ESTESBOG

by Peter Walker

            We humans attribute grace and beauty to many wild creatures. But the fact is, even Nature’s prettiest animals sometimes have bad days.

Case in point:

When I was a young fishery biologist in Maine’s central coastal region, I had a bright and personable student assistant one summer named Bobbie Potter. One morning as we drove out Route 3 east of Augusta on our way to a lake, Bobbie recounted his experiences the evening before taking photographs of a herd of grazing deer.

            “I think the whitetail deer is the most graceful animal there is,” Bobbie said sincerely. Read more…

Episode 1.

Years ago officers from the Colorado Division of Wildlife organized a road check on Raton Pass on I-25 just before traffic passed on into New Mexico. Even though the main reason for a major check station is wildlife law enforcement (they always coincide with big game seasons), officers from many other agencies attend as well. A typical check station will have State Patrol, drug enforcement, U.S. Forest Service (illegally harvested Christmas trees), federal game wardens and even FBI agents in case someone with a federal warrant should be encountered.

On this particular day a new and very fancy Ford pickup with Texas plates came through the checkpoint with a nice mule deer buck lying in the bed. The driver was a big, good-natured fellow from Dallas in a big white cowboy hat.

He proudly showed them his Colorado Deer License that matched the tag attached to the deer carcass, then engaged several of the officers in some pleasant banter. Meanwhile an older Colorado officer took a closer look at the deer. When he lifted one hind leg it exposed the end of a Canada goose stuffed up inside the chest cavity. For those of you who are not familiar with hunting, waterfowl require a separate license and stamps issued by both the State and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

When a break came in the conversation up front, the game warden asked the Dallas hunter to come back to the back of the truck. Then the officer lifted the leg of the carcass wide to expose the goose and asked, “What’s that?”

Without skipping a beat the fellow feigned a look of total surprise, then grinned and boomed out, “Why that goose-eatin’ son-of-a-bitch!”