Bear Grease - Ep. 234: Yellowstone Poacher

Episode Date: July 24, 2024

In this episode of the Bear Grease Podcast, Clay Newcomb interviews Retired US Forest Service Special Agent, Russ Arthur, once again as the plot thickens with another unbelievable story of undercover law enforcement. This time busting a North Carolina man illegal elk guiding in Yellowstone National Park. It's a wild story of intrigue and covert operations that puts Russ in a situation to push the limit to keep his cover. Also hear how Russ was brought out of retirement for a special assignment that required his very particular set of skills, training, and instructing wildlife officers overseas. Connect with Clay and MeatEater Clay on Instagram MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube Shop Bear Grease MerchSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. First Lights fieldware collection is made for the work that happens long before opening day and continues when the season ends. Products built for early mornings, full days and real use. Hard wearing where they need to be versatile where it matters. No shortcuts. Just gear designed for the work that earns the season.

Built to perform, built to last. Check out. First Light's new field. Worldware gear at firstlight.com. As a matter of fact, they got me off to the side that first evening and said, man, don't know how you know this guy, but be careful. You seem like a pretty good guy. Just going to let you know. Don't know how you know this guy, but you need to be careful.

And I was like, you're telling you. On this episode, we will again join United States Forest Service Special Agent Russ Arthur as he works a very unique case involving a. legal elk outfitting in Montana. On our last episode, Russ told us about the early part of his career in North Carolina and the wild string of circumstances involving him being run over, which led to the imprisonment of a bad, bad dude. This story is just as wild boys, but in a different way.

And at the risk of foreshadowing too much, I'm just going to say, I really doubt that you're going to want to miss this one. and don't forget that you can watch the Bear Grease Render our every other week podcast on Meteeter's new YouTube channel just dedicated to podcasts. You can see old Brent and his overalls. As fate would have it, we're walking around this ridge top

and we run across this sign. And it says you are entering the Outerstone National Park, no guns, and there's an elk bugling about 100 yards of the side of that sign. and I said, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I said, I got to video this sign. And he said, hold on, hold on. And he gets in front of the sign.

And I said, hey, oh man, look at this. And I video him as he reads the sign. And then he says, and where do you think we're going to go? Come on. My name is Clay Newcomb, and this is the Bear Grease podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant. Search for insight in unlikely places. and where we'll tell the story of Americans who live their lives close to the land.

Presented by FHF Gear, American-made, purpose-built, hunting and fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as the places we explore. Back in 96, 97, I was a special agent, again with the Forest Service, and I was here in Tennessee. And I got a call from an agent friend of mine. from Montana. And he had had an unusual encounter with an informant. And he began to tell me this story to see if I could help him with a case.

This story took place in the early 1990s. Email was hardly a thing, no cell phones and text messages. And I like it when a story starts with a landline phone ringing with somebody asking for help. We've got my attention, Russ. It's kind of funny how this case came about. So you got an agent sitting in Montana that had a young lady come and knock on the door and said, I need to turn my ex-husband in. By the way, those are usually pretty good informants.

This was about to say. That's somebody you probably listened to, isn't it? Yes. And evidently, he and her had property together in Montana. but they lived in North Carolina. And he had a scam going where he was taking hunters into the Absorca Mountain Range, elk hunting, and he didn't have a permit. And which that's not a big deal if you're setting out in Montana

and you have somebody come in and say, hey, I know somebody that's hunting and guiding people without a permit. I mean, that's not the worst, you know, most egregious. case, you know, in the world, but it's not good because it takes away other opportunities from forest users and legal good outfitters and guides. But she began to tell more. He picks his own clients. He don't advertise. He charges minimum of 5,000 ahead, and he'll do seven rate clients a year and it's cash money only. So you do the math, you know, $35,000, $40,000 cash over a month for two periods of time.

And he also is, he's into trading stolen guns. So now then, you're an agent sitting there and listen to this. Now then, this may be a case worthy of opening. Of course, the first thing that the agent did was he pulled the records. He found out exactly with a map where this guy hunted. And she knew exactly where he hunted. And it was right on the edge of the Allistone National Park. and she told him it's not uncommon for him to take people into the park.

