracks easily due to good tracking conditions. The tracks led right to the landowners back fence just like he’d said. I could easily see where the truck had pulled off the side of the logging trail and parked. I parked on the old logging trail just short of where the trespassers truck had been parked. I stepped out of my truck and immediately noticed a white piece of paper lying near where the poachers had been parked. I walked over just to see if it might be something significant…and found that to be an understatement! It was an ATM receipt from a bank in a nearby town. As you know those receipts provide a wealth of information such as date, time, name of bank, etc. A big grin came across my face as you might imagine. I guess in their rush to get away, and while jumping into their truck, one of the poachers must have kicked out the receipt. So, like any reasonable lucky Game Warden, I went to the bank. There, after getting the proper legal work out of the way, I acquired detailed contact info and a picture (including his vehicle) of the suspect. I took the picture of the suspect’s truck back to the landowner the next day and asked if this truck looked familiar. He said, “That’s it!” excitedly, and then asked with amazement “How did you get that?” I replied “you won’t believe it” and told him the story.
The next day my partner and I interviewed the suspect. He wouldn’t give up his poaching partner’s name but admitted to hunting on the landowner’s property without permission. Naturally, he claimed they were ‘coyote hunting’, a common claim as if that excuses the violation. It’s not that hard to prove someone was hunting, but it’s a whole different issue trying to prove what someone is hunting unless they’re in possession of a dead animal. We issued the violator a citation for hunting without permission. The poacher just assumed the landowner had gotten his license plate number during the chase and I never told him any different.