"THE HOLE"
Everyone has that favorite place. You know the one where you can always count on catching a fish or seeing a deer or turkey. Most people call these spots their "Honey Hole". Game Wardens have these spots too, although for a different reason. We have these places where we know we can go and have a very high likelihood of catching someone doing something wrong. Whether it's below some dam, an access spot on a creek, or somewhere on a wheat field or rural road, we all have at least one or more favorite "hot spots". Places to make fishing cases (finding fishermen attempting to slip by without a license) are a little easier to find than good spots to catch hunters that are poaching. One such place I have been watching for the last several years has become famous to Game Wardens in Northeast Oklahoma. It's a place where you can go and actually watch people shoot out of the window of their vehicle at live deer. Not only can I tell you the spot, I can tell you the time and the date ahead of time! There just aren't many places like that. And we simply call it "The Hole".
Capt. Jeff Brown first showed me this hotspot about 12 years ago when I moved to District One in NE Oklahoma. It was a great looking area. There was almost always deer or turkey standing in the fields along this particular stretch of county road. It hasn't mattered what the weather conditions were or even the exact time of year, because the wildlife has an awesome home there. The area consists of three large fields, usually full of clover. Two of the fields are on one side of the road and one on the other side. These fields are easily visible from the road and there is only one inhabited house in the area which is quite a bit away of these fields. A creek runs along the edge of the fields and this creek is lined with big oak trees that are usually loaded with acorns in the fall providing a great nutritional attractant for wildlife. It is perfect for the wildlife and it's a perfect place for a game warden to watch. You see, there is also an old abandoned home place with an old concrete building, setting strategically right next to these fields. Slipping through an old wire gate at the home place allows a game warden to can drive right up to and can hide his truck perfectly behind the old buildings.
I know this spot well and what (habitat characteristics) are here… but so do the poachers, lots of them. They've come through on a pretty regular basis over the years, but the poachers have just not been able to figure out when I would be there or not. I'm not sure how many I've caught at this one location but, all together I can tell you with certainty, I have written over a hundred citations on this one stretch of county road! And, that estimate does not count all the citations that have been issued by other wardens that have also worked this active area! I've caught them spotlighting (handheld lights), headlighting (using vehicle lights), roadhunting (daytime hunting from vehicles on the roadway) and trespassing. But, there's one thing that has made this spot so extra unusual is the last five years. In these past five years… I have caught someone shooting at a deer, from their vehicle, in this very same spot, on the last day of the deer gun season… precisely between 5:15 and 5:45 pm. That's right, the same day and at the same time, five years in a row in the exact same spot!!! Now that's a "Honey Hole".
This nearby abandoned homestead stands vigil over excellent wildlife habitat and serves as an ideal ‘hunting blind’ for game wardens who, over many years, have protected this game rich area known as ‘the hole’. |
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You would think the poachers would learn. You'd think that simple 'word of mouth' would get around and they would figure it out. Apparently the poachers in this area don't talk much or they just don't remember what was said. Though the location has been consistent, each poaching case made has however, been as unique as the area itself. I caught one young man that drove by, stopped, aimed his gun out the window, but then cautiously drove on five different times. Finally, he stopped and fired the incriminating shot. I had another man who looked me in the eye and with a straight face, say: "I was shooting at a coyote in that field and not at any of the (numerous) deer that were there", like somehow believing if there had been a coyote that would make any difference. Then there was the group of guys (a whole carload) that shot at a deer using a gun that was older than mine and their ages combined! Or, the young man who tried to kill a deer using a shotgun loaded with #4 steel shot. Then, there was the time a woman drove past the 'the hole'. She was by all by herself travelling in a flatbed truck and just couldn't resist the temptation of a massive spiked buck feeding in the area.
As one might expect, a difference in the amount of poaching that goes on in this area has been cut back dramatically. The landowner and some of his friends that hunt this area tell me frequently how quiet it is here now. It has taken many hours of surveillance and a lot of work to get this place to what it is now. But now, quality habitat and excellent hunting faces an equally menacing danger, one that could change the whole landscape (literally), in this area. Coal digging is prevalent in the area and may soon take this place over just like it has on so many other lands in this region. It would be sad to see all of this beauty go. Wildlife and poachers can overcome the changes. They will likely adapt and move on and I guess I will to. Well, I'm off to find another "Hole"… somewhere; but, try as I might, I just don't think I'll ever find another place like this.