So now you're, you got a little more heightened. Either this woman is vindictive and creative in her story about her ex-husband, or she's the perfect informant. Illegal guiding is one thing, but illegal guiding in Yellowstone National Park is something completely different. Russ, I'm all ears. Well, found out that there was a couple of really good reputable guides, you know, that already had permits in that area. And that, as a matter of fact, they'd been turning down people applying for permits from that area because it just didn't need anymore.

Now, whether or not that had anything to do with him, he had never applied for a permit, first of all. So it wasn't like he had tried the process and couldn't get in. So, we, with that agent's help from Montana, we laid an investigative plan and set up a time for me to talk to this ex-wife. So at the time, we had one of the best agents in North Carolina that I've ever worked with is a female, top-notch, best you've ever better had. I mean, she was the best at surveillance, best at interview, and she was good. So we meet her and we interview her. And she basically told us exactly how to catch her ex-husband. She said he sets up, there is a huge expo in Raleigh, North Carolina called the Dixie Deer Classic.

But she said, he will go the Dixie Deer Classic. and he set up this big, huge display of old Winchester guns. But he's not selling Winchester's. He's looking for clients, and he'll pick you. And so you need to go to Dixie Deer Classic and devise a way for him to engage you in a conversation on this illegal hunt. So we immediately knew what to do. This ex-wife, when you're interviewing,

on her, how could you tell that she was telling the truth and not just vindictive? She knew too much about the area. She'd do too many details. You could tell that she was put out and you just knew. She just seemed credible. Right. Seemed very credible. And you've got a good point.

You've got to watch out for that because you could be a setup. And you've also got to be careful because, you know, let's say you set up this and then two months later they get back to together. Deals off. Right. So you got to stay in contact with her this whole time. So basically, the plan was simple. Me and the female agent from Asheville, we loaded up and we went to the Dixie Deer

Classic. Obviously, just covert. It wasn't a large undercover. But nobody knew who we were. We're just dressed like hunters. And we walked around that whole, it's huge arena. We walked around that whole place. And there was a lot of outfitters set up from whitetail hunts to hunts in Canada.

Very few gun dealers there, but he was one there. Well, you know, I've got a passion with old Winchesters. So I see his booth and she and I put forth the plan that we had talked about. We go up as a couple. I'm looking at the guns. She's saying, where are you from? and he's saying Montana and, you know, what do you do out there? And, you know, he's talking to her.

And I'm looking at the guns and talking about this model and that model. And I just looked at her and said, hey, when you finish up here, I'm going to go over here at this outpeter and check them out. Well, immediately when I went out, he approached her and said, what's he interested in? And she tells him, well, we're kind of on our anniversary. and I promised him an elk hunt next year. He took it hook line and said.

I mean, it was a gut hook. And I looked over there and within 30 seconds or a minute after I'd walked away, she's behind the booth with him looking at a photo album. A big elk. A big elk. So I come back over there and a guy tells me, look, I've got you set up. $2,500 down right now. cash is all I'll take

but the only stipulation we're going to be hunting public land I don't like to advertise a lot if we run into anybody while we're hunting you just tell them that me and you're good friends I said you got it I said I think I understand I think I understand

their plan to get invited to be guided by this guy was perfect and it sounds like it took all of five minutes it turns out the Dixie Deer Classic is the nation's oldest white-tail Expo and it's held in Raleigh, North Carolina. This ex-wife was on point.

So we got the hunt plan. So we go out to this place, Montana for the hunt. Now this is, this app, Dixie Deer Classic's in the summer. So you got a couple months. Yeah, months the plan. Going out there in September, I suspect. Yeah, it was whenever the gun season, opening of the gun season, whenever it was, I think it was the end of September 1st, October.

And he had not even told me yet where we'd be. hunting. He just said we had a long horseback ride. The agent out there coordinated with, you know, the gaming fish told me how to get my permit. Back then, you could get over-the-counter stuff. So the agent out there

coordinated the end with game and fish from Montana. You know, so they knew, you know, what was going on. And evidently, they'd been after this guy for quite some time. So we go out there, he does horseback,

and, you know, I've been studying maps of that area because I'm a map freak anyway. I've been studying maps of the potential areas. And we actually laid a plan because contrary to popular belief, these are not comfortable hunts. There is usually not good eating. It's usually not good sleeping. It's usually not people knowledgeable of the resources. These are just not comfortable hunts. Like when you're going with somebody that's doing something wrong.

