By Dan Schmidt Forest County WCO Looking back . . . A S AN OFFICER, I'm always trying to improve the way I conduct my duties. At the end of each year I evaluate my performance to see how I can improve. I review my notes, time sheets and citations to adjust my future work habits. One thing that stands out from my notes is the valuable information received from citizens. A hunter from Pittsburgh had read about the ongoing turkey study the Game Commission was conducting. He contacted our office and reported a location that routinely held a large flock of turkeys. I checked the field, set out corn and within a week we had turkeys trapped and banded. A motorist saw what appeared to be a sick or injured mature bald eagle in an apple orchard bordering the Allegheny River. Within 15 minutes I captured the sick bird and took it to a rehabilitator. The eagle was safely released several months later after recovering from West Nile virus. A camper reported a game feeder along a trail underneath a tree stand. The feeder contained corn. When a 46 fellow officer and I arrived, nobody was in the stand. We checked the feeder for a week until we caught two guys hunting over it on the last day of archery season. We found another hunter several hundred yards away hunting over a huge pile of corn. A landowner called me on the first day of the firearms deer season. He witnessed a man hop from a truck, shoot at and kill a buck and then take off. A deputy and I were less than one mile away, responded and caught the culprit within minutes after arriving. These four incidents are just a fraction of the positive results I achieved thanks to concerned citizens. Although I was within minutes of each incident, I may have never known they happened without their call. Every year thousands of calls from concerned citizens are received by our staff, aiding in the management and protection of our wildlife resource. If you feel you have information that may benefit the agency, please call one of the region offices or Harrisburg headquarters with your information. The numbers can be found in the current Hunting & Trapping Digest. WWW.PENNGAMENEWS.COMhttp://WWW.PENNGAMENEWS.COM