Running head: GAME WARDEN CAREER RESEARCH

Game Warden Career Research

Katharine Samis
Delaware Technical & Community College

GAME WARDEN CAREER RESEARCH

Abstract
The law enforcement profession that I have chosen to follow is the career of a game
warden under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Jobs exist at both the federal and state
level, with varying degrees of specialty education, moderate pay, requirements I am
already on track to meeting, and occasional pensions available. This work choice would
provide me with a close-to-home, outdoorsy and interesting source of income compared
to other potential environmental jobs.

GAME WARDEN CAREER RESEARCH

Game Warden Career Research

The primary Criminal Justice field that I am interested are the Game Wardens,
which exist under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. While I am not a criminal justice
major nor in a law enforcement program currently, I could absolutely see myself
channeling my devotion to the environment and conservation through such a career. My
current major of Agriculture and Natural Resources easily addresses the environmental
focus of officers, and can give me a leg up when dealing with farmers and other land
owners in regards to environmental and wildlife based issues. I have a minor of animal
sciences, which assists me in understanding both wildlife and production animals, as well
as how they affect each other.
Requirements for this field are moderate and vary. The absolute requirements
consist of a few different clauses. First of all, Game Warden candidates must be between
21 and 36 years old. As I just turned 21, I am now a potential candidate. The next few
requirements state that applicants must have a valid drivers license (being a US citizen
or in some cases resident) and no felonies or misdemeanor domestic violence
convictions. Game wardens must be able to carry and use firearms, and thus must have
clear background checks with nothing that could come up to jeopardize their ability to
obtain, possess, or use firearms. This is not a problem for me, I have already passed
background checks in prior jobs, have no record, and am already hunter safety certified
and proficient in firearms. As imagined, being a Game Warden is physically and mentally
demanding job (How to Become A Game Warden, 2016). Just from my personal
interaction with officers, I understand that they spend a lot of time outside, being
moderately physically fit is very important. Officers may be called to put down injured

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wildlife, so they must be mentally competent as well. It would do no good to call an

officer to euthanize an injured moose and have the officer arrive and be emotionally
unable to handle that duty. Due to my hunting and more recent farming experience, I
know that I am mentally able to withstand such pressure. I also prefer to keep physically
fit on a personal basis, and actually look forward to such a job requirement I dread
having to sit at a desk all day. On the How to Become a Game Warden page (2016), they
specifically state that officers must complete several assessments in such prior mentioned
categories; These usually include a physical fitness assessment, a medical evaluation,
and a psychologically evaluation. The official requirements page goes into detail of
these tests with Further, candidates for conservation officer jobs must meet specific
vision and hearing requirements, including peripheral vision requirements, night vision
requirements, and color distinguishing requirements. Each departments physical fitness
assessment differs; however, individuals must usually meet minimum requirements by
performing sit-ups and push-ups and completing a timed run. Other assessments for fish
and game warden jobs often include handgun stability tests and swimming tests. This
page also mentions specific disqualifications in addition to ones mentioned previously
that would exclude you from exercising firearm rights. Additional potential
disqualifications not covered above include major traffic violations or Class A traffic
violations in the past five years, fraud, DUI offenses, any misdemeanor offenses in the
past five years. A discussion on necessary education is also continued on this page but get
well into the varied section of requirements. It appears that candidates are preferred to
have either two or four year degrees in any of a multitude of studies related to the
criminal justice system or environment, however some states will accept candidates with

GAME WARDEN CAREER RESEARCH

nothing more than prior law enforcement or natural resources experience (Conservation
Officer Requirements, 2016). I have two relatives both in law enforcement and hear that
preferences for candidates and officers with degrees are going way up, especially the
preference for employees to have a bachelors degree over an associates degree.
According to the Conservation Officer Salary page on GameWardenEDU.org
(2016), the average salary of a local officer is $43,710 annually. State officers nearly
break $50,000 at $49,960 with the note that the majority of officers are hired at the state
level. My future state of employment will be the state of Georgia, so I decided to read the
average salaries for that state off of the chart provided on the web page. Unfortunately, it
looks like while Georgia is one of the states that employs the most Game Wardens, it is
also one of the states that pays the least, with the annual mean wage only being $33,720.
There are fortunately avenues to receive higher pay, including being a higher ranking
officer, being hired at a higher rank because of increased education, experience, or ability,
and officer get paid for overtime (Conservation Officer Salary, 2016). My current life
plan includes me getting married and so this would be a second total source of income.
Even as a sole source of income, living expenses in Georgia are much lower than other
states. A decent apartment in the local town would run me around $550 a month,
compared to the $1250 a month for a low quality apartment found in the city I grew up
next to. Hopefully over time, as I gathered experience pay and higher ranks, I could work
up to a respectable $60-70k salary. Overall, I would much rather live modestly with a job
I enjoy instead of spending all my time at a job I hate just to live lavishly.
For pensions, it does not look like Delaware provides a pension for Game
Wardens, according the NSCL, however Georgia does provide a pension. It is the average

