Becoming A Fish And Game Officer

Every year graduating seniors are stuck with a huge decision, they have to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives. After extensive research and interviewing Officer Brian Jack, a Fish and Game Officer and Researcher, I have decided that after high school I would like to pursue a career in the Fish and Game Department as a Fish and Game Officer. I have always loved to be outdoors and I love to interact with people and animals. Being in the outdoors has always been a passion of mine and I love hunting and fishing. Becoming a Fish and Game Officer will not only allow me to be surrounded by the outdoors but it will also allow me to be able to speak with and communicate with other people that share the same passion of the outdoors

While conducting my interview Officer Brian Jack explained to me that money is tight in the Fish and Game industry. He gave me the advice “Make sure that you are in love with the job before you decide to pursue it because money is very tight and it does not pay very well”(Officer Brian Jack). That really made me think about if I still wanted to pursue this career however, the money is not what i am concerned about, I still feel very passionate about outdoors and conservation. According to the Bureau of U.S. Labor Statistics, Fish and Game Wardens earned and average annual salary of $54,970 as of 2015 (Criminal Justice Degree Schools). Another problem that Officer Brian Jack explained to me that it is very hard to jump into being a Fish and Game Officer as a career. He told me that it was difficult at first especially because of money, and he also had to take seasonal jobs with Fish and Game to get to know important people in the industry just to get his foot in the door. Another problem with becoming a Fish and Game Officer is that there are extremely busy times. The busiest time of the year for a Fish and Game Officer is the fall, this is because most hunting seasons open in the fall such as deer and elk. Because it is so busy, Officers might be away from home many weeks at a time searching for poachers and other hunting violations in

Some of the duties include morning and evening patrols, searching for violations, writing citations and even making possible arrests. There are two sides to the job that a Fish and Game Officer must do, there is an enforcement side and there is a conservation side. The enforcement side involves a lot of patrolling. During a patrol, if an officer finds violations, he will usually wright the suspect a citation, but in serious cases he is permitted to apprehend the suspect. Most violations are usually minor, for example if a hunter forgets to buy a migratory bird permit, this usually results in a small fine, but there are different punishments for different crimes. If a hunter poaches an animal it can vary from a small fine to jail time. The other side of the job is the conservation side and that is what is most important to me. Fish and Game Officers are also responsible for conservation projects and conducting research on animal populations and number of animals harvested. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game website says the following:
The elk population in the Upper Clear Water Basin has declined dramatically over the last decade and the Idaho Fish and Game has began a study to determine if predators are a major part of the problem, The agency will work with hunters and outfitters to reduce predator populations in one of four study treatment areas and compare calf survival