Federal lawman saved the Key Deer
BY CAMMY CLARK
cclark@MiamiHerald.com
BIG PINE KEY --
The endangered diminutive Key deer that roam the islands of the Lower Keys have two big reasons to be thankful they are not extinct: the creation, 50 years ago, of the National Key Deer Refuge. And gun-wielding federal agent Jack Watson.
''He was like the John Wayne of the Florida Keys,'' refuge ranger Jim Bell said.
James Lazell, a biologist who worked in the Keys in the 1970s for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, loves to tell the story about the time Watson sneaked up on three men skinning a deer they had shot. The burly refuge manager emerged from behind a pine tree, telling the poachers they were under arrest.
'One of the men said: `There's only one of you and three of us,' '' Lazell said. 'Jack pulls his hand out behind his back with a six-shooter. Jack said: `You're wrong. There's six of me.' ''
Jack Watson
PUBLIC CELEBRATION
Saturday night, the refuge is throwing a 50th anniversary celebration, from 4 to 7 p.m., at its new administration building at 28950 Watson Blvd. on Big Pine Key. It's open to the public.
Among the highlights: a segment about Watson, who died in 1982, on the 1967 CBS TV documentary Our Endangered Wildlife.
In grainy footage, Watson is shown riding a white Cadillac convertible along Big Pine side roads, pointing out newly built houses that threaten the deer's habitat of pine rockland forest, dense mangroves, hardwood hammocks and freshwater wetlands. It also shows him petting Bucky and Bubba, injured deer he was rehabilitating.
In a strong voice, Watson said the deer population had gone from about 50 on five islands in 1948 to about 400 on 18 islands in 1967: ``The deer have come up due to protection, more than anything. They have plenty of food and fresh water.''
The herd today is estimated at 600 to 700 on 25 islands, Bell said. Most are on Big Pine Key and neighboring No Name Key, about 25 miles from Key West.
Four years ago, the refuge moved about four dozen deer several miles to Sugar Loaf Key and Cudjoe Key.
''Our goal is to recover the species, down-listing it from endangered to threatened,'' Bell said.
But it is doubtful the Key deer could ever be taken completely off the endangered list, because they are found only in the Lower Keys, Bell said.
The Key deer are described as the smallest subspecies of the Virginia white-tail deer. But biologist Lazell said further DNA studies should be done, because he never found evidence of intermediaries and believes the Key deer are a unique species.
The Key deer certainly are hardy, existing for thousands of years in the harsh tropical environment. They endured all that Mother Nature threw at them, including island-flooding hurricanes, Bell said.
But during the first half of the 1900s, they proved to be no match for man.
Ed Dodd, narrator of the CBS documentary, said: ``Speeding cars ran it down. Hunters with dogs and jacklights cornered it and shot it. Poachers in boats took advantage of its helplessness while swimming and clubbed it to death. Home builders destroyed its vegetation.''
In 1939, the state of Florida outlawed hunting Key deer, which had been a viable food source for early settlers dating to the Spanish in 1575.
But the no-hunting law had no enforcement until 1946, when the Boone & Crockett Club helped pay to hire Watson as game warden. And he meant business, even after being bitten by a rattlesnake as he was tailing poachers, said Alison Higgins, president of Friends and Volunteers of Refuges.
''I think it was in the butt,'' Higgins said. ``Basically, he didn't want to lose his men, so he grabbed a knife and cut out a big piece of flesh. He caught the guys, turned them in and then went to the doctor.''
DANGEROUS TIMES
Big Pine resident Vern Pokowski, who met Watson in 1951, said: ``He had his life threatened many times. It was a wild and woolly place.''
In 1957, Congress finally provided money to purchase 1,000 acres to establish the National Key Deer Refuge. Millions more have been spent over the years to increase its size to 9,100 acres of land and 75,000 acres of state waters. The deer can swim miles between islands.
The population also has been helped by a $6 million fence on both sides of U.S. 1 on Big Pine Key.
''We used to sometimes have two or three deer killed a week by collisions on that stretch,'' Monroe County Sheriff Rick Roth said. ``Now, it's rare.''
The nonprofit Key Deer Protection Alliance maintains a sign at the entrance to the refuge that keeps an up-to-date tally of Key deer deaths. This year it stands at 72, but Bell said it includes all known deaths, including drownings, disease and natural causes.
Bell said it has been an ongoing education process to get locals and tourists not to feed the deer, some of which can be mighty friendly.
In the documentary, Watson expressed concern that development would eventually take over Big Pine Key and force the deer to outer islands. He would probably be pleased to see that development has not been as extensive as he feared.
