Many of us who have hunted and fished Nevada may have a concept about the roles and responsibilities of our local game wardens. Many sportsmen are aware of the role of the warden in enforcing Nevada fish and game regulations, but did you know that this enforcement plays a crucial role in the conservation of Nevada wildlife?
Nevada Outdoorsman Unlimited recently spent some time with Mike McCusker, Game Warden Lieutenant for the Western Region of the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW). Lieutenant McCusker was gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule to answer questions and share information regarding the comprehensive role and responsibilities of being an NDOW game warden……
Lieutenant McCusker, what region of Nevada do you cover for NDOW, and how long have you been a game warden?
“I am currently the Western Region Supervising Game Warden which encompasses the Northwest portion of the state. This includes the following areas/towns: Reno/Sparks, Carson, Gardnerville, Hawthorne, Yerington, Fallon, Fernley, Winnemucca, Gerlach, Lovelock, Incline Village and Stateline. There are 9 field wardens and two seasonal game wardens (Lake Tahoe boat patrol) assigned to this region along with two newly starting Reserve game wardens. I am in my ninth year as a game warden.”
What do you enjoy most about your job?
“The thing I enjoy most about this job is working outdoors. Most days are spent driving around the hills looking for hunters/fishermen/trappers and checking for compliance. Since becoming the Supervisor recently, that outdoors time has been greatly reduced, but that is still the driving force behind it. We patrol vast amounts of country enforcing the State’s fishing, hunting, trapping and boating laws.”
What do you believe to be NDOW’s greatest conservation effort in your region?
“Game wardens are sometimes perceived wrong. Many people view us as the ‘enemy’, misperceiving that we are trying to find some crime with everyone we contact. 95% of the people we contact are good, upstanding citizens just out recreating with their friends and family. We are ambassadors of this agency, we’re doing a tough job in a tougher environment. On most of our field contacts, NDOW wardens turn into the area authority. We pass along information about good places to hunt, what we have or haven’t seen as far as animal locations, clear up misconceptions about existing laws, or just simply spend time ‘BS-ing’ about hunting or anything else sportsmen want to talk about. The majority of our warden force are sportsmen as well and partake in the activities we enforce. I like to think we do a pretty good job of discussing issues and clearing up misconceptions the public has. Although this may not seem like a true ‘grass roots’ example of conservation, I think it falls in the same category. We are the front line of the agency who deal with the public ‘face to face’ more than any other division, and we have to be well-versed in all aspects of our agency to answer questions and explain reasons why the agency as a whole does what it does, meanwhile still protecting the resource by enforcing laws and regulations.”
“The laws and regulations are voted on and supported by the majority of the public. Game wardens don’t make the laws, the sportsmen/public does. We simply enforce the laws the public decides to enact.”
As an NDOW game warden, what do you believe to be the biggest conservation challenge in your region and or the state?
“The vast amount of country we have to patrol is daunting. You are essentially one person, in one place, at one time in a huge area trying to preserve and protect our wildlife resources from unscrupulous individuals who may not want to play by the established laws and regulations. We have the second fewest amount of wardens statistically considering population in the United States behind California.”
“We have one game warden for every 90,000 or so residents (California has 1 per 186,000 residents). We have the second largest patrol area in the US behind Alaska per uniformed enforcement personnel.“
“We rarely have backup and when there is, it is usually several hours away. The majority of our crimes do not have witnesses, only a found carcass that we have to work back from trying to find and prosecute a suspect.”
If you could reach out and talk to all Nevada hunters and anglers, what message would you pass along?
“Public support and information is huge in our business. As I said, we are one person in one place at one time in huge country. We rely on the public to be our eyes, ears and witnesses to unlawful acts. Most of our cases are generated by the public who saw or heard something unusual or out of place. Many people do not want to be looked at as a ‘snitch’ or ‘rat’, so they witness something but do not call to advise us. Many do not realize that these people they are witnessing doing unlawful acts, ‘poaching’, are actually stealing from them directly. Poachers are taking away future opportunities from the rest of the public by taking animals outside the prescribed methods or seasons and not playing by the same rules as the rest of us, giving all ‘hunters’ a bad name in the eyes of the non-hunting public.”
Thanks to Lieutenant McCusker for his honest and straight-forward information regarding NDOW’s hard working game wardens….you can find more interesting information on NDOW’s game warden force on their website at http://ndow.org/about/pubs/brochure/warden.pdf
And next time you have an opportunity to connect with any of our Nevada game wardens, be sure to thank them for the incredibly challenging work they do to protect and conserve Nevada’s wildlife population!