The Year-Round Busy Season
As we are all thawing out from another long winter, I think most people are looking forward to warmer temperatures and more opportunities to spend time outside. In North Dakota our seasons can go from one extreme to another in a short time. With the change in seasons our daily duties as game wardens in can vary quite a bit. I have heard more than once that a lot of people think that a warden’s busy time of the year is only during hunting season, and that the other 8-9 months of the year must be slow. Fall is busy, and it’s not the only time.
As fall hunting seasons are wrapping up ice anglers are venturing out on the ice. Ice fishing pressure can vary across the state, but it generally becomes the focus for a lot of wardens over the winter months. There are other activities like trapping and furbearer hunting to monitor throughout the winter also. Lake Audubon and other lakes in my district keep me busy. Checking ice anglers may seem to get repetitive to some, but it’s something that I enjoy doing if it’s not -50 windchill. Ice fishing is one of my favorite ways to spend time outside of work. Being able to talk to other anglers on the ice about their success (or lack thereof) makes the winter go by quickly for me.
Although I enjoy working and recreating in the winter, I still look forward to a change come spring. As the ice begins to melt, I get ready for the upcoming boating and open water fishing season. As we wait for lakes to open there is still plenty to do. I spend a good amount of time going through wildlife management areas patrolling for abandoned equipment that was left out after the January 31 deadline. This is something that can take a good amount of time depending on how many WMAs are in a district. In my previous district in Watford City, there was never a shortage of area to go through with WMAs scattered along the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. I’m finding this to hold true in my current post in Turtle Lake with large WMAs like Audubon and Lonetree. Spring hunting opportunities for light geese and turkeys round it out before the spring fishing really gets going.
As spring progresses into summer, focus is on fishing and boating enforcement. This includes anything from checking shore anglers to responding to calls for assistance on the water. The peak of summer is probably a toss-up with fall for the busiest times of the year. In addition to fishing and boating enforcement, another area of focus in the summer is patrolling WMAs making sure people are following the regulations on the state’s public lands. Activity is high on WMAs with waterbodies and camping areas throughout much the summer.
There really isn’t much downtime between the summer rush and fall hunting seasons once Canada Goose seasons open mid-August. This marks the beginning of the fall hunting seasons with the peak in November with the deer gun season. Between August and November, it seems there is a hunting season opening every couple of weeks with regular waterfowl, moose, pronghorn, elk, pheasant, and so on. In each corner of the state wardens have some variety of what seasons they find themselves busy with.
Soon after the hunting seasons start winding down, we start the cycle over again going into winter. This is one of the best parts of being a game warden in North Dakota. As soon as you’re ready for a change, the job requires it. And just like how you can count on the wind blowing no matter what time of the year, you can also count on game wardens being busy one way or another protecting the resources.
- Game Warden Joseph Lucas