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I spent a day riding around with game warden, Jeff Whipple, on the second weekend of deer season…just when some hunters are getting frustrated they haven’t got their deer yet.
Exciting things happened.
Game wardens are like nature’s cops. They’re trained in law enforcement, but they’re also conservationists. Their job is to look after the wilderness areas and forests that make up 75 percent of Vermont. They’re spread thin across the state, so in order to respond quickly to calls, they have to work in the districts where they live. That means that their neighbors are also their constituents.
What’s most interesting to ME about game wardens is they come into contact with just about every kind of Vermonter, and they have to be able to talk with anyone. I love people like that.
Jeff lives in Chelsea, Vermont. His district includes areas of Orange and Windsor counties. His district is crazy beautiful.
Great portrait of this guy. Dovetails with other game wardens I’ve run into. Low key, practical, understands people, just loves to be out there in the woods.
Great show Erica. I love Whipple’s attitude especially the way he views lawbreakers as people like the rest of us but who have screwed up. He has no problem seeing them go to jail, but he still views them as human beings and community members who will be his neighbors again when they get out.
Thank you! Not rubbing people’s noses in their mistakes and being a genuine community member, all while protecting our animals. I’m grateful Jeff let you ride along. Please thank him from all of us. Can’t wait to have Leland listen.
Leland should ride along!!!
I live in Oregon, in the city now for a little over ten years but my roots are in the mid-west and I grew up in rural Columbia River Gorge area. The side of my family who moved to Oregon from the mid-west, they were loggers who lived in a chicken coop the first year they were married, and are still hunters. Stories about taking care of family included the once in a while illegal deer, and though it was a point of fact, it was never glorified to work outside the law to provide food for family.
Listening to this episode I had a full suspension of time and place and the only thing about my present self which I felt was the rare January sunshine, the rest of me was fully riding along and thinking about these folks who live close to the land.
I have been listening to this podcast for two years(?) now but was compelled to comment today listening to this episode. I am also feeling under the weather, Erica, and I hope you are feeling better! I apologize for my disjointed comments. For a living, I resolve problems and sometimes on a Saturday my brain likes to get lazy and unfocused and just listen so it does not want to fall in line and compose something for you, but I want you to know that it is appreciated, what you do, and it has a far reach. I only wish I could go back in time twelve years and play this for my great grandmother and see how many or much memory and story it would prompt.
Amanda. I wish I could go back in time and interview your great grandmother. This was such a great comment. I’m so grateful you took the time to write it. Thank you and feel better. I still feel crappy but it’s 5 below zero so pretty much everyone feels crappy. So i’m not alone…
Best to you.
Erica
I am so impressed! Officer Whipple is clearly an outstanding law enforcement office – a model for all police. Thank you for this great episode.
I have never been interested in hunting, and yet this episode depicts the hunting season so beautifully. Thank you as always for your warm storytelling, for bringing those voices of your state into spotlight. Much love from Vancouver, BC (previously NYC and Moscow).
Hello in Vancouver! You live in such a beautiful place and I feel very fancy and honored that you listen to the show….!
Everyone should be so blessed as to spend the day with a Vermont Game Warden. Finest people I’ve ever known have worn the badge and the red coat.
If you liked this, definitely read Kate Braestrup’s “Here If You Need Me.” She wrote it when she was the Maine State Game Warden chaplain. She’s an amazing lady, writer, human…
Great portrait of this guy. Dovetails with other game wardens I’ve run into. Low key, practical, understands people, just loves to be out there in the woods.
Wonderful story, Erica. What a dude Jeff Whipple is. Him saying that he would still keep gong to work if he won the lottery was just gold. And I loved the roar of the V8 as you two picked up a bit of speed. A whole show of conversations while accelerating in V8s would be one I’d look forward to. Thanks, as always.
Erica,
Thank you for this wonderful interview with Warden Whipple. I love that you were able to capture some real action and that the warden does his job in a thoughtful, respectful manner. Perhaps you could do an annual ride along with him. I think it’s good for folks to learn about the role of a game warden and to realize the importance of that role.
I’m so glad you liked it Bridget. I agree. Warden Whipple is great at what he does, and I LOVED riding with him. I like the idea of its becoming an annual event….
More than a story about a game warden a story about how to live in the world.