Behind the Badge - Remember Me?
Remember Me?
District Game Warden Andrew Dahlgren
I was out doing fishing checks the other day and had completed checking all the shore fishermen along the riverbank when one of the individuals I had already checked walked over and asked, “Do you remember me?”
This is one of my least favorite questions as at my age I typically don’t remember, and then you are stuck wondering whether it was a good or bad contact, and did I write them a ticket.
In this case, I did not remember and told the individual so.
The young man went on to give me clues; I watched him shoot his first deer, it was west of town, and he was having trouble.
At the third clue, it all came flooding back to me.
I vividly remember the incident, but did not remember the young man’s name.
It was during my first deer season as a warden, and I saw a group of hunters pushing a mile long shelter belt toward the road.
The pushers were about halfway through their walk, and I pulled up and parked behind three hunters, a father and son and their buddy.
It became immediately apparent something was wrong as the antenna of their vehicle was sticking out of the barrel of the youth hunter’s rifle.
I walked over to see what was wrong and if I could help.
A shell had jammed into the chamber of the gun and could not be dislodged.
The hunters tried everything to dislodge it to no avail.
I tried to dislodge the shell with my Leatherman and after a little effort determined that it was probably not a safe idea.
The pushers had gotten considerably closer and were nearing the end of their walk.
The hunters did not have another rifle with them, and I had just picked up my personal rifle.
I told the boy’s father that I had a rifle in my vehicle and that they could use it if they wanted.
They decided to use the rifle, and as I loaded the firearm and explained the safety to the young hunter a doe ran out.
He took aim and with one shot dropped the doe in her tracks.
It was a pretty memorable first deer for the young hunter, but also for me and the rest of the hunting party.
As we chatted on the riverbank reminiscing, the young hunter, now a young man, explained that he and his father talk about that hunt every year when deer season comes around.
With the thousands of people wardens come into contact with every year, it was nice reminder of the positive impacts we have on our hunting and fishing communities.