Deer whisperer, criminal investigator, ultra-athlete sets the pace for success.
RAISED IN HIS GRANDMOTHER’S HOGAN
Dirt floors, blue corn mush and a weaver’s loom interlace the early memories of Secatero’s humble beginnings in Alamo, New Mexico, the eastern edge of the Navajo Nation. “My grandmother could make something out of nothing. She would turn powdered jerky gravy into a meal.”
Before he was old enough for school, young Greg was looking after his grandmother’s sheep – as many as 300 – feeding cattle, hauling water and in charge of the butchering.
“For a while, I didn’t know anything beyond the sheep camp. We didn’t have any means of transportation. We would shear the sheep and sell the majority of the wool. With the other part, my grandmother would wash, spin and pick her own natural herbs for dye. I would help her with the loom.”
When he began school, Greg was speaking his traditional language, but the other kids were talking and reading in English. “I was at a disadvantage. I had to stop my native tongue and start with English. It was hard.”
BUILDING FENCES AND CHARACTER
As he grew older, cross-country running, basketball, and forest thinning and fence-building with his uncles taught him discipline, while shaping his character and earning him money. “I learned a lot of different teachings and a man’s perspective from my uncles. They taught me that there’s always balance. And, as little as I was, I’m pretty sure I was helping with their workload. But what’s so cool about it, they put me on their payroll.”
They also introduced him to hunting. “I remember archery hunting in junior high. My first kill was an elk.”
He also recalls the impact of meeting NBA champions Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Byron Scott, James Worthy and Michael Cooper of the Los Angeles Lakers at a basketball training camp. From that moment on, he’d save his earnings for a wardrobe of court shoes.
Meanwhile, Greg was raising a calf that his mother had purchased – one for him and one for his brother. “We raised those calves, they produced offspring, and by the time I was in high school, I had 60 head of cattle.”
TRAINED BY THE ARMY, HIRED BY NAVAJO POLICE
Upon high school graduation, Secatero joined the U.S. Army. “I was a combat engineer, responsible for setting up obstacles by any means, using the terrain, trees, rocks, wires, anything to block a place.”
He also was trained to clear the path and breach obstacles. “We had to learn how to recognize, arm and disarm landmines. They even taught us how to make our own explosives. To do all this, you had to do math because with these different types of fuses you would have to nail down the correct timing. We saw what hundreds of pounds of explosives can do.”
He also learned that he could advance by doing more homework, practicing his shooting skills, and keeping up his physical fitness along with his uniform and overall appearance. “I was fortunate enough to be put into a leadership school and promoted to sergeant.”
At age 21, he decided not to re-enlist and applied to the Navajo Nation Police Department instead. Within months, he was in the Navajo Police Training Academy. After excelling as a patrol officer for three years, he became part of the prestigious Navajo Department of Criminal Investigations (NDCI).
“Between my work ethic, tracking skills and arrest rate, my mentor saw that my caseload was much higher than my co-workers’ and he helped me develop as a leader.”
DEER WHISPERER, CRIMINAL CHASER
Since his early years as a shepherd and hunter, Secatero has studied animals and their behavior. He says this knowledge, plus situational-awareness training from the military and police academy and his own intuition have refined his skills for tracking game animals and people.
As a hunting guide, he has a reputation for leading archers to trophy deer. “Greg is exceptionally talented and ambitious,” said FBN Publisher Troy Bix. “In hunting circles, he is affectionately known as ‘The Deer Whisperer.’ Combine that with his patience, determination and achievements, he’s got to be the best there is.”
“I’ve guided people to the largest deer killed on the Reservation,” said Secatero. “People have these grand expectations. My biggest one is so small compared to the ones I’ve guided people to.”
His extraordinary abilities also have served him and the Navajo Nation Police Department well when it comes to searching hidden chasms and out-of-the-way gullies of the vast Navajo Nation for missing people and bad guys. He recalls tracing the steps of a murder suspect in Fluted Rock near Window Rock as a young investigator.
“This guy had killed a grandma. We found his vehicle and investigators were searching 360 degrees from the location but were tracking out. I knew something was wrong. From hunting other animals, I know that instinct takes over.”
Secatero believed the suspect was backtracking over his own shoe impressions and was going in the opposite direction toward his house. “In mid-afternoon, I got some people to cover me as I tracked into the night.”
At midnight, Secatero was still tracking in the dark of the forest. “The suspect’s shoe impressions led us to a compound. Inside, we found houses. And that’s when it got creepy. His shoe impressions led back over our shoe impressions.”
