By Jarrett Manek
Smokey Bear is a great icon for the US Forest Service and promotes preventing wildfire, but I am not talking about smoke and fire nor am I talking about Smokey Bear, I am talking about Smoky the Dog. Smoky is not just any dog but is a beautiful, friendly, and intelligent black labrador retriever and a k-9 conservation officer police dog assigned to Harrison County Conservation Officer Jim Schreck. As with any working k-9 unit, they are not just a dog, they are so much more. From working law enforcement partner with extensive training, to family companion, any department will back their k-9 as liaison for the area and community. As for any working dog, each k-9 has its own unique strengths and training. Some are tracking dogs, some are recovery dogs, some are used for drugs, and some are used for apprehending a suspect and more. It has been said for any dog, you should always trust their nose. If they are well trained and experienced, a dog can astound any handler with its natural ability. However, I have also heard that a dog is only a reflection of its owner!
If anyone has hunted for a very long time or even a new hunter can find frustration in getting crowded out of their hunting spot or experiencing a non-courteous, rude individual that does not respect the unspoken boundaries or legal boundaries of a deer stand or property line. It goes beyond hunting. It can be someone fishing too close to you or sneaking into an off-limit area mushroom hunting and just pushing the boundaries beyond what that person has legal permission for. Trespassing occurs too often. Many times, the individual just does not ask for permission, or they have been denied permission and decide to cross over anyway because they think they can. Many folks say, “Well I have done it for years!”. Unfortunately, for one hunter on opening morning of the Indiana deer gun season, the boundaries were pushed way too far. Just because you don’t think anyone can see you, does not mean that someone cannot smell you!
As my 18-year-old son and I sat in the buddy tree stand waiting for dawn to break and shooting light be legal. We sat with anticipation of the hunt. Trudging up the hill, playing the wind, getting situated, listening for the crackling of footsteps in the leaves, everything that each outdoorsman gets excited for on opening day. Feeling like I needed to spend quality time with him, I urged him to sit together and enjoy father/son time in the woods. It was not about who got the biggest deer, but about spending time together and mentoring him on being an outdoorsman and making good choices. It was not long after the sun came up and we were surprised in the lack of deer, or actually no deer being seen period. Our stand location was placed well off the neighboring property line, but we could easily see the neighboring property.
Keeping our stand locations a good distance from the property line ensured our chances from anything we may harvest to stay on the property we had permission to hunt, even after shooting a deer. I have always stressed good close shots increase your chances for success and a quick clean kill and recovery. Plus, the neighboring property was strictly off limits with no trespassing and/or hunting. We knew the owners very well and wanted to be respectful and courteous to their wishes. The owners understood hunting but did not want to be a part of it and wanted their property to be a refuge for wildlife. So it was to our surprise when off in the distance, through the trees I had spotted a faint glimmer of hunter orange in a tree on that property. It gave me some resolution to why we were not seeing any deer movement because we always see deer when we sit at this particular stand location. You can imagine the multitude of feelings that both my son and I had go through our minds. Do we leave? Do we contact the neighbors and say something? Are they letting someone hunt now? Several questions went through our heads. I asked my son, “So what do you want to do? This is just as much your opening day as it is mine.” If we called it in, then our opening day hunt will probably be over. He made his choice and wanted to do what he thought was the right thing.
The decision was made by him to message the neighbors and to ask them. It was not a surprise when they said absolutely, no one was to be hunting on the property. Being that we were at the location, they asked us to take care of it, so we called it in to the Indiana TIP line (Turn in a Poacher Hotline 1-800-TIP-IDNR) it was within no time, we were contacted by Officer Schreck, an Indiana Conservation Officer. Both the landowner and I personally knew Officer Schreck, so communication was easy while we stayed sitting in our tree stand. I did not know where the trespassing individuals entered the woods or where they came from, but I knew it was not anywhere near the location where we were parked. I sent him a pin location and asked if he wanted us to come out of the woods to meet him down near our vehicle. Officer Schreck, said not to worry, it will be good practice for Smoky to find the individuals.
As we waited and watched with our binoculars, Officer Schreck gave us a notification that he thought he located the suspects’ vehicle parked along the edge of the highway, opposite to where we were parked. He said he was headed into the woods with Smoky leading the way on track. Smoky immediately went to work diligently sniffing and finding the trail of the suspected trespassers. Hot on the trail, we watched from a distance with binoculars, Smoky was doing what he was trained to do. He never missed a step and his nose took them straight to the base of the tree where the suspects were hunting. We could see them get down, stand talking awhile, then head down the hill to a UTV, then, towards their vehicles along the highway. It was not until afterwards when we found out what had transpired.
Officer Schreck did his normal questioning and it did not take long before the trespassing individual and his 15-year-old grandson admitted that they knew they were in a place where they did not have permission. They drove a UTV up to the property line, then crossed over and trespassed the rest of the way on foot. The trespasser acknowledged that he had already filled his buck tag on the property and he did not have permission to hunt, and when Officer Schreck noticed Smoky sniffing fresh blood in the back of the UTV, he asked him if the blood in the back of the UTV was from his buck, he of course said yes. Then ironically, the fifteen-year-old grandson, quickly replied, “no grandpa, that was from the other buck you shot”! Caught! Officer Schreck knew that he had more than a good case. The gentleman finally admitted the violations after trying to lie in front of the teenager, but he knew he was caught thanks in part of Smoky’s keen sense of smell. The deer heads and meat were confiscated, citations were wrote and lessons I hope were learned from both individuals, young and old. My son and I watched and learned that you should always trust your dog, his nose won’t lie!
I have always preached to my kids that life is about choices. Some are bad and some are good. You must decide what kind of choice you want to make. And with each choice, there are either rewards or consequences. For my 18 year-old, he literally got a reward. A $500 TIP reward for the conviction of trespassing, and overtaking of antlered deer, and not tagging the deer with the intention of over bagging. I was proud of my teenager and what I have taught him about his choices. What are you teaching your teenagers about the outdoors? If you teach them anything, teach them that 1-800-TIP-IDNR is a good number to know. The Turn In A Poacher program is not just for hunting either, it has many purposes and can be anonymous.
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