Buck, a 10-year-old black Labrador with a nose for trouble, walked into retirement on May 20 with a standing ovation and the highest honor of the Oregon State Police. After seven and a half years patrolling the state alongside Senior Trooper Josh Wolcott, the pioneering K-9 of Oregon's Fish & Wildlife Conservation program hung up his vest—but not before proving that a dog's work can literally save lives.
When the program launched in 2018, Oregon had never tried pairing a four-legged detective with its wildlife officers. Buck was carefully chosen from ten candidates in Washington and spent five months in intensive training with Wolcott in Indiana before being stationed in Springfield. It was a gamble that paid off spectacularly. Over his service, Buck was deployed 184 times across Oregon and appeared at 156 public outreach events, introducing schools and communities to the work of wildlife law enforcement.
The numbers tell only part of the story. Buck and Wolcott became Oregon's foremost team in tracking poachers, illegal firearms, and evidence of wildlife crimes. Wolcott, who joined Oregon State Police in 2011, shared three remarkable cases at Buck's retirement ceremony held at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Headquarters. One involved uncovering illegal elk hunting in southern Lane County. Another saw Buck's remarkable nose locate 32 firearms illegally hidden in a felon's possession. A third showed Buck tracking spent shell casings that proved critical to a homicide investigation—a reminder that wildlife officers and their dogs often work at the intersection of conservation and public safety.
But the award that brought the room to tears recognized something even more profound. In December 2025, Wolcott and Buck were dispatched to find a suicidal person in crisis. Buck tracked the individual through dense woods and, in what officers described as barely visible, found them in a pond. Working together with a search-and-rescue team member, they pulled the person to safety. For that rescue, the Harold R. Berg Lifesaving Award was presented to both Wolcott and Buck—an honor given for conduct representing "the highest values of the Oregon State Police."
Buck's retirement comes as the program expands. A younger Labrador named Drake has been assigned to continue Wolcott's work, while Trooper Shae Ross and K-9 Scout—stationed in Bend since 2023—represent the program's growth across the state. Scout remained unharmed during a serious crash in February that injured Ross, who is currently recovering.
What started as an experiment seven years ago has become something Oregon's wildlife community can't imagine living without. The program operates partly through donations via a partnership between the Oregon Wildlife Foundation and Oregon State Police, a funding model that reflects public support for the work. Buck's retirement isn't really an ending—it's a handoff, proof that one dog and one officer can show a state what's possible when innovation meets dedication.
Buck will spend his golden years in a well-earned rest, while the K-9s who follow in his paw prints will carry forward the work he pioneered: keeping Oregon's wildlife safe, its forests protected, and sometimes, keeping people safe too.