Pennsylvania Game News - Feburary 2011 - 7

After deer season one year Dick received information that a man from a hunting camp located near the apple tree had killed two deer. Back then a hunter was allowed only one deer per year. Because the season was over, Dick made a note to check the camp during the following year. During the next year’s archery season, he stopped to check two deer hanging from a deer pole at the camp. After Dick took the information off the tags, he went on his way. Several weeks later, hungry for one of those yellow apples, Dick walked over to the apple tree and saw a man in a portable treestand. Dick identified himself and asked to see the man’s license. He then noticed that this was the same man who had killed one of the deer he had checked at the camp several weeks earlier. Dick also noticed red apples scattered under the apple tree. Dick asked the man where the apples came from and, of course, his answer was, “from the apple tree.” Dick then told the man that the tree produced yellow apples. When caught in the lie, the man confessed that he had put the red ones under the tree. After closer checking, Dick discovered that the man was from Ohio, but had a resident license. On further checking, Dick found that there was another deer at the camp that the man’s daughter had killed. The daughter, also from Ohio, had killed a second deer with a resident license. After that incident, Dick said that those yellow apples tasted even sweeter. Another time Dick received information that a hunter had killed a bear on the Sunday before deer season. The bear had been skinned out and the head and pelt were hidden in the back of the violator’s vehicle. The vehicle was staked out, and when the man returned from deer hunting, Dick checked his vehicle, where he found the hidden head and hide. The man was arrested and taken to the local district justice. The violator was extremely nervous, which had him chattering incesFEBRUARY 2011

santly. Finally, the man asked what happens to someone who kills a bear illegally. Dick, with his dry sense of humor, said, “The last man they hung.” There was complete silence. When the district justice asked the man if he wanted to have an attorney present, he said that he had killed the bear, but if there was a chance that he could be hung, he better get a lawyer. Dick then told the hunter that he had only been kidding. The man pled guilty and paid the fine. For the next five or six years, Dick received a Christmas card from the hunter. Above all Dick was and is a family man. He and Betty have two children and two grandchildren. On December 31, 1991, Dick retired. The ensuing years were good, but then, in January 2009, he fell while taking Christmas decorations up to the attic. Dick’s right elbow was shattered, there were two hair line cracks in his pelvis and two broken bones in his right leg. After a 3-month hospital stay, three months in a hospital bed at home and seven months of rehab, he is still not able to raise one arm. One leg has shrunk an inch and a quarter, which means Dick must wear corrective shoes. Although able to get around, Dick’s mobility is limited. Dick is a lifetime member of the McConnelltown Trinity Reformed United Church of Christ; a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars; a 50-year member of the American Legion and many other organizations. I asked Dick what he would tell new officers entering the field, and he replied they should become involved in the community, join clubs and volunteer at events. These suggestions worked for him. He went on to say that one would be surprised at the number of people who become informants, making the job of a wildlife conservation officer much easier.
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Pennsylvania Game News - Feburary 2011

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