Word: elk
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...folks around Meeker, Madison's badge and uniform are considered a source of special, even secret knowledge that no one else has. Wherever he goes, he is asked how the elk survived the winter or what lure the trout are currently hitting on up at Trappers Lake. People stop Madison's wife Nancy on the street to solicit her for inside information on such matters...
...night Madison gets phone calls at home, often from out of state. "Some guy will call from back East and talk for an hour about some small opening in the forest where he hunted last season," says Madison. "Hell, how do I know if an elk will be standing there on the morning of opening...
...areas in the past. For one thing, a big part of Madison's job is catching people who violate the fish and game laws. He hands out an average of 60 fines a year for offenses ranging from fishing without a license ($50) to illegal possession of an elk ($400). That riles Meekerites, who hate the thought of having their freedoms fenced in by government regulators...
...summer the same ranchers complain endlessly to Madison that "his elk" are grazing on their cattle pastures. In winter they blame him when hungry elk and deer are busting their fences and devouring their haystacks. "It's not that folks don't like Jeff personally," says Herb Hughley, who operates the Valley Motel on Highway 13, which runs through Meeker. "But they don't like bureaucrats in Denver making laws about what they can and cannot do here...
...training in Denver. The country is truly beautiful-deep aspen and spruce forests, snowcapped mountains and rolling ranchland-and this partly makes up for the lack of friendship in town. So does the great variety of his work. One day he may be up before dawn to survey an elk herd by helicopter. The next day he and Duke may hike ten miles into the high country to stock a remote lake with trout. When Madison checks fishing licenses on a lake, Duke sleeps in the canoe. "He's smart, but I can't teach him to paddle...