Behind the Badge - Alongside the Badge
Alongside the Badge
Editor’s note: This week’s article is a letter sent to the Game and Fish Department from a landowner and hunter. Thank you to the author for the kind words, and thank you to everyone who supports our wardens, agency, and the work they do.
Like many before and the many more you hope are still to come, it was just another Sunday evening of the opening weekend of deer season. The half hour after sunset had come and gone and the cold north wind was driving a chill clear to the bone.
It had been relatively quiet that day with the only sounds being that of the blowing wind, and pickup trucks driving up and down the roads. Their cabs full of orange clad hunters staying close to the heaters, hoping the deer would come to the road and stand broadside.
I was packing my gear in my truck parked by the tree row when I heard the local game warden pulling into the approach behind me. Years ago, I had made friends with this warden while he was investigating a deer poaching incident on my property. He solved that case. I’ll never know how, but then I don’t need to know!
It was good to see him as it had been a while since we had seen each other. It was dark out and well after legal hunting hours. I was hoping for the chance to do a little visiting. Catching up seemed so important to me. It was too cold and windy to stand outside, so we got in a pickup cab to catch up.
We had just started to visit in the dark cab when we could hear a vehicle slowly coming down the road in our direction. We kept looking down the road and couldn’t see much in the moonlight. Then, there it was, creeping out of the darkness was this guy in a pickup truck with no headlights on. To make matters worse, his rifle was sticking out the open driver’s window.
I was more than freaked out. I had plans of seeing the sun come up in the morning and could think of a thousand other places I’d rather be. That’s when I saw what a North Dakota game warden is made of. Calm as can be, he turned to me and said the obvious, “Stay in the truck!” Followed by, “I’m going to do a stop.”
Or as I would have put it, “I’m going to walk out on the road, raise my hand in the air and stop a truck that could run over me! I’m going to walk up to that loaded rifle and point out driver’s violations of a loaded gun in truck; no lights while driving after dark on a public road; hunting after dark; hunting posted land (the road is posted on both sides); and, who knows, maybe an open container.
The warden returned to his truck to get his ticket book. He wrote the guy a ticket, but I never asked what for because it was none of my business. I was just glad that the violator, warden and myself all went home.
My truck was blocked in so all I could do was sit and watch this story play out in front of me. I share this example of how our wardens perform their duties because we should always remember that the warden is your friend. That our love of the outdoors and wildlife is nothing compared to that of someone who walks up to guns and knives to protect the outdoors and wildlife for the rest of us.
Wardens are dedicated people who, on most stops, end up walking up to someone with a loaded firearm or a sharp knife. Generally, that person is doing something wrong and the warden must tell them that. Wardens have more guts, moxie, spunk, nerve, pluck, grit, (insanity) then the rest of us.
I know from many years of watching them work, that they would rather you obey the laws because they do not want to write you a ticket. It makes their day when you have done everything right.
We need to take the time and make an effort to treat wardens with respect and thank them for what they do for all of us. May God bless our wardens, their spouses and their children.