Right. You know, I have a lot of friends that claim, man, you got it made, you've got to go hunting free. No, you don't understand. These conditions are not, they're not ideal. And you have to be on edge the whole time. And, you know, it's just, you know, you're not with friends. You can discuss things openly. You've got to watch everything you do say and act.

So I always would lay a plan if I went on a backcountry undercover to get out early. whether the conditions were just imbearable or whether you've got enough evidence that it's time to leave. Well, my plan on this one was we made up a story that my dad was sick. And I even asked the guy, and I said, who could we leave a message with that if something happens, then he said, we'll stop by the Forest Service office. So on the way in, we stopped by the Forest Service office. and I told, and these people didn't know me,

they just thought I was legit. And I told the person that they directed me to, I said, I'm getting ready to go into the Absorcas. This is the parking lot we're going to be at. We were doing two things here. We're also letting gaming fish know exactly where we were too.

And we're going to be there 10 days. I don't know if y'all got any way or any contact with radio with people, but if I'd like a phone number for this ranger station, something were to happen to my dad while I'm in there. Well, they were very nice. So now then, we're going in the backcountry, no cell service, no phone, no radio.

How am I going to communicate out? You're by yourself, too. Yeah. Well, the agent out there had set it up. There was a remote guard station out there, and there were going to be two wildlife officers that knew my situation. So if I need it out, all I had to do was somehow get a message to Hellroaring Creek. Well, there was another client that was in camp with us. So I knew where Hell Roaring Creek was.

We passed it on the way to our camp. So I had that in my mind. I can get back there. It wasn't but two or three miles if I needed to. The plan is set and things are about to get real. I want to add to something that Russie. commented on. It might be easy to think that this would be an enjoyable thing, like in the same way that a legal hunt would be. After all, he is in a beautiful place, and in a way he is hunting,

though he's hoping not to kill one, but pretend like he wants to kill one. But he can, if it's absolutely necessary to not blow his cover, the level of stress would be almost hard to comprehend. The potential of being found out and the repercussions of that coupled with the lifetime of reverence for wildlife and the law, like we know Russ has, made this a cringe-worthy, difficult situation. Last spring, Clay Newcomb and I collaborated with Jason Phelps at Phelps game calls and building each of our own favorite turkey diaphragms called prime cuts.

Now, I'm going to tell you, I love mine because it's easy to use. I'm not going to go, I'm not going to win a turkey calling contest. It's just not going to happen. But when I run this call, I get the sounds that gobblers are looking for. I have a great turkey hunting track record. If you go listen to real turkeys out in the woods, they're not going to win calling contests, right? That's who I listen to. I can make those sounds on my cut.

I also hunt with Phelps's cut, and I hunt with Clay's cut because they're all three great cuts. Check out Prime Cuts at Phelpsgamecalls.com. I think you'll be glad you did. And you'll find out that the Steve Ronella cut is an easy-to-use cut for beginning callers who just want to start making good turkey noises and getting action. So the hunt started off terrible. First of all, we camped right next to two guys from Colorado that were what I would consider, very good hunters, very respectable hunters.

This guy knew those two guys. and you could tell those two guys didn't like my guide. As a matter of fact, they got me off to the side that first evening and said, man, don't know how you know this guy, but be careful. You seem like a pretty good guy. Just going to let you know. Don't know how you know this guy, but you need to be careful. And I was like, you're telling you.

Yeah. So that night that when we first got there, I know it was going to be a bad, bad trip when he walked over up in the trees, and he had some bags that he had hung up in the trees with ropes, and he started letting them down. And it was food that he had stash from the year before. And he started going through it, and he had opened a jar of peanut butter and smell it.

I think that'll be okay. He'd open up something like, oh, this is still good, and I'm thinking, this is going to be terrible. I'll never forget he had a bunch of tang. Remember the drink orange tank? Dry mix. Well, I wonder, what's he doing all that? Well, that was for his vodka.

So that night, I had to sit there by that fire and watch him and the other client that he had there with him just get drunk. And, of course, I'm not drinking. And I'm thinking, man, this is going to be terrible. And I'm trying to talk hunting. Hey, where are we going tomorrow morning? Have you been in here scouting? You know, and it was just like I was with a drunk. And I was.

