Behind the Badge
On Duty at Devils Lake
District Game Warden Jonathan Peterson
Being the Devils Lake game warden has given me the opportunity to experience an extremely wide variety of calls due to the amount of people that come to Devils Lake to recreate, hunt and fish.
Devils Lake is not a secret walleye fishery by any means and the waterfowl hunting in the area is also widely popular to hunters across the country.
This lake brings in a lot of outdoorsmen and women to the area to chase game on the water.
One of the most important roles that I feel that a game warden does, especially in this area, is being on call for when things don’t go as planned on the water.
Some instances that come to mind are boat accidents.
Whenever someone is involved in a boat accident, a game warden is going to be responding to that call.
We all know how severe a motor vehicle accident can be and boat accidents can be just as severe if not more dangerous due to the lack of safety equipment that a boat does not have that a motor vehicle does.
Things such as seat belts and air bags that are in our vehicles to protect us from injury are non-existent in boats.
Boats also do not have the ability to handle and stop as easily as a car does.
I have responded to calls on the water that involved people getting run over by boats, boats colliding with each other at high rates of speed, people running into obstacles on the water, people ejected from a boat, medical emergencies that occur while people are out recreating, and most local law enforcement agencies are not equipped to respond to these situations like a game warden.
Every game warden in North Dakota has access to a boat, and in some circumstances like in Devils Lake, we have different boats at our disposal to be able to adapt to whatever situation gets thrown at us.
As wardens we need to be ready to respond in a quick and safe manner to make sure that everyone gets to go home at the end of the day no matter how severe the situation may be.
Another thing that I have been involved with more times than I would care to count would be search and rescue operations.
Ramsey County is very fortunate to have a search and rescue team that does a fantastic job on Devils Lake responding to emergencies on the water.
I have worked with our local team many times throughout the years to help people get off the lake safely.
There have been many calls that have come out across our radio such as a capsized boat, a boat about to sink, people stranded due to engine trouble, people that didn’t come off the water and are lost, and time is of the essence to get people back to safety.
As with any search and rescue team, they have to get their people together to come up with a plan and get equipment to the location.
Game wardens are usually ready to go faster than any other agency because most of the time we are already on the water or working near the lake.
We also know our area lakes better than most and that knowledge can be the difference in saving someone’s life.
I have rescued people on Devils Lake when they have capsized their boat in rough water, forgot to put the plug in and didn’t realize it until it was too late, crashed into submerged trees and can’t move their boat anymore, beached their boat in the dark and are stranded on an island, and so many more circumstances that are too many to list.
We are all human and people make mistakes.
When you see a game warden on the water enforcing boat safety violations just remember that every game warden has seen what happens when things do not go as planned and following our state laws and recreating on the water safely is what we all want to see.
We do not want to have to see anyone get hurt or worse while on the water, but we are there for the public to help whenever we can.