You Never Know...
You Never Know…….
Being stationed in the duty district that is home to the largest population base in North Dakota presents some challenges and situations that not many other game wardens encounter on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis.
During my first fall stationed in Fargo, I received a call from central dispatch about a dead deer near a residential address on River Drive South in Fargo. The caller had stated that while out for a walk, they had come across a dead deer with the head cut off on the east side of the dike near the Red River. This was in October, so the city of Fargo bow hunt was open, and the location of the deer was near an area that was open for the city bow hunt. The city bow hunt is antlerless deer only, so this was potentially an illegal taking of a deer, and as in many cases in a game warden’s career, this call was not close to where I was at the current time. Since it was October, I was out checking waterfowl hunters near Alice, but in this situation, this was not a call that could wait until I was back in Fargo after patrolling for the day.
After an approximate 40-minute response time, I arrived on scene. I parked on the street and walked over the dike not to find a dead deer, but a deer decoy/shooting target with the head laying next to it, not attached to the body. I could not believe what I was seeing and couldn’t believe that I had stopped my waterfowl patrol to respond to this call. Looking back at it now, I find myself laughing at the situation but at the time, I was very frustrated. A lesson was learned to be prepared for anything, and you never know what you might end up finding during any given day while working as a game warden.
- District Game Warden Michael Sedlacek
