Pennsylvania Game News - October 2009 - 27

On Old “Game Wardens” By Daniel P. Schmidt Forest County WCO I ’M NOT BIG on nostalgia, but there are several things I’ll treasure forever. My mother gave me a keychain with a wood duck forged on the front made at WendellAugust Forge in Mercer County, and my dad’s old Winchester Model 94 30-30 is another of my coveted possessions. My wife made me a plaster imprint of my son’s hands when he turned one; it sits on a shelf in my office. There’s one particular item I value that represents my year at the Ross Leffler School of Conservation, the path to get there and my continuing career as a WCO. It’s not my badge or gun, nor the diploma I received at our graduation ceremony. It’s an item that probably cost the PGC pennies to provide — it’s an old tie tack. Just like any endeavor in life, a person needs inspiration and guidance to help achieve his or her goals. I’ve been lucky to have had that during my quest in becoming a WCO. Three men in particular were the inspiration to start my journey: my father, Bill Schmidt, and two long-time family friends and retired PGC officers, Dan and Tim Marks. Teachers, relatives, coaches and the U.S. Army also helped me with the blocks needed to build my career. My path did not end with my graduation; it continues every day I go to work. I continue to learn from my fellow officers, supervisors and the public. When I retire some day, if the tie tack is still part of our uniform, I hope to relinquish it to a member of the next generation of WCOs. A rite of passage, so to speak, for all WCO trainees (now cadets) is field training in the fall. Each cadet heads to the field OCTOBER 2009 at the start of the fall archery season and accompanies WCOs through the end of the regular firearms deer season. Each member of my class split their time with four WCOs, or Field Training Officers (FTOs), as they were known. Horror stories proliferated through our class before we left. Rumors included FTOs feeding cadets nothing but roadkilled deer, making cadets sleep in unheated rooms; not allowing any sleep. The list went on and on. In the end, we all survived and had some interesting stories to tell. I spent the first half of my field training in the Southwest Region, honing my skills with Stan Norris from Fayette County and Shawn Harshaw in Cambria County, and the second half in the Southcentral with Jim Brown from Perry County and Blair County WCO Al Zellner. During my stint I learned a great deal from each of my FTOs, and it amazed me how different each was, as were the districts they covered and how they taught and tested me. Jim Brown keyed on the importance of empathy, stressing we are trained in dealing with wildlife and do it all the time, but most people don’t have those skills and experiences. Al Zellner tested my nerves one dark night when a large bear climbed a tree in the heart of Altoona. Hundreds of people flocked to see the outcome, including several news reporters. As some deputy WCOs shined
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - October 2009