Secatero and the other officers found the suspect inside his house with the gun positioned under his chin. “We cornered him. He was getting ready to pull the trigger and we tried to negotiate. But I knew he was hungry. I had some Beanie Weenies, little hotdogs, with me. I rolled three or four of the cans along with a flash-bang [stun grenade] toward him. He took his finger off the trigger, reached for a can and the flash-bang went off. This stunned him. We were able to disarm him and get him into custody. I was able to use my tracking techniques, and it was a good ending.”
ON TRACK FOR A GRAND SLAM
“Running in our culture is really significant,” said Apryl Joe, Secatero’s ultramarathon crew captain and a team member with Change Labs, a Tuba City nonprofit that supports Navajo and Hopi entrepreneurs.
“It has a big purpose in the teachings of Diné people,” she said. “It’s about getting out before the sun comes up, running toward the east and praying. Some do this in practice; it’s also used in some of our ceremonies.”
Joe met Secatero in 2022 at the Bears Ears Ultra run in Utah. “He did the 50-mile race. My uncle was also participating.”
The two met again last year during the Cocodona 250, a grueling five-day, 250-mile foot race across iconic trails and towns from Black Canyon City to Flagstaff, with nearly a 40,000-foot elevation gain.
“He is definitely driven,” she said of Secatero. “He actually got into ultra running a little over two years ago. He ran the Cocodona last year when ultra running was very new to him. He only had a couple of ultras under his belt and he just signed up. Greg is determined. He sets a goal and works really hard to get it.”
Secatero did not have a coach at the time. He learned a lot about having a strategy for sleeping and staying hydrated. “The hardest time for me to stay awake is between 3 and 5 a.m. I was hallucinating plenty and it took my body six months to heal.”
Now, at age 49, his goal is to run four ultramarathons in the same year and become the first Native American to complete the Grand Slam of 200s.
He finished the 2024 Cocodona in a little more than 114 hours, three hours and 14 minutes faster than his time the year before. “It’s kind of weird,” he said of the hallucinations he experienced during the 250-mile race. “I was right on mile 200 with Tim Deel, my pacer. We were trying to get to the next aid station and I saw a 6-foot husky puppy on the side of the trail. I walked up to it and tried to give it some of the food that I had. And then I thought, ‘Puppies should only be tiny!’”
Just three-and-a-half weeks later, in early July, he completed the Tahoe 200, a journey around the largest alpine lake in North America. “I’m trying to ask my body to heal faster.”
“It was challenging, but he did really well there,” said Joe. “I wasn’t on site, but we had been in contact throughout the race. He finished strongly.”
In the three-week break before the next endurance run, he’s preparing for the Big Foot 200 starting at Mount St. Helens in Washington on Aug. 9. After that comes the Moab 240 in Utah this October.
AN INTENT TO INSPIRE
As the senior criminal investigator, a supervisor and captain for the NDCI overseeing the northwestern portion of the Navajo Nation, Secatero’s job includes investigating major crimes and also coroner duties.
“It makes you think what people can do to extend their lives. I figure more people can live a little longer and not be crippled by illnesses like diabetes and hypertension. We have control over this. In my own life I’m not going to fall victim to these types of preventable illnesses. It’s what keeps me exercising. Hopefully, I’ve inspired others to get out there and take this sport to another level. Action speaks louder than words.” QCBN
By V. Ronnie Tierney, QCBN
____________________________
MOST IMPORTANT LESSON
The most important lesson I taught my kids [two sons and two daughters, now adults] was to be honest and truthful, and to be themselves.
MEMORABLE SAYING
One of the classic sayings that my grandmother would use often was the Navajo version of “It all depends on you.” To me, that means it all depends on how much effort you put into something. If you put in a little bit of energy, you get a little back. If you put in a lot of effort, the possibilities are endless.
FAVORITE MEAL
If I had to order the same thing every day, it would be steak and eggs. I like having breakfast for lunch and dinner, too.
WHERE I GO TO RELAX
Mount Hesperus in Colorado is one of the sacred mountains for the Navajo and one of my favorite places to visit. I caught the biggest trout of my life fishing on a lake nearby.
IF I COULD CHANGE THE WORLD
I wish people would take a little bit of time to themselves. Kids would get off the video games and people would spend a little bit of time prepping and cooking their meals, rather than gravitating to processed foods.
Courtesy Photo: Greg Secatero poses with Michael “Dark” McKnight, whom he calls a “running machine,” in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, while they were there for an ultra in 2023.
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