Pennsylvania Game News - May 2013 - 16

Bell. Caution Attack Dogs.” Terry
told me to ring the bell. “I wouldn’t
go in there if I were you,” he cautioned. I heeded his warning and
rang the bell. A wild commotion
erupted from the house and Sam
yelled out not to enter; he had to
put the dogs away. Once this was
done, he met us in the yard.
Sam was an unassuming man
in his mid-fifties. He shook my
hand and began explaining all
the poaching incidents that had
occurred in the past; who he suspected of committing the crimes
and where they lived. We had
a good conversation and parted
ways. As Terry and I were leaving,
Sam said, “If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll help
you anytime.” As I found out later,
Sam was true to his word.
Around 4:30 p.m. on March
28, 2008, my cell phone rang. It
was Sam, “They just shot one in
the field!” I calmed him down
and asked him who did what? He
calmed a bit and said that a pickup
was driving slowly down Loves
Valley Road when one of the the
occupants shot a turkey from the
vehicle, and then drove through
the newly-planted field to retrieve
the turkey. Sam chased after the
truck and got the license plate
number. He gave me the number
and urged me to go get them.
Every WCO loves getting a call
like this one, with good witness
information and a location to
begin the investigation. On top
of all that, turkey season wasn’t
open. Unfortunately, I was on my
way to Philadelphia for the Easter
holiday when he called. I told Sam
16	

I was on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in
Cumberland County and couldn’t get
there. I told him to hold on and I would
call him back. I hung up the phone and
immediately called Deputy Clevenger.
I told him what was happening and he
said that he was on it.
Terry called neighboring WCO
Justin Klugh and asked for some assistance. Justin was in the middle of a
Hunter-Trapper Education class. Justin
arranged for the HTE instructors to
handle the rest of the course and left
to meet Terry. The rest of that evening
Justin and Terry followed leads, went to
the residence for which the truck was
registered and did interviews.
The day of the violation they did
not catch up to any of the suspects, and
when I returned home I took over the
investigation. Eventually we found out
that Ed McNumb, Justin Bigliar and
Brett Rockhead were all involved in
the poaching incident. One of WCO
Klugh’s HTE instructors had found a
gobbler dumped along the side of a road
not too far from the poaching incident
and reported it to me. The turkey had
been shot with a rifle, and all that had
been taken was the beard. I recovered
the turkey and bagged it as evidence.
We eventually found that Rockhead
was on probation and I arranged a
meeting with him and his probation
officer to discuss the incident. Sitting
in front of his probation officer, with
the very real possibility of violating
his probation and going back to jail,
Rockhead admitted to his role in the
violation. He explained that Bigliar
was driving and that McNumb shot the
turkey from the vehicle. Rockhead also
said the turkey I had recovered was the
turkey they had shot. When they left
Loves Valley they dumped the turkey
GAME	 NEWS
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - May 2013