''These tiny wonderful creatures may browse in yards and make some people mad because they eat hibiscus and plants, but thank God for the Key deer,'' Pokowski said. ``If it were not for them being protected, we'd have another Key West here.''
msnbc.com
In 1939, Florida outlawed the hunt. That didn't go over well with some hunters. They kept up, and overnight went from hunters to poachers. And that's where Jack Watson enters the picture. A hunter himself, Watson who was a presence wherever he would go, decided to save the Key Deer. Hired first by a local group and then by the federal government, Watson protected the deer with a hard edge.
When he found a poachers boat, but couldn't find the poachers, he set the boat of fire and then left. His son, Jack Watson, Jr. says his father was a gruff character who enjoyed giving poachers a little discomfort. With the boat destroyed, the poachers were stuck on the island where they were hunting. Watson took off on his boat. A day later when he returned, the poachers, half-eaten by mosquitoes, promised Watson they'd never hunt the Key Deer again.
The Associated Press
November 20, 2007
When the National Key Deer Refuge was established in 1957 on Big Pine Key, its first manager, Jack C. Watson, sometimes employed unorthodox tactics to discourage repeat poachers targeting the diminutive deer under his protection.
"If he found somebody's car parked and knew they were hunting, he would politely leave a message telling them not to come back again and disable the car, putting a few bullet holes in the gas tank or the engine," said Watson's son, Jack "Kip" Watson.
In a a tv interview last night, Officer Watson's son said that his dad kept a revolver on his hip, and a Thompson sub machine gun in the trunk of his car.
cclark@MiamiHerald.com
BIG PINE KEY --
The endangered diminutive Key deer that roam the islands of the Lower Keys have two big reasons to be thankful they are not extinct: the creation, 50 years ago, of the National Key Deer Refuge. And gun-wielding federal agent Jack Watson.
''He was like the John Wayne of the Florida Keys,'' refuge ranger Jim Bell said.
James Lazell, a biologist who worked in the Keys in the 1970s for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, loves to tell the story about the time Watson sneaked up on three men skinning a deer they had shot. The burly refuge manager emerged from behind a pine tree, telling the poachers they were under arrest.
'One of the men said: `There's only one of you and three of us,' '' Lazell said. 'Jack pulls his hand out behind his back with a six-shooter. Jack said: `You're wrong. There's six of me.' ''
Jack Watson
PUBLIC CELEBRATION
Saturday night, the refuge is throwing a 50th anniversary celebration, from 4 to 7 p.m., at its new administration building at 28950 Watson Blvd. on Big Pine Key. It's open to the public.
Among the highlights: a segment about Watson, who died in 1982, on the 1967 CBS TV documentary Our Endangered Wildlife.
In grainy footage, Watson is shown riding a white Cadillac convertible along Big Pine side roads, pointing out newly built houses that threaten the deer's habitat of pine rockland forest, dense mangroves, hardwood hammocks and freshwater wetlands. It also shows him petting Bucky and Bubba, injured deer he was rehabilitating.
In a strong voice, Watson said the deer population had gone from about 50 on five islands in 1948 to about 400 on 18 islands in 1967: ``The deer have come up due to protection, more than anything. They have plenty of food and fresh water.''
The herd today is estimated at 600 to 700 on 25 islands, Bell said. Most are on Big Pine Key and neighboring No Name Key, about 25 miles from Key West.
Four years ago, the refuge moved about four dozen deer several miles to Sugar Loaf Key and Cudjoe Key.
''Our goal is to recover the species, down-listing it from endangered to threatened,'' Bell said.
But it is doubtful the Key deer could ever be taken completely off the endangered list, because they are found only in the Lower Keys, Bell said.
The Key deer are described as the smallest subspecies of the Virginia white-tail deer. But biologist Lazell said further DNA studies should be done, because he never found evidence of intermediaries and believes the Key deer are a unique species.
The Key deer certainly are hardy, existing for thousands of years in the harsh tropical environment. They endured all that Mother Nature threw at them, including island-flooding hurricanes, Bell said.
But during the first half of the 1900s, they proved to be no match for man.
Ed Dodd, narrator of the CBS documentary, said: ``Speeding cars ran it down. Hunters with dogs and jacklights cornered it and shot it. Poachers in boats took advantage of its helplessness while swimming and clubbed it to death. Home builders destroyed its vegetation.''
In 1939, the state of Florida outlawed hunting Key deer, which had been a viable food source for early settlers dating to the Spanish in 1575.
But the no-hunting law had no enforcement until 1946, when the Boone & Crockett Club helped pay to hire Watson as game warden. And he meant business, even after being bitten by a rattlesnake as he was tailing poachers, said Alison Higgins, president of Friends and Volunteers of Refuges.
''I think it was in the butt,'' Higgins said. ``Basically, he didn't want to lose his men, so he grabbed a knife and cut out a big piece of flesh. He caught the guys, turned them in and then went to the doctor.''