So I sat there that night, and the next morning is opening morning. So I wake up and I'm out there drinking coffee. And it's breaking daylight. And I literally hear five or six different elk bugling. And I watched the guys and come up the trail that had camped right below us, come back and start leading their pack up toward the bugling elk. And I'm wondering, when are we going? Now, I need to back up and clarify something.

you do not have to kill an elk on illegal outfitting and guide to prove illegal outfitting and guide. You got to prove the intent. So being so close to the park, we had met with, obviously, park officials, and we had met with prosecutors on where do you draw the line? You know, because you never want to be accused of you being the one that's depleting the resources. Right. Like as an undercover guy, if you killed an elk, you're being criticized for that. Right. So you want to minimize that as best you can. And in the perfect world, you don't kill one. I mean, in the perfect world, you don't kill one. So you got to have that in the back of your mind all this time. So this guy gets up, you know, he's hungover and he's stumbling around there. And we're hearing elk bugle.

and we hear a gunshot. And then it's probably not 300 yards from our camp. And he says, well, that's probably so-and-so. And that's the guys with a camp right below us. And he said, let's go see what they got. So we got a couple of stock, and we went up there. And they had a nice five-by-five down. And he actually helped them get it caped out.

and spent half the day helping those guys. And I'm thinking, is he going to take me hunting or not? You know, and what do you need gathering evidence? Like, just your word? Like, you could just come out and just say, he took me hunting, we did this, or do you have recording devices on you? What I did on this case is I took a video camera

and I prepped him and it worked that I'm wanting to video this hunt. My dad has never seen this part of the country. he's getting up an age and I don't know if he'll ever get out here I'd like to document all this country with a video camera and he welcomed that these guys have a big ego and if you play on their ego

and say I'm getting ready to make you a movie star back to somebody in another state he ate it up he said yeah he said that's fine so I would continually video stuff I really didn't even need to video but getting him used to my video And I'd always talk in it

Everybody called my dad the old man And I'd always Hey old man take a look at this You know Like I was talking to my dad So A lot of that To help with intent

So finally The next morning he said We're gonna go right back up past That guy killed There's more elk bugling And we're gonna get them It's okay Well same thing that before

Stayed out drunk By the fire and I laid in the tent just uncomfortable, you know, just wanting this to be over. He takes me out the next morning, right out of the box, an Elksbuegling. I would consider him probably a mediocre caller, and he calls up this.

It was a pretty good, probably a five-by-five. I couldn't, it never got close, but it would have been close enough to shoot. And I threw the gun up, I was shooting a pre-64 model 70, Winchester. He stepped out two or three times, got to cross Arizona, and I purposely let him go. And he was like, man, what is wrong?

I said, man, there's too much brush in the way. You know, so about an hour later, we're walking, and he's calling every now and then. Do you think at this point you've got what you need? Not all the way. Yeah. Not all the way. And he's filming you?

Well, I didn't film that. Okay. I didn't film that. Okay. So the next help, he calls in, it's like a, it's a raghorn. And so that was my excuse. Too small. Too small.

So too thick, too small. I'm thinking, man, I'm going to, I'm going to have to maybe have to kill one. Because I've given two excuses that I don't want it to say, hey, what's wrong with you, buddy? You know, so as fate would have it, we're walking around this ridgetop and we run across this sign. And I stop and I'm reading it. And it says, you are entering Yadolston National Park,

no guns, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, loud, mental violators will be prosecuted in citing the legal law. And there's an Elton Bugling about 100 yards of the side of that sign. And I said, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, I said, I got to video this sign.

And he said, hold on, hold on. And he gets in front of the sign. And I video him, and I said, hey, oh man, look at this. And I video him as he reads the sign. And then he says, and where do you think we're going to go? Come on. So we get in there, and he calls us elk up,

and it's a good five by five, and it's about 25 yards from us. And he says, man, take him, take him down. Well, it stomped all around us for five minutes, it seems like. And so finally, you know, I shot him. Wow, things just escalated a lot. I was not expecting that. With two other fake bumbles on elk encounters and Russ not shooting, he felt that he had no choice but to take the elk.

In these situations, it takes a ton of confidence and quick in the field decisions that will impact the case when it goes to court, but also the personal safety of the agent. And also, Russ's team at the National Forest Service, service, had been in communication with the National Park Service and the Montana fishing wildlife people and some lawyers, and all of them knew that it was a possibility that he would actually have to take an elk on this hunt and potentially even in the park. The cost of one elk was worth putting this bad guy out of business for good.

