“RIVER BOOTS – A Fish Warden’s Tales of Pennsylvania Fish and Game Law Enforcement,” written by Robert Lynn “Bob” Steiner, was recently published on Amazon.com.
Bob describes it as “a career synopsis, a training manual, a history book and one conservation officer’s slightly twisted view of a quarter century in the business. It is a sometimes belly-laughing look at a profession that can turn deadly serious in a second and can leave tears running down your face from laughter a few minutes later.”
Bob was the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission officer in Southern Luzerne and Venango counties, in the northeast and northwest parts of the state. He completed his 27-year career as assistant regional law enforcement supervisor for the PFBC’s Northwest Division. Bob was Officer of the Year in 1993 and has worked and traveled throughout the state.
During his time in northwestern Pennsylvania, Bob worked with numerous sportsmen and sportswomen, neighboring PFBC officers and Game Commission officers, and conservation groups. Many of the locations will resonate with readers, including the Allegheny River, Oil Creek, French Creek, Tionesta Creek, Pymatuning Lake, and others.
The more than 250 stories in RIVER BOOTS were written for fishermen, hunters, boaters, conservation officers and their deputies, all law enforcement officers and anyone who has an interest in the outdoors. For conservation officers it is a textbook, with the how-tos and the how-not-tos, the whys and the why-nots. For conservation agency folks, it is a bit of nostalgia with a smirk.
Other law enforcement officers will see some intense, perhaps lifesaving thinking, coupled with a “Barney Miller” attitude. Folks considering a job in the agencies will get an on-the-spot look at what they are asking for and will come away eagerly awaiting their turn to join in. The license-buying hunter, fishermen or boater will get a firsthand look at how their license fees are spent for the good of the sport, the environment and the fish and game resources.
In RIVER BOOTS, you will laugh at the scofflaws and you will laugh at the conservation officers. You will chuckle and you will ponder. The book’s 24 chapters include, “Thrills on Wheels,” “Trouting Culprits,” “Warmwater Culprits,” “Things That Go Bump in the Night,” “Snakes and Turtles and Frogs, Ah-ha,” and “Game Calls.”
To answer the question, the original RIVER BOOTS were green, 10-inch leather boots the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission issued with those snazzy green-and-brown uniforms we wore. They leaked.
Robert Lynn “Bob” Steiner has been a published author and photographer for 50 years, winning awards on a state and national level. He and his wife, Linda, are outdoor and travel writers for the Oil City Derrick and Franklin News-Herald. Both are members of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association. He and Linda, who was one of the first female conservation officer deputies in Pennsylvania, live in a log home on 30 wooded acres near Cooperstown, in Venango County. Retired since 1999, Bob writes, plays guitar, hikes, bikes, hunts, fishes, canoes and is still having fun.