Gary Cook recently retired as a Region I Manager of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
photo by Aaron Hardin, The Jackson Sun
Standard time returned last weekend, giving most of us an excuse to set the clocks back and enjoy an extra hour of rest.
But Gary Cook no longer watches the clock. He retired Friday after 35 years with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Cook, 58, was one of the TWRA's four regional managers statewide the past 10 years and was headquartered at Lake Graham. He was formerly assistant regional manager for 10 years and has lived in Jackson since 1985.
He got his start as a wildlife officer in Robertson County in Middle Tennessee and loved the work.
"I almost felt guilty about getting paid to do the job," Cook said. "You could pretty much set your own work schedule, and there was just no other job like it on the planet."
Cook learned to creep through the woods at night without using his flashlight to try and catch folks who were hunting illegally.
One cold night, he was wearing the standard hat issued to TWRA officers in the mid-1970s. It had fur flaps on the front and sides. Sneaking down a trail, Cook suddenly felt something bump his head. In an instant, his hat disappeared into the night. A great horned owl, thinking the hat was alive and fair game, swooped down, planted its talons into Cook's scalp and flew off with the hat.
"I hope the owl choked on it," Cook said, laughing. "That was kind of scary. There were a lot of cold, lonely nights out in those woods."
Cook found that dealing with people was "just as interesting as chasing poachers." So he branched out and eventually developed a wildlife management class he taught at the University of Tennessee Martin, his alma mater. He teamed with Ron Fox to work with the Mississippi Flyway Council on bringing waterfowl to West Tennessee in greater numbers.
Cook also became the state's TWRA authority on coyotes as they became more prevalent in Tennessee. He still presents seminars on the subject.
Cook is also a veteran creator of fictional short stories. He published his first novel, "Wounded Moon," five years ago and hopes to release his second novel, "Chance of Rain," next year.
A native of Houston County in Middle Tennessee, he graduated from UTM and earned a master's degree in wildlife biology from Tennessee Tech. But his best subject in school was English.
"That scared me to death," he said. At UT Martin, he wrote plays that were performed on stage. When he saw the audience's reaction to his work, "I was sunk," he said. "It really clicked."
Creative writing became an obsession, and Cook looked for an outlet when he joined the TWRA. He found it in Tennessee Wildlife Magazine. Its editors allowed him to write a short story for one edition.
The article triggered more mail than any in the magazine's history. Thus, "The Old Man" became a series of 36 short stories, which were later published as Cook's first book in 1987.
Continuing to draw from his work experiences, Cook wrote a second book of short stories, "Oak Seeds: Stories from the Land," which was published in the mid-1990s. One of those stories, "The Fear Taker," had a semi-spiritual theme. Cook took that idea and spent about four years developing his novel "Wounded Moon."
Cook and Karen, his bride of almost 36 years, have two grown daughters and a grandson. Cook plans to spend more time with them and concentrate more on his writing.
"I'm not going to do anything for three months except hunt and drink lots of coffee," Cook said. "I'm going to finish my book, train a dog and take it easy for awhile. I may teach some if the right thing comes along. I really enjoy working with young people in creative writing."
And even in retirement, the TWRA will remain special to Cook.
"I loved every minute of it," he said. "I knew I would never get bored in this job, and it made life really interesting."
Dan Morris is the Senior Writer for Special Projects at the Jackson Sun. He can be reached at (731)425-9756 His email is dmorris@jacksonsun.com.