Randy Nelson grew up on Saskatchewan, where he became a conservation officer. In 1977, he came to B.C. and worked as a fisheries officer for the next 35 years. Now retired and living in Kamloops, Nelson has written a book about his experiences protecting our sea life from poachers and polluters. His adventures included grizzly bear attacks, high speed car chases, and confrontations with armed fishermen. His hobby of long distance running helped him catch fleeing felons. He has raced in more than two hundred competitions, including ten marathons. Over the course of his career as a conservation officer he has received the international Pogue-Elms Award and the Queen's Jubilee Medal. He is the most decorated Fishery Officer in B.C. history. He wrote his memoirs in Poachers, Polluters and Politics: A Fishery Officer's Career (Harbour $24.95).

In addition to writing his memoirs after he retired in 2012, Nelson began collecting wildlife poaching stories. Like the one about the ex-RCMP officer who made millions of dollars selling illegal narwal tusks until he was caught, fined and did jail time in the US. Nelson’s nickname for him was ‘Lowlife’. “I don’t much care for poachers,” Nelson says. “But a few changed and I liked them after that.” He gathered almost a hundred stories from both Canada and the US for The Wildest Hunt: True Stories of Game Wardens and Poachers (Harbour Publishing $24.95).

BOOKS:

The Wildest Hunt: True Stories of Game Wardens and Poachers (Harbour Publishing, 2022) $24.95 9781550179989

Poachers, Polluters and Politics: A Fishery Officer's Career (Harbour Publishing, 2014) $24.95 978-1-55017-639-1

[BCBW 2022]