A turkey by mail?
This short item was published in The Oklahoman, February 7, 1937. It illustrates the life of a fish and game warden isn’t always about protecting the great outdoors.
Fish and game provide great sport as a hobby, but they can cause a lot of worries as a job. That’s what L.D. Rickey, state fish and game warden, has discovered.
Looking after wild life isn’t the fun it’s cracked up to be, Rickey observed Saturday as he wiped his care-creased forehead. In fact it makes you fair game for about everyone.
The warden exhibited a typical day’s mail for proof.
“Here’s a fellow in McCurtain county wants to know if it’s all right for him to kill a wild turkey,” he said.
“And here’s a guy in Osage county wants to know if I can get a wild turkey and send to him.”
Another was a complaint from a farmer in Hughes county about too many cows and there was a complaint from a Creek county resident about the lack of feed for quail.
Then a request from Beaver county for assistance from the fish and game commission in obtaining WPA money to build a nursery.
“It goes on like that for hours,” Rickey observed.
The headline for the story probably says it best: “Rickey, Poor Fish, Is Game For Everyone.”
L.D. Rickey, an Ardmore oil man, naturalist and sportsman, was appointed game warden in 1935 and served until 1937. He died January 13, 1939 and in his obituary it stated “that the position as game warden was the only political position he ever held.”
Mary Phillips
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