Roger Guay - A Good Man with a Dog: A Game Wardens 25 Years in the Maine Woods

Copyright 2016 by Roger Guay and Kate Clark Flora

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credit: Jolyne Guay

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0480-0

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0481-7

Printed in the United States of America

This book relies on the author's memory of true events. As such, it is a purely personal recounting, reflecting his opinions and recollections. Some names and identifying details of individuals were changed to protect their privacy.

We just do what all public safety personnel doenforce the laws, assist the injured, and deal with death. We just do it in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the winter. And everyone we meet is carrying a gun.

I cant paint. I cant build things. I have no gifts when it comes to doing anything creative. But I can find people.

Roger Guay

This book is for all the great, brave men and women who have taken the oath to preserve natural resources and have made it their lifes mission, both present and past. We are a unique group of folks because we hear a different drum beating in our hearts. Embedded in us is this undeniable call to be the keepers of the fields, forests, and waters of the land we love. This thing that burns inside us drives us to keep going in the toughest conditions, risking our lives so that the torch we were handed makes it to the next generation and to the next.

I dedicate this book to two men who persevered in the Maine Warden Service with me as the Class of 86.

Daryl Gordon, my classmate, my friend, my working partner. A man who shared his faith and taught me how to have a personal relationship with God, the Creator. Daryl lost his life while flying his warden plane on patrol in northern Maine. He gave the ultimate sacrifice. I never hear a plane flying off in the distance and dont think it is him keeping an eye on me. My big brother.

Rick Stone, my classmate, my friend, a great man, a warden recovery diver, a faithful man of God who gave his all every day until God called him home. Rick died due to cancer a few years ago.

These men were men of honor. Shining examples of dedication, honor, and humility. They are both legends with whom I was privileged to serve.

Roger Guay

To all the great men and women in law enforcement who have so patiently and generously shared their stories and their time. And, as always, to my patient husband, Ken Cohen, who puts up with my riding around in trucks, asking strangers to share their stories.

Kate Clark Flora

CREED

R ecognizing the responsibilities entrusted to me as a member of the Warden Service of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife of the State of Maine, an organization dedicated to the preservation of the fish and wildlife laws of Maine, I pledge myself to perform my duties honestly and faithfully to the best of my ability and without fear, favor, or prejudice. I will wage unceasing war against violation of the fish and game law in every form and will consider no sacrifice too great in the performance of my duty. I will obey the laws of the United States of America, and of the State of Maine, and will support and defend their Constitutions against all enemies whomsoever, foreign or domestic. I will always be loyal to and uphold the honor of my organization, my state, and my country.

CONTENTS

CO-AUTHORS NOTE

A few years ago, a retired Maine game warden named Roger Guay sent me an email. He said that hed always been told he had good stories to tell from his twenty-five years as a warden. People kept urging him to write them down, but he had no idea how to go about it. He was contacting me because hed read a book Id written Finding Amy: A True Story of Murder in Maine . Roger and his brilliant chocolate lab, Reba, had participated in the search for murder victim Amy St. Laurents body. He said he liked the way I wrote about the investigation and the wardens work. He wanted to know if we could talk.

That was beginning of a beautiful friendship. I was in the midst of writing about another missing murder victim ultimately found by the warden service and their trained K-9s. Roger had been part of that search as well. I needed his expertise and he needed mine. Our subsequent conversations showed me that he truly did have great stories to tell.

In the beginning, it looked like it was going to be a lighthearted book. Those stories were anecdotes about fish and wildlife enforcement, about what its like to be a rookie and the adrenaline high that comes from beating the bad guy. But as we drove the back roads around Greenville, Maine, in his green pickup, and every corner we turned had a story, I got ever deeper insights into the challenges and demands involved in being one of Maines off-road public safety officers.

Rogers story wasnt just about fish and wildlife enforcement or the rigors of wilderness rescue. It was the story of a life shaped by dedication to protecting cherished resources for future generations. It was the story of the patience, endurance, and ability to read the woods required to find those who have become lostand bring them safely home. It was the story of the powerful relationship between a handler and his dog, and how the team became an invaluable resource for finding those lost or dead in the woods, and, ultimately, finding crime victims whose bodies had been hidden or buried in Maines vast tracts of wilderness.

Those of us who live in a world where going into the woods might mean a few hours of hiking or a trip to a civilized campground have little concept of what the wardens life involves. The job is never nine-to-five. It can be day or night, or day and night, or even many days on end. Like many public safety jobs, it can go from peaceful to full-bore intensity in the time it takes the radio to crackle. An enforcement day may go from driving back roads in a truck to an intense emergency rescue of plane crash victims who have to be put on a stretcher, carried half a mile through the woods, and walked through an icy pond to a waiting floatplane.

Hunters, boaters, and the drivers of off-road vehicles carry guns. Poachers are active after dark and do not want to be caught. Snowmobilers may get lost somewhere on hundreds of miles of trails and may not be reported missing until night has fallen. They may be driving a powerful machine drunk at 2:00 a.m., when charging through a checkpoint seems easier than getting caught. ATVs allow quick access to wilderness areas that could take days to walk to, and corresponding access to protected ponds, making both enforcement and rescue bigger challenges.