But do not think for a second that Russ was happy about or enjoyed it. It just wasn't like that. And it's not lost on me that in some cases, authorities have taken flack for being participants, even to the point of pulling the trigger in illegal hunting. But I've personally never heard a situation where this power was abused, though I'm sure it has been. We get the elk down. He processes it. We get it back to camp.

Of course, we don't, you know, we're not talking to anybody else. You know, we just, we killed it up on, up on the mountain up there. Was he, was he nervous about it being? down there? Oh yeah, a little bit, but not bad. So it's like, hey, we got to get this thing across the line. Right. Yep. So we get it out of there, get it back to camp, and I'm thinking, how can I get out here? So the next day, he's going to take the client from Kentucky. He's got a client from Kentucky with him. So the next morning, when they go hunting, I beat feet back to hell roaring guard station

to where the wildlife officers were supposed to be at. Well, they were out on patrol and weren't there. Well, all I did was I put them a note under the door, and I kind of wrote it in code. I said, hey, guys, this is, and I use my undercover name. Just want to let you know, this has been a great hunt, and I have gotten what I came here for. Thank you. That's in case somebody else found a note. Yeah. And I'm wondering, I hope they read that.

Because they know you're looking for a way out, and they have an excuse. Right, right. Your dad's sick. They're going to say that. Right. They're going to communicate that to your camp. Right. So they should read this note and be like, we've got to get him out of there.

Right. So I go back to camp and I'm wondering and I'm hoping that resonated because I really don't want to stay eight more days in here under these conditions. The very next day, almost at dark, a park ranger come riding in on a horse. Not a forest service, but a park ranger. And what those guys did, they, uh, They took it a step further. They facilitated a phone call through the agent out there. The agent called the district from the Forest Service and said, hey, you've got a guy out there hunting.

We've been contacted by his family that he needs to come home. So the wildlife officers didn't deliver the message. So this guy that's coming in really thinks it's real? Yes, and it was a girl. It's a female park ranger. And so she really thinking this is real. And she did a great job. She pulled me off to the side and said,

you know, I need to let you know there's been a term for your worst on your dad. You know, word came into the Out Forest Service office. They knew I was going to be in patrol over here today, and I'm the one delivering it. And so I had to act like I was, you know, a little distraught over that. But before she broke the news, she was talking about, hey, it looks like you've had some luck. And it was one of my favorite photos. I got my picture with her. and the elk, you know.

And so they delivered the message and after she left. So would the, the outfitter would have seen this? Oh, yeah. He saw the whole scenario. So he sees this lady right up. Yes. Oh, yeah. So, she doesn't know.

So she's not acting. Right. Yeah. It's a real deal for her. And that's why how we had it set up that way. Yeah. So soon as she leaves, I says, well, you know, I hate it, but I need to be out of here.

And he says, well, you know, we can't do that. And I said, yeah, we can. And he said, well, I've got another client I need to finish with. And maybe we'll get elk tomorrow. Then we can leave. I said, no, I said, here's a deal. I said, I'm leaving if I have to walk out here. And he said, well, he said, I guess I could.

We could go out through the park. Because his wife had somehow shuttled a vehicle over to a parking lot that was a shorter distance. It wasn't the 20 miles. it was like six or eight miles, but it was through the park. And you can't do any guiding, can't transport any gun or any meat across the park. He said, we could go through the park,

but if we get caught, we'd be in trouble. And I said, well, I'll tell you what I'll do. You keep the meat, you keep the horns. I'll come back out here next summer and go fishing, and I'll get them. And he said, okay, I'll keep your gun too. I said, no, I'll keep my gun. He said, no, if they catch us with that gun, and I knew what he wanted to do of that gun.

He had already had his eye on that old Model 70. And I said, no, I'll take it. I said, tell you what, I'm taking the gun. If we get called, I'll put it on my horse. He said, okay. He said, but I'd rather just, you pick that up. Now, is this actually your gun? Yes, it's actually my gun.

So you didn't want him to. No. You weren't about to let him steal it from him. No, no. And he had been known of doing people that way, And then when they'd contact him, he would make up lies like one of the cases was somebody broke into my house and stole all those guns. And I'm sorry. You know, but he was selling them.

So this guy was bad all the way around. So that's what we did. We packed out across the park, left the meat. Now what would you have done if you had got caught back there? Would you just had to kind of gone through the system for a little while? I'd have gone through the system for a while. I mean, they probably would have, would they have arrested? you probably arrested me.

