Refuge Notebook
Peninsula Clarion Article
Dated
4 May 2001
Reminiscences of a Game Warden
by Chris Johnson
I have worked on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge for the past 12 years as
a Law Enforcement Officer. My actual title is Refuge Officer but I am often referred
to as a "Game Warden." As you can guess, I have all sorts of tales from
my adventures and have heard all kinds of excuses and reasons from people about
why they have broken the rules. I will share a few of my stories with you. As
I sit down to write this article I have to laugh and shake my head as I recall
some of these incidents, and this in turn reminds me of other incidents. I will
try to keep this article to just a few stories and if readers enjoy the topic,
I am sure that I can find a few more to tell in a future article.
It was
late fall on the Kenai River just below Skilak Lake. It was spitting snow and
about 20 degrees. I was hiding in the bushes and I observed a man land a large
Rainbow trout. I watched him kill the fish and put it in his boat. I decided to
contact the man at Lower Skilak boat ramp. The season for Rainbows was open and
the only requirement was that if you retained a rainbow over 20 inches, it had
to be recorded on the back of your fishing license. Well, I contacted the man
at the boat ramp and he told me he had not caught any fish. I searched his boat
high and low because I knew he had kept the fish. While I was searching the boat,
the man was squirming around a lot. I thought he was really nervous about something
or real cold. Well, after about 15 minutes the guy couldn't handle it anymore
and told me the fish I was looking for was down his pants. The man opened up his
pants and pulled a 24-inch Rainbow trout out of his pant leg. He had failed to
record the fish on his license and was afraid that I was going to take the fish
from him. I gave him a pen.
In this next story the moose gets its revenge
and shoots back. I responded to a call about a sub-legal moose found dead off
of Marathon Road. I hiked into the kill area with a State Protection Officer and
the reporting parties. The Protection Officer and I proceeded to start quartering
and skinning the moose in the hopes of recovering a bullet. As we finished with
each
quarter of the moose, we moved it out of our way. We finished skinning
and examining a hindquarter with the hoof attached and moved it over to our pile
of already examined meat. About three feet from that location, one of the reporting
parties had set his rifle down against a tree stump. We set the examined quarter
down and then started working on another quarter. About two minutes later a shot
rang out and tree bark splattered all around us. One of the reporting parties
dropped to the ground like he had been shot. My first thought was that one of
the reporting parties had shot at us. My next thought was that we were under fire
from somebody claiming the moose. After several minutes we were able to sort out
that the rifle leaning against the tree stump had gone off, after the hoof of
the moose quarter we had just moved fell and hit the safety and the trigger. The
man that dropped like he had been shot actually had been hit by tree bark and
was OK. After that I got down on my knees and prayed.
I was working in
the Kenai Russian River Ferry area, and I was in uniform standing right behind
this guy that had a snagged fish on his line. The man landed the fish and then
clubbed it. He took the hook out of its tail and put the hook in its mouth. He
then unhooked the fish and turned around to put the fish in his backpack. Well,
when he turned around and saw me
standing there, his eyes got as big as
saucers and that fish went about twenty feet in the air and came right back down
on top of the surprised snagger.
To combat the illegal and dangerous practice
of hunters shooting from their vehicle or on or across a road, I use a decoy grouse
set up just off the road. When a hunter comes along and shoots at my bird, I pop
out of the trees and have a little meeting with the hunter and we discuss the
merits of shooting from their vehicle or from or across the road. One afternoon
I set my decoy up on Swanson River Road; along comes a car and out pops a guy
with a .22 rifle. He stands right in the center of the road and opens fire on
the decoy. I come out of the trees yelling, "Game Warden, put your gun down!"
The guy does not hear me. He's got tunnel vision and all he can do is keep shooting
at this bird like it was coming to eat him. He fires 14 rounds and then starts
to reload before I can get him convinced that the bird was not going to eat him.
It
has been fun reminiscing about old times. Retelling these stories has jogged my
memory of other incidents. Other officers have reminded me of other stories and
similar situations, in which they have been involved. Until next time, remember
to bring a child hunting or fishing. Share the experience. They are our future!
---------------------------
Chris
Johnson has been a law enforcement officer on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge
since 1989. He and his wife Pam live in Sterling with their three children. Previous
Refuge Notebook columns can be viewed on the Web at http://kenai.fws.gov.
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