Behind the Badge - Getting Called Out
Getting Called Out
District Game Warden Alan Howard
I do remember when there were close to 150,000 deer tags available, and in my district, there were many deer and moose that covered the landscape.
At that time, I would probably respond to an average of 12-15 car moose accidents every year.
My neighboring warden and I seemed to get called out a lot just after we would return home after work, and we even had a standing joke between us saying don’t ever take your work boots off until you’re ready to go to bed.
It was the end of deer season, and I had just returned home from work after shooting hours had ended.
I had taken one bite of a late supper when state radio contacted me again.
The call was in an area right between my district and my neighboring warden.
An individual had shot a doe in the unit he was assigned, near the end of legal shooting hours.
The individual was new to hunting the area and was happy he had filled his tag.
Until he walked over to the animal.
It was the largest doe he had ever seen, he even had trouble rolling it over by himself.
He called a hunting buddy to help him drag it out of the draws he was hunting in.
When his hunting buddy arrived after dark, he was in shock at what he had seen.
He told his buddy he had shot an elk.
The shooter had called state radio to report that he had shot the wrong species of animal and wanted a game warden to respond to his location.
At that time, I knew we had a lot of moose around, and I don’t believe we ever saw elk in the area.
I had called the neighboring warden and told him to put his boots back on as we had to respond to a call.
We discussed the call thinking it was probably a cow moose.
He responded to the scene since it was just a couple of miles into his area.
He called me back to verify it as a cow elk, probably the only wild elk in that part of the state at that time.
The elk was seized and salvaged, the individual was cited for illegally harvesting an elk.
The state attorney’s office was given the report, and the individual did have to pay a fine.
The hunter was happy the elk meat got salvaged and was embarrassed at what he had done.
When the hunter was seen a couple of months later, he said he got a lot of grief by his coworkers which was worse than any fine he had to pay.
It was a learning experience for both the hunter and us.
As a hunter always be sure what you are shooting at, and what is beyond your target.
As for a game warden, sometimes, you never know what kind of animal you may see or have reported in your area.