And you had decided to kind of go through the process, but the park superintendent knew. So once it reached a certain level. At some point, they would have been like, okay, this guy's. So they get me out and I come home. So time passes. Of course, I send all the evidence, the videos. You got your video camera. Yeah, and I sent it there.

And I had undercover phone at my house. And two days before they served the search warrant, I was notified by the state of Montana in the Forest Service. It was a federal search warrant. They were going to seize all of his records, you know, any evidence associated to illegal outfitting and trying to find out other clients. So I knew the day that the search warrant was getting ready to happen.

So I stayed around my undercover phone that day. Of course, he still didn't know. So he left on good terms? Yeah, left on good terms, and I was going to come back out and get my horns and get my meat and do some fishing next summer. Yeah. About, let's see, That would have probably been February or March when they served the warrant.

They waited, you know, good while. They let the season run on. And my phone rings, and it was him. And he begins to tell me, he said, man, I got bad news. What is it? I don't know how this happened. You know, my house just got raided. And they took your horns.

They took your meat. They took everything. And I acted mad. And I said, but how? I know, this isn't right. He said, well, they got some other people's meat, their horns, too. And he said, took all my records. And he said, they may be able to look you up

because I'd written some records down and some notebooks of mine. But if they look you up, you need to do me a favor. And I said, what's that? He said, you remember that video that you took? I said, oh, yeah. He said, make sure you get rid of that. I'll never forget. I told him, I said, that video is in a safe place.

Oh my goodness. So he was really hammered. The courts really hammered him good. And I don't remember the exact, but it was $10,000 fine and lost a hunting license for like five years. So it turned out to be a pretty good case. And that area,

I was so glad to get him removed because we have so few areas that are pristine. And they need to be protected. Those legal outfitters have the right to take people and have a good experience without the interference of somebody like that. I didn't enjoy the hunt, but I enjoyed the outcome. Yeah. Did you take any flack for killing an elk? No.

None. None. You just had to do it. Yep. And I'd stand by it today. That was a wild story. It's hard to imagine the complexity of being in a situation like Russ was in, and the added stress of no modern communication aids.

Last spring, Clay Newcomb and I collaborated with Jason Phelps at Phelps game calls and building each of our own favorite turkey diaphragms called prime cuts. Now, I'm going to tell you, I love mine because it's easy to use. I'm not going to go, I'm not going to win a turkey calling contest. It's just not going to happen. But when I run this call, I get the sounds that God. are looking for. I have a great turkey hunting track record. If you go listen to real turkeys out in the woods, they're not going to win calling contests, right? That's who I listen to. I can make those

sounds on my cut. I also hunt with Phelps's cut and I hunt with Clay's cut because they're all three great cuts. Check out prime cuts at Phelps game calls.com. I think you'll be glad you did and you'll find out that the Steve Ronella cut is an easy to use cut for beginning callers who just want to start making good turkey noises and getting action. These two stories of him getting run over in this Yellowstone case were just two that stood out to him in all these years. And we know that there were many, many more. As a little foreshadowing, there will actually be one more story that will be dropped on this feed as an extra bear grease drop, which we've never done before. so be looking out for that.

Russ would retire as the assistant special agent in charge of the southern region of the U.S. for the Forest Service, which encompassed all the national forests in 13 states. He had 30 years of service in 1985 to 2015. But that wouldn't be the end. And unexpectedly, things seem to get even more complex. Here's the final chapter of Russ's career in overtime, you might say. So I had a great career. Had a tough last year in 2014.

I lost my dad. It's my best friend. Part of me was kind of lost then because I always loved sharing my stories. That was a bond I had with my dad that a lot of people don't understand. And he loved hearing the stories of all these things that we've talked about. and retired in 2015. And, you know, I had plans to just kind of, you know, I've got a little farm down in North Georgia on the Conno Saga River.

And I had plans of fulfilling, building a wood shop down there. I love piddling woodworking. You know, I've made a few turkey calls. I wanted to get back into that. I hadn't had time. So I was kind of working on cleaning the farm up and getting ready to start this project when, I got a call from my old boss.

