Terry Hodges
This is not a novel. This book, like the other eight books of the WARDEN FORCE series, is a collection of short stories, all true, the fascinating and often harrowing experiences of real game wardens pursuing armed violators in wild and remote places. TV shows such as JOE PICKETT (Spectrum/Paramount+), WILD JUSTICE (National Geographic), NORTH WOODS LAW (Animal Planet) and LONE STAR LAW (Animal Planet) introduced the public to the real-life adventures of game wardens and conservation officers, a public hungry for more. And now, for readers, the WARDEN FORCE series provides the most exhaustive and comprehensive work in literature on this little known and often dangerous profession.Award winning author Terry Hodges was himself a California State Fish and Game warden and supervisor/leader of game wardens for over 30 intense years. He writes with the authority possible only by those who have actually lived the life, who have actually packed a badge and a gun on behalf of wildlife and battled all manner of wildlife-destroying outlaws.The fifth season contains 13 more exciting adventures:Uncatchable Chick Feathers - A clever deer-poaching archer, widely considered to be too smart to catch, meets an old-time game warden who disagrees.Incident at Killer Cove - Armed killers on the run tangle with game wardens on the prowl.Sooner or Later - An outlaw falconer outsmarts a new and inexperienced game warden. A year later, he’s not so lucky.Otter Killers and Uncommon Luck - Wardens pursue sea-otter-killing commercial abalone divers.Leo’s Demise - One man dies before wardens deal with an African lion, a grown pet gone rogue, in the suburbs of Los Angeles.Tough Customers - A game warden and a hostage-taking armed robber nearly destroy a drugstore.Bug Pirates - Trap-raiding lobster thieves meet with misfortune.Setliners - Wardens target long-line catfish poachers.A Matter of Preference - Wardens attempting to ambush season-jumping commercial lobster fishermen get a big surprise.Delta Ambush - Night-prowling, canoe-borne wardens stalk a wily and destructive Delta outlaw.Rake Man - A well disguised warden outsmarts lawless abalone pickers.The Honest to God Truth - An honest mistake and a white-knuckle, midnight vehicle tail through Long Beach yields a surprise and an important arrest.Raid of the Stockton Airborne - Did they or didn’t they? Wardens from the sky? A day for mass-killing duck poachers does not end well.