THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

By Agent Jay Callegari

When I received a night hunting complaint in a certain area in Bordelonville, I knew it wouldn’t be easy to make. So I called up Sr. Agent Spencer Cole and we went over topographical maps of the area. This particular road that they were hunting off of is a dead end road with plenty of houses at the entrance. The outlaws in this area are not sloppy so I knew we would have to go in another way. After going through a couple of gates and crossing a levy we stashed the trucks in the woods and unloaded the bikes. I had scouted the area last turkey season and knew that we were in for a mud ride. For the next hour or so we played rut roulette. When there is a 20ft wide trail full of ruts you can usually pick the best set in the daytime. But at night it’s a whole different ballgame. We got bogged and winched out about five times each, in the process we got full of gumbo mud from head to toe. We finally reached our destination and hid behind a dead tree on a fence line. At 11:00 pm we heard a truck coming blacked out. When it reached the field the headlights came on. The passenger stuck half his body out the window and started burning the fields on both sides of the road. He left the spotlight on just long enough to scan the tree lines. We watched the night hunters shine fields all the way to the end of the road. It was later found out that they felt safe because they had not seen any truck tracks on the wet dirt road. When they passes us we radioed Sr. Agent Gabe Guidry (who was in the area) to come with his unit in case they got around us. As expected they turned around at the end of the road and started coming back toward us. When they got several hundred yards from us we cranked up and headed toward them blacked out through the field. I went in front of them and turned my lights on. I positioned my ATV so they would have to go into the ditch to go around me. Agt. Cole came in from the driver’s side and lighted up the cab. The look on their faces after seeing two uniformed agents on four wheelers, full of mud, and coming out of nowhere is one I will never forget. We then identified ourselves and mirandized the three hunters. In the drivers lap was a Browning 30-06, which was seized along with the spotlight. They had a hacksaw and old bloody blankets in the bed of the truck. The passenger said they were shining for deer. All three occupants were charged with hunting deer at night, hunting from a public road, and hunting from a moving vehicle. We had enough mud for one night so we had Sr. Agent Gab Guidry bring us back to our trucks and called it a night.