And I Shouldn't Lack for (Maine) Readers

In these dark days of the Great Couch Potato Blight, I've often wondered about the wisdom of beginning a series of crime novels about a Maine game warden. 

Fortunately, from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife comes this news:

License sale records from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife show that fishing license sales rose by 11 percent from 2003-2009. Despite a slight drop in hunting license sales over the same time period, sporting license sales in the state rose by 4.5 percent across the board.

What makes the numbers so noteworthy, of course, is the fact that all but one other New England state saw precipitous drops in hunting and fishing license sales during the same time period.

Cabela's, also, is doing its part to blur the division between virtual and wild. I'm not sure Monster Bass will reverse any downward trends, though:

I Will Never Lack for Material

If one is writing a series of crime novels set in the Maine woods, there will never be a shortage of mysteries to explore:

A little-touted fact come fall in Maine: It turns out hunters here stumble upon an average one to two decomposing bodies in the woods each deer season.

So three is a lot.

Officials say they can’t in recent memory recall hunters finding three in one season, and there’s still four days of firearm hunting left.

“This is my 21st fall as a game warden. Every year it seems like it’s two. Usually we know who the person is because they’ve been missing, ‘Oh that’s so-and-so,’” Major Gregg Sanborn, deputy chief of the Maine Warden Service, said Tuesday.

“It surprises me every time we find one because the state’s so big — I’ve also learned that nothing really surprises me anymore.”

First, hunters found a man in Stacyville on Nov. 4, along with clothing, a briefcase and a hat with the name “Chris.” On Nov. 15, they found a body in Vassalboro later identified as 60-year-old William Stein. Then on Nov. 20, hunters found a third man in Belmont. He was identified Tuesday as 68-year-old Charles Springer, who had wandered from home.

Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said it’s likely Stein, a convicted child molester due to serve prison time, died in June; that Springer likely died in May 2008; and that the unidentified Stacyville man likely died in September.

None of the deaths have been labeled suspicious.

But they could have been suspicious — and in a novelist's imagination they always are.

o filho do cacador furtivo

I received a surprise in the mail the other day, the Portuguese edition of the Reader's Digest condensed version of my novel. I was startled to see my book was up first, especially when I realized who else was in the anthology with me. I love the translated title, too. So exotic sounding!

Impersonating a Game Warden?

I am a Registered Maine Guide, and I've discovered that in many unsophisticated people's eyes that seems like the same thing as being a game warden. I am always quick to set these confused folks straight by pointing out that wardens are sworn law enforcement officers charged with upholding all sorts of laws. Guides take you fishing and hunting.

Until today, I've never even heard the suggestion that someone might actually pretend to be a warden for nefarious purposes (or not, as you'll soon see). I just received this press release from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (sorry no link). It demonstrates just how weird things can get in the Maine woods:

A Limerick man on Sunday was charged with filing a false report of a crime after Maine Game Wardens in the York County area spent most of last week investigating a report that the man was checked by two men impersonating game wardens while out hunting.

District Game Warden Eric Blanchard last week received a complaint that Justin Nichols, 26, of Limerick had been checked by two game wardens in a manner that was not consistent with current Maine Warden Service policies and procedures. Warden Blanchard reported the complaint to his supervisor, Sgt. Tim Spahr, who was unaware of any game wardens working in the area at the time of the alleged incident.

An intense “impersonating an officer” investigation was initiated after it was confirmed that no game wardens were in fact working at that time near the location of the incident. As part of the investigation, Nichols was interviewed several times. During those interviews, Nichols maintained that two men between 40 and 50 years old who were wearing green wool jackets with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife patches on the shoulders had aggressively approached him, asked for his hunting license, and took his firearm. He further maintained that his license and firearm were returned and no “enforcement” action was taken.

Although Nichols was exact on some details of the alleged encounter, other specifics led investigators to ask Nichols to submit to a polygraph examination, according to Maine Warden Service Major Gregory Sanborn, Deputy Chief Game Warden. It was only after the appointment was set for Nichols to take the test that he admitted to Warden Blanchard that the whole story had been fabricated, Sanborn said.

“The Maine Warden Service took this complaint very seriously,” Sanborn said. “Maine Game Wardens work hard to enforce the laws and catch game law violators but are directed to do so in a manner that is respectful and courteous. The initial report was that this did not occur, and the investigation reveled statements made by Nichols to local hunters that would cause the average person to doubt the credibility of their local Game Wardens. Subsequent information was that there may have two men in the area pretending they are Game Wardens. Neither situation tends to build public trust in an enforcement agency.”

Nichols was charged Sunday for False Report of a Crime, which is a class “D” misdemeanor.

“As long as there have been hunters and Game Wardens, some hunters have been telling tales about their encounters Game Wardens,” Sanborn said. “Unfortunately, it appears that this tall tale got out of hand, crossed the legal line and cost the state resources that already are stretched thin in order to get to the bottom of it.”

I think this bizarre episode might have a place in a future Mike Bowditch novel.

Conservation Officer Killed in Pennsylvania

David GroveI've been late posting on this incident in Pennsylvania. Someone mentioned it to me in passing at the New England Crime Bake mystery conference this weekend where, ironically, I was asked to speak about the challenge of writing realistic police procedurals.

Today, several readers of my book have sent me links to this breaking news story. The lede reads like something I actually wrote for The Poacher's Son:

It's a dangerous job. Along with checking hunting licenses, responding to nuisance deer complaints and disposing of road kill, wildlife conservation officers with the Pennsylvania Game Commission serve arrest warrants, confront armed trespassers and disarm wildlife poachers, sometimes while alone at night on remote country roads.

That's what Wildlife Conservation Officer David L. Grove was doing about 10:30 p.m. Thursday in a rural part of southcentral Pennsylvania when he was shot and killed by a suspected poacher. He was the first Game Commission official killed in the line of duty in 95 years.

A suspect has been arrested in the killing. Grove managed to shoot one of his assailants before he died. Due process means that convicted felon Christopher Lynn Johnson, 27, should be presumed innocent until he's convicted in a court of law, but police did find him hiding at a deer camp with a gunshot wound to the side. 

Beyond that, what can you say? The story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reads like it's quoting chapter and verse from my novel. It's a disturbing experience to feel prescient about something like this.

I offer my deepest condolences to Officer Grove's family, friends, and colleagues.