DANGEROUS TIMES
Big Pine resident Vern Pokowski, who met Watson in 1951, said: ``He had his life threatened many times. It was a wild and woolly place.''
In 1957, Congress finally provided money to purchase 1,000 acres to establish the National Key Deer Refuge. Millions more have been spent over the years to increase its size to 9,100 acres of land and 75,000 acres of state waters. The deer can swim miles between islands.
The population also has been helped by a $6 million fence on both sides of U.S. 1 on Big Pine Key.
''We used to sometimes have two or three deer killed a week by collisions on that stretch,'' Monroe County Sheriff Rick Roth said. ``Now, it's rare.''
The nonprofit Key Deer Protection Alliance maintains a sign at the entrance to the refuge that keeps an up-to-date tally of Key deer deaths. This year it stands at 72, but Bell said it includes all known deaths, including drownings, disease and natural causes.
Bell said it has been an ongoing education process to get locals and tourists not to feed the deer, some of which can be mighty friendly.
In the documentary, Watson expressed concern that development would eventually take over Big Pine Key and force the deer to outer islands. He would probably be pleased to see that development has not been as extensive as he feared.
''These tiny wonderful creatures may browse in yards and make some people mad because they eat hibiscus and plants, but thank God for the Key deer,'' Pokowski said. ``If it were not for them being protected, we'd have another Key West here.''
msnbc.com
In 1939, Florida outlawed the hunt. That didn't go over well with some hunters. They kept up, and overnight went from hunters to poachers. And that's where Jack Watson enters the picture. A hunter himself, Watson who was a presence wherever he would go, decided to save the Key Deer. Hired first by a local group and then by the federal government, Watson protected the deer with a hard edge.
When he found a poachers boat, but couldn't find the poachers, he set the boat of fire and then left. His son, Jack Watson, Jr. says his father was a gruff character who enjoyed giving poachers a little discomfort. With the boat destroyed, the poachers were stuck on the island where they were hunting. Watson took off on his boat. A day later when he returned, the poachers, half-eaten by mosquitoes, promised Watson they'd never hunt the Key Deer again.
The Associated Press
November 20, 2007
When the National Key Deer Refuge was established in 1957 on Big Pine Key, its first manager, Jack C. Watson, sometimes employed unorthodox tactics to discourage repeat poachers targeting the diminutive deer under his protection.
"If he found somebody's car parked and knew they were hunting, he would politely leave a message telling them not to come back again and disable the car, putting a few bullet holes in the gas tank or the engine," said Watson's son, Jack "Kip" Watson.
In a a tv interview last night, Officer Watson's son said that his dad kept a revolver on his hip, and a Thompson sub machine gun in the trunk of his car.
0
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Very good story,......I have read it before.
A man with guts!0 -
I'm glad that these deer have not gone the way of the Passenger Pigeon. 0 -
The resemblance in the face, to my grandfather, on the maternal side, at about 40,........is uncanny!
No relation whatsoever, but almost like looking at a part of my own family.
Had never seen a pic of this fellow before.0 -
and they would have killed every one of them 0 -
quote:Originally posted by warriorsfan
I'm glad that these deer have not gone the way of the Passenger Pigeon.
I think you ment "MESSENGER" Pigeon. Unless their was a breed big enough to RIDE...[^]0 -
no he mean't passenger pigeon fishkiller tell us your just kidding killer 0 -
"theres one of you an three of us.?"
i like his answer
me i would have pulled the six shooter and said " i guess i had better even the odds then. so who wants to be arrested?"[}:)]0 -
quote:Originally posted by fishkiller41
quote:Originally posted by warriorsfan
I'm glad that these deer have not gone the way of the Passenger Pigeon.
I think you ment "MESSENGER" Pigeon. Unless their was a breed big enough to RIDE...[^]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Pigeon
The PASSENGER pigeon was once the most common bird in North America with a population of nearly 5 billion birds. But during the 19th Century, they were completely hunted to extinction by humans. By the early 20th century, there were none left. In the span of 100 years they went from being the most abundant bird in North American to being GONE forever, thanks to overhunting.0 -
'Merica need more men like that. 0 -
Good story. I recall reading The Key Deer, a semi fictional work set when the bridges were being built in the Keys. A hunting practice present was to set a Key on fire and position boats around it. The deer were taken in the water while fleeing the fire. It may have been the basis for the scene in Bambi. I am glad those days are gone. Good the Keys deer are protected today. 0 -
That story could be true. You probably have to be a good swimmer to be a Key Deer.
I read one account yesterday, where they said that the good citizens of Florida liked to find a Key Deer swimming from one island to another, and chase them down in a motorboat, and club them on the head with a baseball bat, saved bullets.0
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