Protecting the Great Outdoors…One Story at a Time!

They go by many names: game wardens, conservation officers, fish cops…but whatever you call them, their job is the same: to make sure that natural resources are not depleted, and that the bounty of forests and waterways is shared equally. To do their job, they need the acumen of a detective, and the best of them can stand alongside big-city policemen in their skills and smarts. Finding a needle in a haystack looks easy compared to finding a shell casing in 60 acres of woods. Matching tire tracks to a vehicle that might be 10 or more miles away is a challenge that could require interviewing myriad people with varying levels of recall and veracity. But with all the challenges, human nature always provides comic relief. This entertaining memoir from a game warden demonstrates the ups and downs of an unusual and fascinating job. Every conservation officer has many tales to tell…enjoy these thought-provoking and often hilarious anecdotes of the great outdoors.

Gerald Battle developed an early interest in water and the outdoors. After growing up messing around in rowboats and canoes, he went to college, and then served as a naval officer on a destroyer. After the navy, he became a conservation officer, downsizing to a 14-foot boat with an outboard motor. In keeping with the marine trend, he then joined the Michigan Boat and Water Safety Section, where he coordinated boating safety training and assisted in recodifying Michigan’s boating law. During this time, he also became involved in training boating patrol officers, which led to training supervisors and managers in industry. To keep one foot in the water, so to speak, he now volunteers as a wooden boatbuilder at non-profit organizations, while recounting and recording some of his experiences and impressions.