And he said, Russ, man, would you be interested in doing some international travel? And he said, the international programs within the Forest Service is starting up a program on training some of these Southeast Asian countries on conservation law enforcement. I'm not sure how all this went down. But I envision a hardened team of gray-haired men in a small dark room looking at a map of the world discussing the various and sundry wildlife problems. They form a plan of action, but they need a man for the job. Many names are thrown out, but all of them disqualified until a man seated in the back, who hadn't spoken up yet, says, I may know a guy, and his name is Russ Arthur. But by now he's probably huddled around a wood stove, making turkey calls, drinking coffee in the hills of East Tennessee.

There's no way he'll take the job. But will you call him, they say? And he says, yeah, I'll call Russ. That is probably not the way that it happened. And Russ is probably going to be mad at me and embarrassed that I'm trying to make him look like a hero because I think that he is. that was never his intent with telling these stories. I had to pry these stories out of him. But we did, and Russ was the man for this job.

Here's what the mission entailed. I said, well, tell me more about it. And he explained to me that it's kind of a new program. You know, the international programs with the Forest Service has been around for a long time. Very well-respected arm of the agency. some of these other countries had been depleted, just like our country had been depleted from the timber industry back in the 20s, 30s and 40s. These countries have gone through it in more recent times. So it was kind of a natural fit.

Some of the things that we experienced, that were the negatives we learned from, and our agency worked with these other countries to help mitigate some of their losses and get their resources back manageable. And once they got their resources back manageable, and they started establishing protected areas or parks or whatever the respective country call that, then they looked and said, well, you know, now then we need to train a workforce to protect those. He took the job. Our first trip was to Cambodia. And Cambodia was a, it was an eye-opener. I had never traveled that extent in my life. a country board from East Tennessee, just going through customs was an experience. And we trained 18 Rangers, me and the other two.

And it was called a pilot program. It was a one-week training only. And the training consisted of just basic skills that we use in America for negotiating the woods, if you will, kind of fieldcraft things, how to get from. from point A to point B with a map and a compass, how to communicate silently, how to work as a team. You'd teach a skill set in the class and then go out and practice it. The next day, you'd add another skill set on top of that,

and you'd go practice both those skillsets. And by the end of the week, you put all the skill sets together to where they have to go through the woods quietly, use a map and compass, locate a fake poachers camp, surround it quietly and take down a role player that's in the camp as a poacher. So that's kind of, and they had never worked in that concept before. So that was very interesting. The guys there appreciated the training so much.

It was very rewarding. They wanted more handouts, you know, they wanted more material on it. They wanted more field time. They wanted more exercises. could we stay another week and do it again? And I get it. This was new to them. A lot of this was new to them.

But it was very rewarding that that training was that appreciated. What kind of stuff are these guys up against? Well, each country has a different, and I've been to five different countries now, and each country has a unique and different challenge, and it's all based on the type of force they have and the type of wildlife that they have. In Sri Lanka, there's 4,000 elephants over there.

And Sri Lanka is a country the size of West Virginia. So that's a pretty good population. And there's no hunting, but they have a lot of issues and conflicts, and they have a lot of human and elephant interactions. And they have some poaching, but it is a completely protected species. In Sri Lanka, they have several protected areas and parks set aside where people can go visit, but you have to stay on designated trails. You have to go with a guide, and they have species like a leopard.

There's 400 leopards in Sri Lanka. That's not many leopards, if you think about it. So a very important challenge for that country to continue to protect that species. So, you know, like I said, each country has a different set of challenges. The exportation of illegal wood in some countries is big. A lot of illegal wildlife trade, it could be turtles, it could be reptiles, it could be snakes. There's a huge illegal, you know, trade in wildlife. That first class we taught, I really got humbled.

we learned that not only did these guys have very long shifts in the jungle by themselves or with a team of five, well, this particular country, they only allowed one firearm per team. That was their policy. And they lose two to four officers a year to poachers. That's just unacceptable.

And it really hurts. Because when you leave there and you look there, there's 18, which one or two is going to be gone next year. And you've developed this bond with them and this relationship. And you're thinking, gosh, these guys are just so dedicated. But it's a prestigious job to have over there. But it's a very, very dangerous job. In the United States, wildlife officers killed in the line of duty isn't unheard of,

but thankfully it's not common. When you consider the small number of officers over there compared with the thousands that are here, that statistic of these guys getting killed over there really hits home. The involvements that I've had in the overseas has been Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Nepal, and every one of those countries, they've got a huge passion for protecting resources. They have done a tremendous job independently of establishing protected areas. They've done a tremendous job of establishing agencies. They've done a tremendous job of education on wildlife practices and management practices

and some very good surveys and studies and population, you know, densities. So they're doing all of that, but it's relatively new. to have these areas set aside that's being restricted now. And imagine if our national parks in America and our national forest in America were just established 15 or 20 years ago the problems that we would face with the amount of population that's been accustomed to using that land. With those villages over there have been accustomed to using that land for their fuel wood, using that land for their food, using that land for, you know, whatever it provided.