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of your 24 highest months, and you can retire with full benefits at 55 after thirty years of
service. Retirement after twenty-five years of service is allowable but will not result in
full benefits. Employees also have the option to contribute to a 401(K) and be partially
matched by employers (STATE GOVERNMENTS PUBLIC SAFETY WORKER
RETIREMENT PLANS TABLES, 2016).
A last requirement that I wanted to wait on discussing is training. Game Wardens
arguable receive a huge amount of training. They must have regular law enforcement
training, federal law enforcement training, state and federal field training, and then
specialized training that is dependent on their location. Regular law enforcement training
gets candidates certified as a peace officer, allowing them to enforce laws and make
arrests in the event an arrest is needed. This training also includes entry specific training,
such as wildlife and fisheries identification; public relations and communications; boat
operation; ATV operation; and specialized patrol tactics fish and wildlife conservation
laws, vessel accident investigation, vessel handling, ATV training, and man-tracking.
The federal law enforcement training just includes more criminal and law/regulation
training. After this, both the federal and state field training consists of placing students
with other officers for a longer period of time to test and evaluate their skills, as well as
introduce them to the working environment. Finally, the third step is essentially building
on their originally learned specialized skill with more intensive training or even more
skills mostly based on the geographic location of their future jobs. The Wildlife Officer
Training web page lists several examples of states with specialized training, I will use
Oregons as an example; Boat operations, Horse packing, Environmental crime
investigation. Federal wildlife laws. Game salvage equipment operation, 44 patrol unit

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operation. Wildlife and fish identification, Commercial fishing vessels, Outdoor

survival. (Wildlife Officer Training, 2016). That is clearly much more specialized to the
environment than the initial, more generalized, training. I was born and currently go to
school in Delaware, but plan to live in Georgia. Delaware officers would need more
marsh training, but definitely not training for alligators as alligators cannot survive the
cold months. Georgia officers may need more swamp and gator training, but less snow
and winter emergency training because of the extremely mild winters.
Obviously there is quite a bit I would have to do in preparation to apply for a
Game Warden position. Fortunately, I am already in and have mostly completed a fouryear degree program. Additionally, my program is one that would likely be accepted
because it a general Agriculture and Natural Resources degree. That alone would give me
quite a head start compared to the other options of a two-year degree or solely related
experience. I have no law enforcement knowledge, but that will be taken care of during
all the training. As a kid I completed my hunter safety certification, which could be
helpful, especially because I kept up with it and aware of many fish and game laws, and
in the instances where I am not aware of the law I am aware that there is the possibility
for a law to exist. For example, I know the normal annual bag limits and season dates for
hunting in both Maryland and Delaware, so I can assume that there are bag limits and
season dates in Georgia even though I may not know exactly what they may be. I would
like to become both more physically fit and proficient in firearms before applying to
become a Game Warden candidate. As I mentioned earlier, I enjoy being active and see it
as a personal goal. Most of my firearm experience is in rifles and shotguns, as my
experience revolves around my pastime of hunting. However, I was speaking to my

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fiancs father (the local police chief), and he mentioned that local officers are all
carrying Glocks, which are handguns. Being around firearm-savvy people all the time has
provided me the opportunity to use handguns, and I can shoot them with easily adequate
accuracy, however I would like to become better. I am right handed, and have always shot
right handed, however I am left eye dominant. With long guns it is easier because I can
simply close my left eye, but with handguns you are supposed to shoot with both eyes
open. Regardless, these are all things I could work on, but will still receive training for if
accepted.
Overall being a Game Warden is a very possible career choice for me. Many of
my personal choices that I have made so far have set me up for success in this career,
including my degree, hunting experience, environmental background, athletic hobbies,
and the fact that I am planning to become a resident of Georgia, the place where Warden
schools are, is icing on the cake. The pay isnt the best, but live-able and very much
preferable to a job I would hate with higher pay.

GAME WARDEN CAREER RESEARCH

References
Conservation Officer Requirements. (2016). Retrieved July 10, 2016, from
http://www.gamewardenedu.org/requirements/
Conservation Officer Salary. (2016). Retrieved July 10, 2016, from
http://www.gamewardenedu.org/salaries/
How to Become a Wildlife Officer. (2016). Retrieved July 10, 2016, from
http://www.gamewardenedu.org/
STATE GOVERNMENTS PUBLIC SAFETY WORKER RETIREMENT PLANS
TABLES. (2016). Retrieved July 10, 2016, from
http://www.ncsl.org/research/fiscal-policy/state-retirement-plans-public-safetytables.aspx
Wildlife Officer Training. (2016). Retrieved July 10, 2016, from
http://www.gamewardenedu.org/training/

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