Game Warden Job Requirements – Selected States

There are a couple implicit points being made in this thread, but I'm pretty sure advertising for recruitment isn't one of them.

I started this thread and Mr. Zillmer is absolutely correct. The intent of the thread has its genesis in the killing of a boa by Florida wildlife officers who could not identify the animal. The thread has nothing to do with recruitment. I provided some state's job qualifications and other readers added to the list. Not surprising, the states' requirements vary - in some cases considerably. The thread also contemplates the culture and leadership of states' game and fish commissions including the agencies' mission, vision, values, goals, continuing education of wardens, behavior of wardens, and so forth. A number of readers have responded accordingly and with insight. The thread is "wrapped" in the notion that game and fish are not trained or knowledgeable about herpetoculture and generally do not avail themselves of herptile keepers expertise and experience.

Ah, I apologize. I misunderstood the thread. The Game wardens in Washington don’t even go to a special academy, they go to a regular police academy and then are expected to learn the job duties by shadowing a field training officer for 2-6 months. That’s neither here nor there, but yes I agree that there’s no way they’d have much knowledge past possibly visually identifying within that small time frame, and they’d have to personally be compassionate to understand it at another level. Their main duty is to generate revenue for the state through ticket enforcement of violations, and to prevent camping/littering. They do have a lot of power, including warrant less searches if they believe a wildlife crime has been committed. I’ve had them just hop on our boat, flip open my live well, start pulling large mouth and measuring them. They can be pricks, which goes without saying.

It’s a lose, lose for us. To turn the agency around you’d need multiple people to get on the inside and work their way up through administration to really see a change and it’s nearly impossible when everyone’s brother, nephew, cousin and uncle are already in there. Police get flack, but most of the stories you hear are true. The local sheriff about 3,000 miles east from my home town was up for Re-election, when he won I watched him walk through the department and fire on the spot 7 members who didn’t vote for him. If that isn’t corruption or malice, I don’t know what is.

"To turn the agency around you’d need multiple people to get on the inside and work their way up through administration to really see a change and it’s nearly impossible when everyone’s brother, nephew, cousin and uncle are already in there."

Yes, that's a tough mountain to climb.

I'm guessing at least part of the situation is funding, too. Admittedly, funding is a tool that can be misused (hence the absurd but somewhat understandable movement to "defund the police"), but appropriate resources in conjunction with a public demand for science-based policies and for fair enforcement tactics would be a move in the right direction for this and many other societal complaints.

Sufficient funds, science over politics, and a comprehensive understanding of justice is a lot to ask from a society that has a dead serious "us vs them, and my group is getting the shaft" problem, though. This thread is a very thought provoking way to consider the details of the system, and as such is a great start on the problem.