It's a Wild Life

As a Pennsylvania Game Warden for more than three decades, Wasserman investigated thousands of game law violations and arrested many violent career poachers. But another big part of his job was in the public relations and education field where he penned a weekly newspaper column entitled It’s a Wild Life. Hence, the title of this book, which contains twenty-six of his most notable stories selected from more than seven hundred published over a fifteen-year period. His sometimes humorous and sometimes emotional assortment of essays run the gamut from confrontations with poachers and game hogs to stories about animal survival, free roaming pets, captive wildlife, and unpredictable encounters with wild critters. But this book is not only about animals and nature, it’s also about people and the attitudes and emotions that make a game warden’s career so interesting. It’s a book that expands one’s sense of awareness about the complexities of the natural world surrounding us and helps the reader understand and appreciate its existence both with and without human interference.

While growing up in rural Pennsylvania, Wasserman soon came to love the great outdoors and started hunting, trapping, and fishing at the age of ten. After graduating high school he started working in various construction jobs until being accepted to the Ross Leffler School of Conservation in 1975. Wasserman, a third-degree black belt in Korean karate and a former national bodybuilding champion, has written eight books about his life as a state game warden. During his career, he received numerous awards for his work in wildlife conservation, including the United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania Game Protector of the Year Award, Pennsylvania Game Commission Northeast Region Outstanding Wildlife Conservation Officer, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Conservation Medal, and the Pennsylvania Trappers Association Presidential Award. Wasserman is a prolific writer who has been published in several national magazines including Black Belt, Pennsylvania Game News, Fur-Fish-Game, South Carolina Wildlife, International Game Warden, and The Alberta Game Warden. He also penned a weekly outdoor newspaper column for fifteen years and hosted his own popular outdoor talk-radio program for eight years. Wasserman retired from the Pennsylvania Game Commission after thirty-two years of dedicated service and lives in South Carolina with his wife, Maryann.