Behind the Badge - My First Night
My First Night
District Game Warden Shawn Sperling
In early October 2013, I headed out for my first day of field training as a North Dakota state game warden. I was excited, had no expectations, and had no idea where to even begin looking for violations.
My training officer and I decided to work an evening shift and transition into the night, focusing on people illegally spotlighting deer.
I was fired up. After years of watching Montana wardens and countless episodes of Cops, I was ready for fast-paced action and vehicle pursuits. My trainer quickly tempered those expectations, explaining that those things weren’t exactly routine for game wardens. We needed to be prepared, but I shouldn’t be disappointed if nothing happened.
For several hours, we simply patrolled and watched wildlife. As darkness approached, my trainer moved us to a good vantage point near a busy intersection – far enough away that passing motorists wouldn’t notice us, but close enough to make a quick move if necessary.
Since I was still in the early stages of training, I wasn’t driving. I sat in the passenger seat watching north and west while my trainer watched south.
It wasn’t long before he said he could see headlights. I looked over and could barely make out a set of yellow lights traveling west. I grabbed my binoculars and eventually made out the outline of a pickup crawling down the road.
Then my trainer said something I’ll never forget: “I think they just shot.”
He was certain he had heard a gunshot and possibly saw a muzzle flash. I assumed he was messing with the new guy. Surely this was just a classic trainer prank. Instead, he looked at me and said, “We’ve got to go. Now.”
He put the truck in drive and headed toward the intersection and then south. I remember thinking this seemed like an elaborate prank but I was ready to go along with it.
We approached in the blacked-out pickup, using the parking brake and throttle to avoid giving away our position. We slipped in behind them and followed as they slowly crawled south for about a mile.
At a T-intersection, they turned left. We settled in about 50 yards behind them. Suddenly, the brake lights came on. The pickup made a hard right turn, pointing its headlights into a field.
Two males jumped from the passenger side and immediately began shooting at deer in the headlights.
Rounds cracked through the darkness as brass flew everywhere. It was absolute chaos and I had never been more excited about doing a job. We needed to catch these guys. The list of violations was endless, not to mention the sheer recklessness of what they were doing.
The two shooters remained in the field while several deer lay dead. As we prepared to make contact, the pickup took off east. We followed, still blacked out, assuming they were giving the shooters time to drag the deer back to the road.
About a quarter mile later, the pickup turned around and headed straight toward us. We did the only thing we could do. Emergency lights on. Chase initiated.
We stopped the vehicle, moved it into a safer position, called for additional units, and used the PA system to order the shooters out of the field with their hands up and no firearms.
Within a minute, two shadowy figures appeared down the road with their hands raised. As they approached, we moved toward the pickup. My flashlight swept across the bed and landed on a freshly killed whitetail buck. There was a bullet hole in its chest, and the wound was still steaming, the likely result of the shot my trainer had heard and seen.
Then things got even more unbelievable. The driver was 13 years old. There were also two children under the age of 5 in the back seat, unbuckled. And both shooters were under 16.
We secured the vehicle and, shortly thereafter, recovered the rifles left in the field. A deputy and another game warden arrived to assist. We gathered the necessary information, secured the firearms, and searched the field for additional deer.
We found two more. A whitetail doe and a fawn. In total, we seized two rifles and three deer, all shot at night in early October by juveniles, with young children riding unrestrained in the vehicle.
When we asked why they had done it, they said they were trying to fill freezers for relatives.
We contacted their guardians and made the difficult calls explaining what had happened. To my surprise, several of the parents seemed to accept, or even condone, the behavior, saying at least the deer would be put to good use.
The juveniles were eventually released to appropriate guardians that night.
We organized and preserved the evidence before finally calling it an evening. I was dropped off at my smalltown around 1:15 a.m. My brain was still racing from everything I had just witnessed, but I managed to get a few hours of sleep before starting again.
The next day, we returned to the area to get a better look in daylight. We recovered the spent brass from the previous night, and I was excited to dig into the case. My trainer looked at me and said, “Let’s get going on the report.”
Eight hours later, my report was finished, revised, and finished again. Charges were submitted to juvenile court just in time for me to move on to the next phase of field training.
Nearly 15 years later, I still haven’t experienced anything remotely like that night.
Sometimes I wonder if my trainer somehow staged the whole thing, knowing I would never be able to replicate my first night.
Regardless, my first night as a game warden will forever be burned into my brain.