Illegal poaching happens in Pennsylvania. A retired wildlife officer details encounters

While the majority of hunters follow the rules, there are people out under the cover of darkness illegally killing wildlife in Pennsylvania, including deer.

Timothy “Tim” Flanigan, a retired wildlife conservation officer with the Pennsylvania Game Commission has recounted his experiences trying to catch poachers.

The 79-year-old from Bedford County, with the help of his wife, Debbie, published a book called “ Night Killers, Blood Lusting Poachers ” through Amazon. The book sells for $14.95 and Flanigan’s goal is to help people understand what wardens encounter and how the public can help stop poachers.

It’s the first book of a three-part series about his experiences in law enforcement.

Flanigan discovered early in his career that he was in a dangerous profession.

“A man tried to kill me there in Westmoreland County," he said. "I lost a lot of blood and went to the hospital, but not before he wore my handcuffs."

The defendant had a loaded 12-gauge that Flanigan was able to push away. The suspect took the officer’s nightstick and hit him on the head two times which caused heavy bleeding.

Flanigan then pulled his pistol and the defendant soon stopped his resistance.

The serious encounter happened because the man was hunting with his sons in a closed area that was only for dog training.

“It would have been a minor $25 fine,” Flanigan said. “It was my first year in the field and it was a very fortunate thing because it made me very, very careful from then on.

“I did not expect resistance in any way whatsoever and it was a sudden life or death situation.

“Everyone we’re dealing with has a gun, but very few people we deal with are serious outlaws who are going to resist. The night killers I really concentrated on, that are in this book, are bad. They resist. They are usually drunk and they are out to kill. But you can’t approach the sportsman like that. The sportsman is my friend. I was a sportsman before I went into the Game Commission."

Flanigan worked three decades for the Game Commission always in the field working on projects, law enforcement and dealing with the public.

“To me, the fieldwork was the job to have,” he said about not wanting to take other jobs that would have kept him more in an office setting. He worked three years in Westmoreland County, 27 in Bedford County and has helped officers in other parts of the state as well.

“I had a credit card and a four-wheel-drive car that didn’t cost me any money to go where I wanted in my district. I can go behind locked gates, I’m in the woods every day, I got my dogs, my shotgun and my cameras with me. What’s not to like about this job?”

The job was different when he worked through the night looking for people who were illegally shooting deer.

“To go out and catch these guys at 3, 4 or 5 in the morning, that’s when this really happens, when the serious poachers are out there,” he said.

When Flanigan meets young officers he’s willing to offer advice on dealing with the public.

“You got to be friendly, but ready to react in a moment of danger that occur at any time," he said. "I tell them that you have to be a little like Barney Fife (Don Knotts, a deputy on the Andy Griffith television show) on the outside and Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood a police character in movies) on the inside. You have to be friendly and jovial, but seriously alert to danger.”

He retired in 2005 and now enjoys writing. Flanigan is also an avid wildlife photographer. In 2020, he worked with Wild River Press to produce a coffee-table-style book called “ Grouse & Woodcock, The Birds of My Life .” The 413-page book sells for $150.

“It’s the most complete compilation of ruffed grouse and woodcock natural history to be found anywhere,” Flanigan said. It’s designed to help people to become better hunters.

His latest book is something he has been working on throughout his career and it was published in June. While he was working as an officer, he penned a weekly column in the Bedford Gazette called “The Outdoor Journal.” He would highlight some of the encounters that he experienced in the field.

“When I was catching these night poachers, even the local poachers were happy because most of my night poachers came from Maryland. All the states that surround Pennsylvania, there are seven that touch our border, and all prohibit spotlighting. But Pennsylvania has always and still does call it a family recreational activity,” he said.

Flanigan said he waited until a suspect fired their gun at deer before stopping someone for poaching.

“Catching these night poachers is a special skill. You have to try to be as invisible as possible, not be seen until the moment of apprehension,” he said. Another officer told him to “catch them sticky-fingered. Catch them in the act.”

