Retired conservation officer will be missed

As the wildlife conservation officer in what has been called the busiest district in the state, Rod Ansell was seemingly always on the road, running from hunter-education classes to youth field days to Scouting programs and on to other events and calls.

But now, he's taking things to a new extreme.

Ansell, who retired July 23 as the Pennsylvania Game Commission's officer in central and southern Westmoreland County, recently bought a motor home and plans to spend time traveling with his wife, Amy.

"For years, I've heard guys telling me about going to Texas or going on this hunt or seeing the Grand Tetons or the petrified forest or something else. Well, now it's my turn," Ansell said.

"We might do it for two months or six months or a year, I don't know. But I've had enough of schedules. I just want to go. No plans, just go."

He'll be sadly missed, said Sam Truxel of Mount Pleasant, a volunteer with the National Wild Turkey Federation who grew to become one of Ansell's best friends.

"I can't say enough good about him. And a lot of people feel the same way. There's a lot of respect out there for him and the job he did," Truxel said.

Ansell was a conservation officer for 25 years, the first 10 in Greene County, the last 15 in Westmoreland. He worked as a deputy waterways conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission - assisting his late brother, Jim, a full-time officer there — during that time.

Following in Jim's footsteps as a waterways officer never interested him, he said. But when the Game Commission came calling, he answered. He had a reputation for being available even when he was officially not working, such as his annual July vacations — spent at home, usually working on his house — which were constantly marked by visits from sportsmen wanting permits to keep road-killed deer, to borrow traps for nuisance animals, to get him involved in a wild-game dinner or event, and more.

"I never could say what I made per hour because I never kept track of my hours," Ansell said. "I always thought of this as a career, not a job. You did what needed to be done when it needed to be done, whenever that was."

That dedication was never more evident than when it came to youngsters, said Murrysville's Bob Schlemmer, a long-time deputy wildlife conservation officer who is now a member of the Game Commission board. Ansell — who "didn't know what a day off was" — was critical to getting the commission's youth pheasant hunting program up and running, he noted.

"That guy said you can't get kids interested in the outdoors unless there's noise and dogs and gunsmoke and pheasants flying. And I think he's right," Schlemmer said.

"That involvement with kids is, I think, his legacy. He was always for the kids."

Ansell was well known, too, as a fair officer, Truxel added.

"If you broke the law, you broke the law. But he helped kids and he helped anyone who needed it. And it was amazing how he could talk to people. He could turn a bad situation into a good situation in a couple of minutes," Truxel said.

The commission has appointed Stephen Leiendecker, who has been working in Fayette County, to fill Ansell's district. Ansell already has warned him to expect to be very busy and in high demand.

Ansell always was, but he has no regrets.

"Would I do it again• Yes. I always loved the job and enjoyed working with the people, with the sportsmen. That's what made it fun," he said.

Article by Bob Frye,
Everybody Adventures, http://www.everybodyadventures.com

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