Behind the Badge
Kindness
District Game Warden Kylor Johnston
Kids and the outdoors, a special combination for anyone who is truly passionate about hunting and fishing.
If you hunt and fish as an adult, odds are good that you got hooked, or at least were introduced, at a young age.
As a game warden you encounter kids fishing, boating, and when they are old enough, hunting.
When I come across families or anyone taking kids fishing, I always like to talk to the kids about how they did, as the excitement they have in what they caught or what they experienced is so unique and fun to listen to.
Some parents and grandparents get nervous when a game warden asks the kid how many fish they caught.
In North Dakota there is no party fishing, so each person must catch their own limit.
If they get nervous that may mean they just brought the kids along to keep more fish themselves.
The best response I have got from a kid was last summer.
It was in July and the fishing was good on Lake Sakakawea as it usually is that time of year.
Boats were coming in with limits of fish early in the afternoon.
One boat came in with a father, daughter and his friend.
I walked up to them and was asking how fishing went.
They said it was good and they had their 15 walleyes.
I looked down at the little girl who was a little sunburnt and still smiling from the morning on the water and I asked her how many she had caught.
The little girl replied without hesitation “I caught all of them.”
At that moment the look on the two men’s faces was priceless as they started correcting her comment with “no you only got five.”
I looked at the two men and said I am going to believe her as she clearly appears to be the better angler!
They still wanted to make sure I understood she had only caught her five, but at that moment it didn’t matter as that little girl had fun and was fishing.
The young girl was not just along so someone could fill her limit of fish.
The little girl was wearing her life jacket on the boat, so before they left to clean their fish I walked back to my truck and got a free DQ ice cream voucher for kids who wear their life jackets.
When I brought the ice cream voucher back over for the little girl, she gave me a hug and thanked me.
That small gesture of kindness from that little girl was one of the little acts of kindness that can make a person’s week.
It is that hug and thank you from a 5-year-old that gives you hope that kids see the good in wardens/cops.
Remember that because game wardens conduct a compliance check they aren’t just trying to find a reason to write a ticket.
Wardens hope everything is in compliance and they can hand out some DQ vouchers for the kids who are responsibly wearing their life jackets.
So, if you are out boating this summer and have kids who are wearing their life jackets on the boat don’t be afraid to wave down the local game warden as he or she should have free ice cream vouchers for those under 18 wearing their life jackets on the boat.