Page 103 of Hidden Nature

She watched the man in full camo gear, carrying a Winchester with a scope in one hand, start hustling down the ladder of the stand.

“Sir, you don’t want to run.”

When he did, Sloan shook her head and picked up her own pace.

Her quarry, glancing behind, slipped on slushy snow and face-planted.

He said, “Son of a bitch.”

“Sir, I’m taking your rifle.”

Sloan picked up the rifle he’d been foolish enough to run with. She checked the safety, shook her head when she found it off. She engaged it, then handed the rifle to Elana.

“Are you injured?”

“Maybe.”

She thought: Bullshit, but she spoke pleasantly.

“We’ll call for medical assistance and help you down the trail.”

“Nah, I’m not hurt.” Rolling over, he pushed himself to sitting.

“Sergeant Cooper, this is the individual Officer First Class Loring cited and fined a few weeks ago.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, sir. Mr. Ernst, I don’t believe you learned your lesson.”

“Son of a bitch,” he repeated. “Listen, I was just sitting up there. No law against just sitting in a stand.”

“With a Winchester XPR,” Sloan added.

“For protection.”

“Are you aware there’s a cabin about a hundred yards due west, and it’s illegal to discharge a firearm in a national forest within a hundred and fifty yards of a resident, a cabin, occupied area, or campsite?”

“I didn’t see any damn cabin. How am I supposed to know that shit?”

“Basic safety principles, Mr. Ernst, which I’m sure Officer First Class Loring relayed to you.”

“Yes, he did,” Elana confirmed.

“You also have bait spread on the ground. I see grain, acorns, a protein block.”

After a glance, Ernst shrugged. “I don’t know where that came from.”

“Now, Mr. Ernst, that’s a new protein block, and I’m betting you just bought it. I’m betting we can track that block back to you without much trouble at all.”

He sneered, but came up with a whine. “So what? Baiting’s legal in plenty of states.”

“Maryland’s not one of them if it’s on state-controlled property. The last time you got off with a fine. Now you’re going to be charged. For erecting a deer stand, baiting deer, hunting during the closed season, and I’m betting you don’t have that hunting license.”

“Licenses are just a way to gouge hunters.”

“Actually, the funds from hunting licenses go to conservation, to wildlife management.”

He said, “Son of a bitch.”

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