PERSONAL GLIMPSES

By Sgt. Robert Daigle

During the course of our careers as enforcement agents we have all had occasion to do a double take at the response to a question that we might have asked a person or to a statement they have made during the course of our check. They make for humorous conversation when we get together with friends or fellow agents. Many of them stick in your mind and when compared with our co- workers may seem remarkably similar to stories that they may have. Here are a few that come to mind while I sit and write. See if you can recognize the occurrence in any of your encounters with the public.

Have you ever noticed how someone that you are checking is quick to paint the "other guy" in a more unfavorable light than he? Recently while on patrol I checked a fellow that was hunting squirrels using a dog. When asked if he was having any luck, he stated that he only had one squirrel. He said that it was getting so that you couldn’t hardly kill a squirrel. I asked what he thought the reason was. He said that there were so many people hunting with squirrel dogs that pretty soon you won’t be able to find a squirrel. Huh?

Or how about the bowhunter I checked on a WMA after the recent tropical storms. High water had forced the deer onto the little remaining high ground. This gentleman walked out of the woods with his bow after having hunted all morning and the two days before. After I had checked his licenses he asked me if the department was going to close the bow season due to the high water. I said that I hadn’t heard anything yet but asked what his thoughts were on this. His next statement left me shaking my head. He said "Ya’ll need to close the season. They’re going to slaughter the deer if ya’ll don’t." As I walked back to my vehicle, I wondered who had forced him to come out and hunt.

Then there was the sportsman that I caught a couple years ago who had shot and killed a Louisiana black bear. He said that he shot it because he was afraid that it was coming to attack him so he basically shot it in self defense. The circumstances uncovered during the investigation didn’t quite support his story. To begin with, he was in an elevated tree stand at the time. The bear was shot at about sixty yards away. The shot was broadside through both shoulders and the heart of the bear. Tracks showed that the bear had never even turned towards the stand. So much for self defense.

One fisherman that I checked didn’t think that he needed a license if he was fishing in a canal. Another didn’t think that a license was necessary if he fished from the bank. A third person when asked for his license at a local lake replied "in a lake, I need a license to fish in a lake"? If we listened to their reasoning, we wouldn’t have to have a license to fish anywhere. While issuing a citation for no fishing license to one of two subjects fishing from the bank of a canal, he asked "why am I getting a ticket and not my friend"? I hadn’t seen the other person fishing. His friend answered his question for him by replying "because we’re in your truck". That seemed to somehow satisfy his buddy.

Recently I approached a boat during patrol. The subject was checking a slat trap. He was a young gentleman probably in his early 20’s with a small boy along for company. As I approached the boat to check for his license and boating equipment, he asked if I was Bob Daigle. When I replied that I was he said "you’re a legend". When I asked why I had been elevated to such an honored status he said that his grandfather talked about me all the time. "He even has a horse, a dog and a cat named after you". He told me who his grandfather. It turned out that it was a gentleman that I had cited early on in my career for taking grosbec. It’s nice to know that you’ve had such an impact on someone. Being a "Legend" ain’t bad either.

It’s always fun to remember these humorous instances. They make for great conversation and people are always amused when they hear them. Who knows, some day I might write a book.