When it comes to all areas of natural resources, it seems there is nothing more complained or criticized about than how conservation game wardens ruin outdoor recreation experiences, specifically for hunters, fishers, trappers, snowmobilers, and ATVers. I have never heard someone having a positive experience with a game warden, only negative experiences. This may be because a person is more likely to tell many others about a negative experience with something, while they will tell very few others about a positive experience with something. In many cases it goes beyond just telling about a negative experience however, it seems many people try to give wardens a bad rap and even try to damage their reputation. What is the reasoning for this, should conservation game wardens be treated this way?
I have personally encountered a game warden twice while participating in outdoor recreation activities. Once while fishing and once while hunting. Neither one of these encounters was negative for me. The game wardens were just doing their job making contacts with the public that is using the state’s natural resources. My encounters with the wardens did not last longer than ten minutes each and I felt grateful after the contact that they were out protecting the state’s natural resources.
There are several reasons why the public may interpret their encounter wardens to be negative. One may be that the wardens are wasting their time that they could be spending hunting the trophy buck or monster musky. In reality the wardens don’t spend much time making the contact at all and they have plenty time to chase after their trophy game. Another reason is that the wardens are out to get everyone for some type of violation and slap a hefty fine on them. Wardens are out there to protect our natural resources and if the public is not violating any rules, which they should not be, they have nothing to worry about getting a fine. Just the thought that someone is out there watching you to make sure you are obeying the rules can give someone a negative attitude toward wardens as well.
What wardens do by protecting what we have left of our sacred waters, soils, plants, and wildlife far outweigh any reason to be negative toward a game warden. They are out putting their life on the line at times to stop the exploitation of what belongs to the public. Every walleye, grouse, or other species that has been poached in the wild was stolen from the public. Every species in the wild belongs to the public. Without wardens protecting natural resources that belong to the public, the public would not have any natural resources to recreate with.
This is why I am thankful there are brave law enforcement wardens so I can enjoy the outdoors and future generations can have the same opportunities I have had. The next time you encounter a game warden in the wild don’t think of the negative associated with them, give them praise for protecting what you love.
5 comments:
I have personally had three game warden experiences. One was a very bad experience when I was 13, One was a good experience when I was 11, and one experience was just ok.
The very bad experience is one I will never forget and my family brings it up often as you pointed out above. We simply had too many people at a campsite even though everyone at the campsite was my immediate family. We had canoed 13 miles the day before and arrived at the campsite at sunset. Since we did not launch from the boat landing, we did not see the posted sign. The warden would not budge on this rule and issued us a $250 dollar citation. If I met this warden today I would still consider him to be a horrible public servant.
The good experience occured on a river in northern Wisconsin. We had misread our map and ended up on the wrong side of the Menominee river. This put us on the wrong side of the channel (in Michigan) where we had no duck license (we did have all required stamps and WI tags). The warden noted our mistake and allowed us to pick up and move without any hassel.
The ok experience occurred on the Mississippi river when a warden accussed us of firing our shotguns in the middle of the night. We did no such thing. In the end he explained why he was asking and I understood why he acted the way he did.
I think game wardens need to show more appreciation for the people that write their paychecks. In two of the three cases above I was assumed guilty before being given the chance to explain the situation.
I view wardens the same way I do police officers. Most are straight and a few are crooked. If they show me respect first I will do the same.
When is the last time you wrote a game wardens paycheck?
Yes, some wardens need to use their discretion more wisely especially in the cases of unwitting violators.
I agree with what you have to say for the most part, but I do not think it is fair to view all game wardens the same way. Not all game wardens have the same personalities, nor do they all perform the same way while on the job.
Where I'm from, there is one game warden who is the talk of the town. It's been said that he purposefully goes out of his way to check up (spy) on people and to give ridiculous "ticky tack" fines to the public. I cannot say anything about the warden one way or another because I have never had an encounter with him. I'm sure he is just doing his job, but I can see why people would view game wardens negatively. You are right about people spreading the bad word more often times than the good, but when you hear many, many, many negative stories about certain encounters, you can't help but to wonder.
Game wardens do wonderful things for the state, and I appreciate their position. I think some of them just need to work on their people skills. Some of the stories I heard about the well known game warden in our town just related to how he handled himself and how he interacted with the public. If you are going to give someone a fine, it is possible to do so with respect.
Most game wardens do their job well, but I feel it isn't fair to assume that all do.
Yes, an evaluation of how well each game warden performs on the job and listening to feedback from the public about each game warden would encourage more positive interactions.
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