Warden Vance Wallace's ties to the area are more recent than Robinson's. Wallace was raised near Garland, graduated from the Game Warden Academy in Austin and has been stationed in Baird for the past three years. The big grin on his face gives you an idea about which location he prefers. We mentioned the young people involved at the Baird seminar, and the majority of the 17 students were teens, but the age range at the 2-day course was from 11 to over 50 years. On Saturday the majority of the course is classroom work but the schedule is varied and interesting.
Subjects range from the history of hunting to regulations, conservation and wildlife management.
Instructor Joe Speckels said the students will be taken outdoors, on Sunday, and introduced to various firearms, hunting bows and hunting situations and then brought back to the classroom for a test late Sunday afternoon. There were a lot of interesting teaching aids at the Baird course, but one in particular might help you if you've ever entertained the thought of shooting whitetail deer, illegally, from a roadside. The 6-pointer's head twists and turns, just like a live deer, and the crowning touch was a twitching tail that exactly replicates a whitetail deer's. From 50 yards I don't think anyone could tell this fake buck from a real one - and in poor light conditions even the most seasoned deer poacher would be fooled. Robinson said that he and the other instructors will host another Hunter Education Course in August, but if you're interested, you may want to sign up early because the August courses are usually quite popular.