By Jack Spaulding

 I am proud to say I was a member of the Citizen’s Advisory Board of the Indiana Turn In a Poacher/Polluter organization for more than 20 years. One of the best programs to come to the IDNR was the K-9 Resource Program, and I was among the people on the TIP Board who helped the program come into being.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, budget restraints for the Law Enforcement Division were crippling.  When the opportunity to start the K-9 Resource Program came about, the administration was reluctant, not because they didn’t believe in the possibilities. There was no money available for funding it. Unfortunately, the LED was forced to stand down on the proposition. However, things changed.

The situation of funding was presented to the TIP Citizens Advisory Board. After due investigation and discussion, it was decided unanimously the TIP board would offer to foot the bill for travel and pay for the expenses. All the LED would need to do was to pay the salaries of the officers.

These many years later, helping to fund the K-9 Program can be summed up as, “It was the right thing to do.” The program has been a tremendous success.

The DNR Division of Law Enforcement’s K-9 Resource Protection Program has finished its nine-week training school held at Patoka Lake in Southern Indiana. The school concluded with a graduation ceremony on the lawn of the Statehouse on May 20.

Among the attendees this year was a team from the African country of Zambia.

The two participants from the African country are handlers for the Zambia Department of National Parks and Wildlife, which is controlled by the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZWA) and Conservation South Luangwa, a non-government organization working by contract with local village governments and the ZWA. Both handlers have countrywide wildlife authority. Their new teams will focus on detecting bush meat, elephant ivory, rhino horn, pangolins scales, firearms and ammunition.

Other teams attending were from the states of Virginia, Kansas, and Washington, as well as Indiana.

Indiana’s K-9 program started in 1997 with a pilot program of two teams. Because of its effectiveness, the program grew to a team of 13 K-9 units throughout the state. At least one K-9 unit consisting of a conservation officer handler and a dog serves in each of the 10 Indiana DNR Law Enforcement districts.

The Indiana K-9 program is not only well respected in the Hoosier state, but also recognized as one of the top programs in the nation. In addition to the states and country represented, Indiana has previously helped start and train teams from natural resource agencies in Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland and Oregon.

The Indiana K-9 program trains teams to serve in Indiana in man-tracking, wildlife detection and article searches. All canines are trained to locate white-tailed deer, wild turkey, waterfowl and ginseng. They may also be trained to locate other species, depending on where in Indiana the handler is stationed. Indiana teams excel in man-tracking and locating firearms.

K-9 teams provide the officers in their districts another tool to help stop poaching. In the past 25 years, Indiana K-9 teams have been involved in thousands of such cases. K-9 teams have been used to find concealed game and guns, as well as to find shell casings in road hunting and spotlighting cases. K-9 teams are used to find lost hunters as well as poachers who have tried to hide from officers. Because of their unique abilities, K-9 units are often requested by other state and local law enforcement agencies for help in locating evidence and in locating missing persons or fleeing felons.

The LED and the TIP Citizens Advisory Board would like to remind sportsmen to report suspected violations of game laws and intentional pollution resulting in wildlife loss. The telephone number is 1-800-TIP-IDNR.

Patoka Lake beginner archery

Learn about archery from a certified instructor during an introductory lesson at Patoka Lake’s archery range on June 5, 9:30 a.m.-11:30am. All equipment will be provided.

The event is limited to 15 participants age 8 and older, and the cost is $5 per person. Advance registration is required. Call the Patoka Lake Nature Center at 812-685-2447 to reserve a spot.

The entrance fee of $7 per vehicle for Indiana residents and $9 for vehicles with out-of-state plates is required for the Newton-Stewart State Recreation Area, located north of Wickliffe on State Road 164.

For more information regarding the program or other interpretive events, please call the Nature Center at 812-685-2447. Patoka Lake (on.IN.gov/patokalake) is at 3084 N. Dillard Road, Birdseye, IN 47513.

Sunman man seriously injured in ORV accident

Indiana Conservation Officers are investigating an off-road vehicle (ORV) accident that caused serious injury to the driver. The accident occurred April 30 at 11:47 p.m. near the 5800 block of Friendship Road in Versailles.

The initial investigation showed Brent Quatman, 21, of Sunman, was operating his side-by-side ORV on the roadway when he lost control and struck a tree.

Quatman was transported to Margaret Mary Heath in Batesville, and then transferred to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in serious condition. The ongoing investigation has determined Quatman was not wearing a helmet or safety harness at the time of the accident.

Assisting agencies include Ripley County Sheriff’s Department, Ripley County EMS and Ripley County Fire Department.

For information on ORV laws and safe operating procedures, please visit offroad-ed.com/in/handbook/ and on.IN.gov/offroading.

Readers can contact the author by writing to this publication, or e-mail at jackspaulding@hughes.net. Spaulding’s books, “The Best Of Spaulding Outdoors” and “The Coon Hunter And The Kid,” are available from Amazon.com as a paperback or Kindle download.