Backcountry Lawman

Shrouded in darkness, seasoned poachers prowl Florida’s forests and swamps under the cover of night, while most residents lie asleep and unaware. But marauding poachers are not the only midnight hunters. Throughout the state’s public wilderness tracts, cattle ranches, and water courses, wildlife thieves are stealthily and silently pursued by an astute and practiced predator: the Florida game warden.

Most people have never imagined the often hazardous, often comical, and sometimes bizarre job of a Florida game warden. In Backcountry Lawman, Bob Lee recounts the thrill of tracking and catching an armed poacher in the act—alone, at night, without backup or even a reliable radio to call for help. Lee revisits the days he spent as a fish and wildlife law enforcement officer in northeast Florida, detailing the many dangers he encountered while patrolling the waters and environs of the St. Johns River region from 1977 to 2007.

With thirty years of Florida backcountry patrol experience, Bob Lee has lived through incidents of legend, including one of the biggest environmental busts in Florida history. His fascinating memoir reveals the danger and the humor in the unsung exploits of game wardens.

Few people realize that “monkey fishing”—electrocution of catfish—had the same outlaw mystique in the rivers of Florida as moonshining once did in the hills of Georgia and Tennessee. These stories describe the cat-and-mouse games often played by game wardens and poachers of ducks, turkeys, hogs, deer, gators, and other species.

Lee introduces us to an amusing and unusual cast of characters, reconstructing their experiences with wit while providing perspective on the realities of life on both sides of the law. His skills as a law enforcement officer are more than matched by his obvious gifts of observation and narrative. He is a born storyteller with a flair for anecdotal insight and raw candor, easily taking us into the backwaters of the St. Johns and the back roads of nearby Putnam County. In this original and fascinating volume, there is enough grit and gator lore to thrill experienced hunters and wardens as well as avid readers who love Florida’s natural environs and creatures.

Bob H. Lee spent over three decades as a water patrol officer on the St. Johns River and a land patrol lieutenant in Putnam, St. Johns, and Flagler Counties. Before retiring in 2007, he taught man-tracking classes through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.