Game wardens have to work odd hours and weekends since those are the times many people are enjoying the outdoors. Saturday, we took a ride over to Medina Lake, which straddles both Medina and Bandera counties, to take one of their boats out and do water safety checks. I've never really been out on a boat like the one we were on, nor had I ever been out on Medina Lake. It was a very fast boat and we stopped several boats and jet skis (personal watercraft) for checks and violations. I was surprised that not a single vessel had all its ducks in a row. Basically, boats are required to have the following:
- Current registration sticker (good for two years)
- Registration certificate
- Display registration numbers on the hull
- A working fire extinguisher
- A horn or whistle
- A throwable life preserver
- A life jacket for every single passenger
I stress that last one because it really is the most important and one vessel we stopped only had two life jackets for seven people. This particular lake is very low, 56 feet at the time we went out, and there are all kinds of trees and debris sticking up and the banks are solid rock. If something were to happen to the boat, you could be very far from shore or knocked unconscious. A life preserver could be your only saving grace.
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| Medina Lake 56 feet low |
We were out on the water about four hours in the late afternoon and it was pretty hot. The game warden let me drive the boat, which really surprised me since I have never run a powerful, motorized watercraft of any kind. He said it could get up to 73 mph but I suspect I didn't do more than maybe 40. It takes some skill to stand as you hit the wake from other boats. My first lesson was not to keep my hand on the throttle when this happened because then I jerked the speed back and forth. Later on, he had me practice docking.
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| The Game Warden's Majek boat |
When we got back to shore, I met the two Bandera county game wardens who were checking up on things but since traffic on the lake was relatively light, they had let us do the patrolling alone. It was a pretty cool experience watching how the water safety checks go; I learned A LOT!
Sunday, I went on a ride-along the next day too, but for a shorter time. We had a lot of time to chat so I could ask any questions I had and then I wanted to see how the paper work went for the citations he had written the day before. He also showed me some photographs of violations during hunting season. I have an open invitation to go on more ride-alongs in the future, which I fully intend to do.
