Ask a Warden: What Day Do You Write the Most Tickets?

In our new series,Ask a Warden, we’ll be interviewing officers from across the country to learn about their role in protecting our game, fish, and other resources. In this edition, we asked officers from Kentucky, Wisconsin, Alaska, and Oklahoma about what day of the year they write the most citations.

The South Dakota Game, Fish & Parksrecently posted on Facebookthat a check station for pheasant and duck hunters resulted in a 54% violation rate. While this is certainly their busiest time of year as hunters descend on the state’s pheasant fields, that’s not the case for officers across the rest of the country.

As it turns out, the “busy season” varies greatly from state-to-state and county-to-county, but openers always seem to generate the most violations.

Lieutenant Greg Watts | Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife
“My single biggest day wasalwaystheSaturday before Memorial Day. Theweather would be nice, people would begin to see others out enjoyingtheoutdoors,and it usually createdarush. It wasalways fishing licensetickets, because in a hurry to get outand enjoytheday people would forget to renewtheir fishing license. That includes a guy who I wrote a ticket to so many years inarow for no license that one year I had the citation book out and nearly complete before we even got to his boat. Sure enough, he didn’t have a license.

“There were other tickets I could count on writing every year, like hunting rabbits without a license on Thanksgiving morning. Every year someone was at their grandparents’ house on Thanksgiving, and an uncle or cousin would take other family members out hunting. Usually there’s someone in the party that doesn’t have a license or plug in their shotgun.”

Lieutenant Robin Barnhardt | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
“Where I work inthewest-central part ofthestate, I issue the most warning and citations ontheopening weekend ofthegun deer season, which runs in mid to late November.Thestate of Wisconsin issuesaround 500,000 gun deer hunting licensesannually,andalmostall of those half-million hunters hitthewoods duringtheopening weekend, so it isavery busy time fortheWDNR ConservationWardenService.

“TheSaturday oftheMemorial Day holiday weekend often comes inasaclose second due tothelarge numbers of people recreating intheoutdoors by camping, fishing,and operatingATVsand boats.”

Lieutenant Matt Dobson | Alaska Department of Fish & Game
“Iam not surethere isaspecific day oftheyear that generates moreticketsthan others, butthemostactivity usually takes place onthethird Sunday in June. That istheofficial opening ofthecommercial salmon season in southeastAlaska. Enforcement officers will usually deal with large numbers of commercial gill net vessels, commercial purse seine vessels, and commercial trollers.Thesummer commercial Dungeness crab fishery starts during this same timeframe.

“Duringthese patrols, enforcement officersare looking to make sure commercial fishermenare in compliance with licensingand registration requirements,as wellas obeyingthelaws regarding fishing timesand locations. On top ofthecommercial fleet,thesport fish season in the southeast is in full swing withanglers looking for king salmonand halibut,as wellas other bottom fishand shellfish.

“During sport fish patrols weare looking to ensure fishermenare properly licensedand obeying bag limitsas wellasany applicable size restrictions. Sundays, in general, tend to bethebusiest day oftheweek throughouttheyear, not only because ofthecommercial fisheries, but that’stheday whenmost‘weekend warriors’are coming back tothedocks fromtheir huntingand fishingand might be trying to sneak home withan illegal take.”

Lieutenant Dru Polk | Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
“Oklahoma has 11 different ecoregions, tying Texas for the most in the nation. The geographic locations and specialized seasons determine our busiest time period. From the wardens in the south-central part of the state working striper fishermen in the summer, to the wardens of northwestern Oklahoma checking pheasant hunters, our enforcement practices are very specialized.

“I personally write the majority of my citations in October and November, with opening day of modern gun being the greatest number of citations written on any one day. We are blessed in Oklahoma with enormous Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs), and in my district alone these WMAs span well over three quarters of a million acres. I have on occasion in my career written well over 70 citations in the month of November, far surpassing the average number of citations many wardens issue in the entire year. Federal lands, as well as large timber companies, allow our sportsmen and women to hunt in unmolested remote areas. But this also brings with it poachers who think there’s slim chance they’ll run into a warden.

“We will contact close to 50 vehicles given any general patrol day. On average, 10% of all contacts result in citations being issued—like loaded guns, license infractions, and illegal deer.”

Feature image via Captured Creative.

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