Flanigan said he caught hundreds of people illegally shooting deer over his career.

“Catching that night poacher for me was like a hunter killing a big buck. He was the No. 1 trophy that I wanted,” he said.

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Reasons for poaching deer

“There are a couple motivations for that and food is not a viable cause,” he said. People who want a deer are able to be put on a list with a local game warden who can share a deer that was killed for crop damage or other incidents.

“They shoot deer because they can. Some guys just get real a kick out of killing, they shoot anything, does, fawns, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Most of them killed big bucks because they could. Most of them left them lay. Some of the big bucks got their heads cut off. It was not uncommon to find a big buck carcass with no head. Some would shoot for antlers, but most of them just shot for the heck of it,” he said.

He’s had to arrest people from all walks of life, including farmers and police officers.

The chapters of the book involve some of the most bizarre encounters.

“The ones that are in here are the really crazy incidents, like being held at gunpoint,” he said while looking at his book.

Flanigan was determined to be out in the field to protect the wildlife resource. He remembers one time that he needed to use his own motorcycle to patrol when his work vehicle wasn’t available. It’s one of the chapters in his book.

“My night arrest records jumped up, it was crazy. It was so easy to roll up on these people in a motorcycle,” he said. “I rolled up right beside a car and took the rifle out of a man’s hands right after he shot,” he said. “They didn’t expect an officer on a motorcycle.”

Being retired 19 years, he said what he experienced may not be what law enforcement officers are seeing today, but he knows poaching continues to be a problem.

“It’s a different world today, but it’s not different in poaching. People still want to kill. The people who want to do this are criminals,” Flanigan said. In addition, he said most of the night poachers are drinking alcohol or using illegal drugs.

Patrol captain reflects on Flanigan’s work

Brett Bowser thanks Flanigan and other conservation officers for helping him as a youth to become involved in wildlife conservation for his career.

Bowser grew up in Bedford County and is now the patrol captain for the Minnesota and Wisconsin Division of Law Enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Now 43, he has enjoyed reading Flanigan’s book as it brings back his connections to southcentral Pennsylvania. “I think I read it in two days.”

“I like the book. For me, being in the position, it’s very relatable. I’ve had similar stories. His are older, the technology has changed. We’re not seeing spotlighting as much now as we are seeing people poaching deer with thermals or night vision,” he said.

Where Bowser lives, he said the poachers are mainly targeting bucks, not does. “It’s trophy-driven,” he said about people looking for big antlers. Drones and crossbows are also becoming popular tools for people to be hunting with during closed hunting times.

Bowser recommends the book to everyone who enjoys wildlife. “For anyone who is a hunter, it’s a good read to see what’s going on. I think it’s also good for a legal hunter to see because there are incidents in there where it was a phone call, it was a tip that made the case,” he said.

“It shows the importance to a sportsman to not be afraid to call, to make that call and say what they saw,” Bowser said. Tips from the public have helped Bowser in making many of the arrests he’s performed over the years.

Flanigan encourages members of the public to report anything that looks unusual or suspicious as officers rely on those reports to help capture criminals. When people reported hearing shots at night, it gave him places to watch for illegal activities.

“My district was like 500-and-some square miles and often I was covering two districts. You have to be in the right place at the right time,” he said. “When the public helps you with information, you have to take that information seriously, keep it confidential and work on it and if you make an arrest or not, report back to those people.”

He credits his faith for keeping him safe during his investigations.

“Without a doubt, the Lord must have been with me on a number of occasions."

Through the dangerous encounters and various levels of harassment, Flanigan still enjoyed his work.

“I never met the man I was afraid of and was never in a situation where I didn’t visualize myself coming out on top and I always did,” he said. “The best part of that is, I always made the arrest and survived the incident without hurting someone, but maybe the handcuffs pinched a little bit,” he said with a smile.

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him with questions about the outdoors or story ideas at bwhipkey@gannett.com or 814-444-5928. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors .

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Illegal poaching happens in Pennsylvania. A retired wildlife officer details encounters