Picture from the Past: A see-in-the-dark shotgun

Perhaps I should have labeled this photo “Poacher from the Past,” although the person holding this gun it is clearly a game warden, not the poacher the firearm was taken from.

Warden trainee Lawrence Tate displays a shotgun equipped with a flashlight in this 1960 BDN file photo by Spike Webb.

Warden trainee Lawrence Tate displays a shotgun equipped with a flashlight in this 1960 BDN file photo by Spike Webb.

If you’ve spent any time hunting, it’s pretty clear that the shotgun pictured in this BDN file photo from 1960 had been retrofitted for some nefarious night-hunting.

Here’s the rest of the story, gleaned from the caption: Warden trainee Lawrence Tate of Old Town is shown examining a double-barreled shotgun that had been confiscated from a night hunter. The flashlight is, as you might expect, an after-market add-on.

Tate, along with Warden Moses Jackson of Bradley, took the gun when they found its owner seated in a tree after dark, night-hunting in Greenfield.

The owner of the gun was an unnamed Connecticut man who was fined for night hunting, according to legendary BDN photographer Spike Webb.

Sadly, though technology has changed, Maine wardens still spend plenty of time trying to catch night hunters.

John Holyoke

About John Holyoke

John Holyoke has been enjoying himself in Maine's great outdoors since he was a kid. Today, he's the Outdoors editor for the BDN, a job that allows him to meet up with Maine outdoors enthusiasts in their natural habitat. The stories he gathers provide fodder for his columns, and this blog.