The Wyoming Game Wardens Association was formed in 1973 for the purpose of furnishing a medium for good fellowship and loyalty to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and fellow officers, effectively maintaining the wildlife resources of the State, promoting a more efficient and able force of wardens and to meet our responsibilities and problems collectively. The Association is classified as a nonprofit charitable organization for tax purposes.

Since 1985, the Wyoming Game Wardens Association has had the ability to provide financial assistance to various charitable organizations, programs designed to enhance outdoor awareness to school age children, research designed to improve wildlife law enforcement, handicapped hunter assistance, scholarship programs and memorial funds. Total contributions have exceeded $200,000 since 1985.

Membership to the Wyoming Game Wardens Association is comprised of all commissioned Wyoming Game and Fish Department law enforcement officers (86), retired officers and associate members. Current membership is now at 156.

MISSION OF THE WGWA

To promote and perpetuate the traditions, duty, responsibilities and role of the Wyoming Game Warden. To advocate the continued status of the Game Warden position as a multi-purpose wildlife professional serving as a law enforcement officer, wildlife manager and liaison between wildlife constituents and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. To honor those who have served before by upholding applicable traditions and developing new methods to address evolving environments and constituents. To advocate for the continued development and advancement of the wildlife investigative unit and those officers who serve on the unit. To advocate through it’s membership, the concept of sustaining the honor, respect and reputation of the Wyoming Game Warden and all Wyoming Game & Fish Law Enforcement Officers through service to wildlife and the people of the State of Wyoming.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is critical. – Aron Levenstein

With the recent rash of large mule deer bucks being poached in the Pinedale region this winter, I started thinking more concretely on what the actual number of poaching occurrences there may be. A quick look at our state’s case management system reveals that, on average, we log 4760 violations each year. (This, of course, includes all violations, not just deer poached on the winter ranges.) The data also shows an average of 175 violations per year go unsolved. These are the “unknown suspect” cases where the detected violation never goes to court as no suspects have been found or are charged. The crimes cover a wide array of violations: moose without licenses, wanton destructions, taking eagles, bear baiting violations, hunting in wrong areas, trespasses, snagging fish, over limits of big game, using artificial lights…the list goes on and on. These numbers show that 3.5% of all our documented violations go unsolved – not a bad statistic considering the usual lack of evidence we are left to work with at a crime scene.

This relatively low rate of unsolved cases can be attributed to the fact that the Wyoming Game & Fish law enforcement personnel are incredibly adept at what they do. I have often thought that, should we turn our attention to solving homicides, we would be among the best. Imagine working a homicide where we could interview surviving family members, delve into insurance policies, interview co-workers, etc. Game wardens, on the other hand, have a headless animal and - if lucky - an intact bullet that has not passed through the animal or splintered after hitting a bone. There are no surviving members of the family to talk with and no jealous husband to scrutinize. We have learned to scratch every ounce of worth out of the tiniest shred of evidence and hone our interviewing skills (often winning cases based only on confessions because there is little physical evidence).

However, and this is an important however, how many violations go undetected? If we were to be generous to ourselves, we could guess that we detect 5% of the game and fish violations that occur in our state. If we take watercraft violations out of the equation, we have an average of 3790 detected wildlife violations per year in Wyoming. Using the 5% figure, we have 75,800 undetected cases occurring each year in Wyoming! This not only entails animals that were actually killed, but also takes in licenses purchased illegally, trespassing, license transfers, etc. Let’s be more realistic and say we detect 2.5% of the violations…this brings the number of undetected crimes to over 150,000 per year. And we don’t have a clue, literally, that a particular elk, or big horn sheep or fish was taken illegally.

Scrutinizing the case management data more closely reveals that, on average, 30 animals are killed illegally under our “Winter Range” statute (taking an antlered or horned animal out of season or without a license) - the big, trophy-quality animals. If we only detect 5% of this specific crime, we have 600 trophy-sized big game animals killed out of season or without a license each year. Since most of these crimes are the out of season ones, maybe we can assume that we detect more than 5% of these violations…if we find evidence 10% of the time when these crimes occur, “only” 300 trophy class animals are poached each year.

Why the disparity between our skills and the amount of undetected violations? Obviously it is the nature of the business. There are no alarms that sound when someone spotlights a deer, no video cameras along the borrow ditch where the wasted antelope is abandoned and no locked doors keeping a person out of a closed hunting area. We have approximately 70 game and fish law enforcement personnel in our state who can devote most of their time to field work. Not a lot of wildlife law enforcement to cover the state of Wyoming.

What do we do with these statistics? I’ll leave that up to the reader to ponder. An often quoted adage is that you have to know what the problem is before you can solve it. We’ve known all along poaching is a problem; maybe we haven’t seriously considered the magnitude of the problem.

Mark Nelson, President WGWA

Mark Nelson, Cheyenne Game Warden transplanting turkeys

2008 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

PRESIDENT – Brian Nesvik – Pinedale Game Warden
VICE PRESIDENT – Craig Smith – Wheatland Game Warden
SECRETARY – Jason Sherwood – Laramie Access Coordinator
TREASURER – John Demaree, Laramie Investigator
EXECUTIVE OFFICER – Mark Nelson, Cheyenne Game Warden
REGION 1 DIRECTOR – Brad Hovinga, Big Piney Game Warden
REGION 2 DIRECTOR – Craig Sax, Cody Game Warden
REGION 3 DIRECTOR – Irah Leonetti, Gillette Game Warden
REGION 4 DIRECTOR – Brian Baker, Evanston Game Warden
REGION 5 DIRECTOR – Jason Hunter, Medicine Bow Game Warden
REGION 6 DIRECTOR – Bill Brinegar, Rawlins Game Warden
REGION 7 DIRECTOR – Gary Boyd, Glenrock Game Warden

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

NAWEOA/WLEA MEMORIAL – Joe Gilbert
HISTORIAN – Roger Bredehoft
HOUSING – Bruce Scigliano
WORKLOAD ANALYSIS – Bruce Scigliano, Mark Nelson, Scott Browning, Alan Osterland
PARADES – Brian Nesvik
RETIREMENT – Ron Iversen
UNIFORM – Dave Hays
EXPO – Aaron Kerr, Rod Lebert
HEALTH INSURANCE – Carol Havlik
LEGISLATIVE – Roger Bredehoft, Mark Nelson, Bill Haley
COMPENSATION - Bob Trebelcock, Alan Osterland, Bruce Scigliano, Todd Graham, Mark Nelson
POACH COACH – Rod Lebert, Gary Boyd
WEB SITE – John Demaree, Mark Nelson
FALLEN OFFICER LIAISON – Brian Nesvik (Chair)
     Region 1 – Brad Hovinga
     Region 2 – Craig Sax
     Region 3 – Irah Leonetti
     Region 4 – Rick King
     Region 5 – Adam Hymas
     Region 6 – Chris Daubin
     Region 7 – Gary Boyd
     Statewide - Carol Havlik, Daniel Beach, Rod Lebert, Lin Bashford

Jeff Smith, Laramie Supervisor	Sheridan Region Officers in 2002

CONTACT INFORMATION

Mailing Address: WGWA, P.O. Box 1241, Laramie, WY 82073

Email Address: info@wyominggamewardens.com