Lean Harvey
Reprinted from the Knoxville News Sentinel
The most popular spot on the 25,000-acre Chuck Swan Wildlife Management Area has been the checking station. For nearly 50 years Leon Harvey has been the reason.
Hunters both successful and unsuccessful at Chuck Swan would stop by the checking station to see Harvey. Sometimes it would be to take advantage of his "buck for a buck," one-dollar field dressing. Most of the time it would be to hear his stories.
He was hired by the Tennessee Game and Fish Commission to work at Central Peninsula Wildlife Management Area on April 1, 1954. Later, Central Peninsula would become Chuck Swan and Game and Fish Commission would become Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
"Leon made more cases, told more stories and laughed at his own jokes more than anyone else I know," said Dave Bishop, who retired from TWRA six years ago. "He's synonymous with Central Peninsula."
Harvey, who lived in Sharps Chapel, died Thursday at age 74 of complications from a heart attack. Funeral services will be today at 2 p.m. at Cooke Mortuary Chapel in Maynardville.
The subject of several newspaper articles and featured on the Heartland Series, Harvey had the longest tenure of any TWRA employee in East Tennessee. He was a jack-of-all-trades at Chuck Swan, doing everything from law enforcement and habitat work to running heavy equipment to build roads.
During the early days of deer restoration, Chuck Swan provided deer for many other areas of the state. Harvey would check box traps on a regular route that would cover more than 80 miles inside the WMA.
It was a time when the state's deer herd was in its infancy and the state's deer hunters were all relative greenhorns. A lot of his stories were about hunters who came to Chuck Swan and found themselves out of their element.
"He was from a different era," said Bishop, who was the assistant manager in TWRA's Region IV for 20 years. "When it came to woods wisdom he was really sharp. When it came to being quick witted you couldn't find anybody better."
A few years ago Harvey survived a bout with cancer and went back to work despite having a lung removed. A life-long resident of Union County, he was the Grand Marshall this past year in the Maynardville Christmas Parade.
Harvey was not only well known for his story telling, he was also well known for the earthy way he told them. Bishop said it was a compliment to Harvey that no one seemed to take offense.
"You can't repeat a lot of what he said because of the language he used," Bishop said. "But not one person ever called and complained."
Editor's Note - I remember Leon Harvey well. In the 1960's Chuck Swann (then called Central Peninsula) was the only place in the state that offered a "Juvenile Archery Hunt," basically the only place in the state (with deer) where my Dad could take me hunting. I recall some of those Leon Harvey stories and in 1967, when I was 13 years old, I actually managed to kill a deer. He was the one who checked my deer out and he sure made me feel like a big shot. No doubt he's done the same for thousands of other young hunters over the years.