Well, the thank you is really a 2 way street. For a someone who never forgot his aspirations as a kid to be a cowboy & policeman at the same time, the job fit neatly when I discovered what a Border Patrolman did.
Back in those days, nothing was ever said when you took out a rattlesnake or coyote when tracking aliens. Only exception is the Chief would get on your case if you happened to have snake load on your cartridge carrier. That is not the case today when you have to report a round fired for whatever reason or run the chance of losing your job.
Up to as late as the mid 80's, the average "Mojalito" ( a term that is not meant to disparage but accepted by aliens in those days as did the term "Migra" they had for us & no offense was taken by either) was, for the most part, a docile group, although there were indeed exceptions which I can attest to. It was a job that had a strange relationship between the hunter & the hunted. They would try every method to avoid apprehension & 19th century method of tracking (taught by Indians when the Patrol was formed) was used to follow their trails. Many times, you would encounter a group who hadn't eaten in days & you may end up sharing your lunch or buying them something to eat at a gas station.
The job really changed about 85 & we started carrying H&K's MP5's at the checkpoints.
My oldest son is in the Patrol & I had a chance to ride with him one day last Spring. I was amazed how the job had changed so much & it is literally a war now where you carry an automatic weapon with you everywhere & groups now, will take you out if you ever drop your guard. Most people can't grasp what is happening on our southern border. There is a spike in suicides among Agents now because of the stress of the job.
I carried a S&W model 19, which I really cherished. It had such a smooth action & I carried the same pistol my whole career with the exception when I served as a K-9 handler & I carried a Glock w/subsonic 9mm rounds so as not to damage the hearing of the dog.
Strange that you mentioned the 97 Winchester pump shotgun. That was a mainstay in the old days of the Patrol & as late as the early 90's before I retired, there was still one in the station armory. A sweet shotgun.
Anyway, it was a heck of a ride & I was fortunate to have served in the time frame that I did.