Ramblings of a Lowcountry Game Warden: A Memoir

Introduction

Introduction his memoir describes my adventures and sometimes misadventures during almost twenty-five years of wildlife-enforcement work in the South Carolina lowcountry. In that quarter century I was eyewitness to many dramatic changes not only in the coastal marshscape but also in public attitudes and governmental policies that determined the direction of our state’s resource-protection efforts. The lowcountry is a land of curious contradictions. There are vast reaches of tranquil swamps, spacious stretches of marshlands, and wooded barrier islands that stand side by side with populous cities and insurgent suburban development, whose visible manifestations include docks, roads, and traffic —elements that persistently chisel away at the quality of open spaces and the wildlife that inhabits them. Most of those changes I was powerless to contain, but enforcing regulations protecting what was left was one thing I could contribute. The poacher operates in remote areas, the nether reaches of marshes and swamps, places with few witnesses. It required a great deal more than just a passing familiarity with the topography to understand such locales and to patrol them effectively. Some have described my pursuit of violators as “driven.” I would rather describe my labors as “strongly motivated” by my deep respect for the fragile diversity of our coastal resources and my desire to protect them from the depredations of an assorted lot of culprits hell-bent on harming them. Those remote locales became my “office” in all seasons, in all states of the weather, and at all hours of the day and night. T 2 Ramblings of a Lowcountry Game Warden I shared that huge estuarine environment with a cast of characters whose temperaments and points of view covered an almost unimaginable span of human behavior. The following stories reveal a broad range of interventions with those characters. Some did not exactly go my way, but I believe that I prevailed more often than not. In any event each encounter was a learning experience, teaching me tolerance, humility, patience, and persistence. Many of the incidents were not without humorous elements. In a few stories the names of misdemeanants have been omitted to spare them further embarrassment. All the included names and incidents are matters of public record. Someone recently asked me if writing tickets was really my main “thing,” and I had to admit frankly, without a whole lot of soul-searching, that it was. A coastal marshscape , my “office” Introduction 3 I was sure in the knowledge that a ticket conveyed the message that the bearer should be more careful and attentive to the values of good sportsmanship embodied in words of the law. The law’s function is to articulate society’s moral condemnation of certain behavior. Some people need to be reminded every now and then that there are consequences attendant on bad behavior. I always felt good about what I did—and what all game wardens do—protecting our state’s natural resources and helping to ensure that everyone can continue to share and enjoy those resources. If there is a moral to be found in any of these stories, it is “if you dance to the music, you had better be prepared to pay the piper.” That is the personal perspective I bring to the field of outdoor writing. There is much to be enjoyed in the lowcountry by taking the time to savor the experience and by respecting others who might be trying to do the same. Becoming a game warden was a defining moment for me. I cannot imagine any other occupation that would have been as rewarding or have generated as much personal satisfaction. Besides, would you be reading a book about my life as a shoe salesman? I am thankful that I had the opportunity to make my mark as a member of South Carolina’s “thin green line.” Doing what I did best, writing a ticket ...