Veteran Northern California game warden Norman Bettis and his wife, Martha, lived an idyllic life in the small Sacramento Valley farm town of Gridley. On the morning of December 13, 1956, Norman kissed Martha on the forehead and drove off to work. He had no way of knowing he was destined to stumble into a rat’s nest of commercial duck poachers and disappear–patrol car and all.
Retired game warden Steven T. Callan’s love of nature and passion for protecting wildlife took root long before he experienced the adventures described in his memoir, Badges, Bears, and Eagles. In The Game Warden’s Son, he recounts more of his own investigations, along with those of his game warden father and their colleagues. Intertwined with a half century of adventures and investigations is a story of the lifelong relationship between a boy and his father.
During his career as a wildlife protection officer, Steve Callan conducted some of the most fascinating, complex, and highly successful wildlife investigations in California history. He also collected a wealth of true stories—action-packed, suspenseful, and often humorous.
Early in 2022, while reading a book titled America’s National Wildlife Refuges, I became enthralled with a refuge in southwestern Montana called Red Rock Lakes. According to the book’s author, the refuge was established in 1935 to help rescue the trumpeter swan—America’s largest waterfowl species—from......
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The 2023 book tour is off to a great start! Two of the recent highlights are giving presentations to Sacramento’s California Fly Fishers Unlimited and the Red Bluff Garden Club....
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Kathy and I had a ball at last Saturday’s book signing in Orland. The Rusty Wagon’s friendly staff couldn’t have been more gracious. Many wonderful friends—old and new—dropped by, and we all remained warm and cozy on that cold and rainy winter afternoon. I’d like to......
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