And they have a lot of unique plant species and medicinal things that can be collected out there that are sensitive. So the agencies are now having to protect that. And they do have an advantage in most of these countries that would be a disadvantage to us. and that advantage is in most of these countries, they don't allow hunting. And if they do, it's a very specific species with a very specific amount that can be taken and very, very regulated.

You know, so it comes with a cost. They're protected areas you can't just enter. They're national parks. You have to go with a licensed guide on a trail or a road, and there's no wandering. you will in a lot of these areas. So it's very regulated and pretty cut and dry. Either you can't be in there or you can't be in there. Well, I guess that makes for some bad criminals, though. Oh, yeah.

I mean, I can imagine if in Yellowstone, you could not be in there. Well, you'd either be legal beagle when you were in there or you'd be an absolute outlaw. That's right. Yeah. Wow. Well, it makes you appreciate the way things are here. After my first trip, and I have this feeling, and I've been over there, I think, 10 different countries now, I've made 10 trips, and I feel the same on my way home. I feel proud to be an American, and I have an unprecedented respect for what those guys and girls are going through right now. I mean, it almost saddens me because they're so passionate, and they've got such an uphill battle. Can you imagine having vast areas of wilderness, probably some of the only wilderness in that country, that the access was that tight and there was no hunting?

Now, I realize we can't hunt in national parks, but they are designed for access. It does make me appreciate America and our model of wildlife management, which strives to give access and incentive for stewardship to the common man. Even though there are challenges to this model today, we still got it pretty good. good, but we're going to have to fight to keep it that way. Man, as we come to a close of this two-part series about Russ Arthur and some of his stories, I'm grateful for guys like Russ, and he was so clear that these stories weren't about him. He had to tell him from his perspective, but he always had teams of great people around him,

great supervisors, and great friends that had his back. And hey, here's one last thing before you go. Here's a good squirrel and turkey story from Russ's nine-year-old grandson. I thought you guys might enjoy this. So we saw a little squirrel in the front of the cabin. He kind of just ran all around. Couldn't get him because I shot out of him once. And then he went to the back of the cabin.

Circleed all around the cabin. We couldn't find him. Then we went to the back. We found him. I shot him about three times before I actually hit him. Then I hit him twice and he fell. And then right after that, we realized there was a lot bigger squirrel right in front of him. And we named him fatty because he was huge.

So we've tried to get him since, but we still haven't. We've not seen him. The one that got away? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Big one? Yeah. I got a story that I want to hear.

I heard about your turkey season. Well, we got invited to this private property that seemed a really good spot. So we went up there early in the morning sometime. We went up there. We got in our spot. We didn't hear anything much, so we moved down to below the mountain thing. and then we heard we heard two of them

so we tried to call them up what they sound like yeah pretty similar to that we call them up we saw them coming from the top of them where we were just before we moved so

we called them down to where we were and we figured out there were two of them and once they got close enough, I shot at them. I missed both of them. They jumped up, and when they landed, they goppled. Yep, that was a good morning, and I told him that if he were to be given a score on hunting, he would got 98 that morning, and he wanted to know why 98's so high, and he didn't kill anything.

I said, well, we planned this hunt. We met with a landowner. There's work that went into getting ready for the hunt. He got all this stuff ready the night before. We got up two hours before daylight. We walked up on that mount before daylight. We stayed camouflaged. So you did 98% of the things right.

Just right at the end, missed. That's it. I asked him why he was breathing so hard. It was more like I was so excited. I was so excited because I've never seen a turkey up so close and never actually got a chance to shoot one. So your heart was beating pretty fast? Yeah, I was pretty nervous.

Had you ever felt like that before? Uh, kind of. Maybe with that big old fat squirrel? Yeah, with a squirrel, probably. Thanks so much for listening to Bear, Greece, and Brent's This Country Life podcast. You can help us in three ways by sharing our podcast with your friends and your family. And by supporting our sponsors,

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