Sanders County Game Warden on duty

Danielle Switalski

I don't think I have been up earlier than eight in the morning for the past two months.  Being incapable of logical thinking  any earlier than ten in the morning, waking up at six to meet the Game Warden of Sanders County Tom Chianelli to shadow him during his shift Monday was quite a test of my own dedication to the journalism profession.  Yes, I could get up before the sun!

After chugging a pot of cold coffee and throwing a hat on, this time thankfully not covered in elk pee, I was once again ready to meet the wilderness  head on.  As it just so happened to be the second day of hunting season, it was perfect timing to see what the Game Warden’s job entails.

The daybreak was rainy with a chilly Fall wind.  Every hunter we met during the rounds through the woods was none too happy about the weather  conditions.  Once again, the dedication of hunters to take that one shot for the kill amazed me.

Chianelli and I began the day going through Little Thompson.  For the second day of hunting season, things were remarkably quiet.

“You wouldn’t even think it’s hunting season,” Tom remarked at the beginning of our trip, which he attributed to the weather and potentially the economy as he suggested hunters might be waiting for better weather conditions as to not waste time and money on a poor day.

Despite the quiet, I had a goal and that was to see a bear as I explained to Chianelli I had yet to see a bear on the roads of Montana.

That goal was swept from my mind as I quickly learned that it was indeed hunting season when we came upon a camper with a dead deer, gutted  and hanging upside down on a tree beside it.  Having never seen a gutted deer carcass before, the coffee inside my stomach squirmed.  I forced myself to get out of the car and picture a cartoon where the deer turned into a steaming plate of delicious venison  with a side of mashed potatoes, the squirming in my stomach turned to growls of hunger.

Chianelli went through the protocol; asking to see the hunter’s license and making sure the tags on the deer were marked properly.  After I snapped a few pictures and he finished with his duties, I gave once last hungry look at the deer and jumped back into the truck.

We continued our trek up through Little Thompson, going through Thompson River, Bear Creek, Fishtrap Creek and ultimately Crow Creek.  Every  hunter we passed obligingly pulled over and rolled down their window to talk to Chianelli, mostly about how the hunting was going and how the roads were looking higher into the mountains.  We also stopped once to help a hunter change a tire on his pickup.

“My main priority is to go out and patrol the woods.  I work for the people and depend on them,” said Chianelli who is the only Game Warden in Sanders County and pretty much on call 24/7.  “It’s tough at times, but with their help (the people in the community) I couldn’t do my job.  Folks are out to help you, they are your best friend and your best resource.”

One of the last stops we made was around 12:30 where there was an outfitter and hunter, which Chianelli checked in on to see how the day was  going and make sure everyone was following the hunting rules and regulations.  They said another hunter and outfitter took horses to collect a big game animal that was shot earlier that morning.

The Game Warden’s duties are to make sure people are following the rules and regulations, including staying off private property, properly tagging  their game, hunting during designated times and with proper licensing and the list goes on.

The best part of the morning was Chianelli’s stories.  Working as a Game Warden for the past six years, he had a pickup full of interesting things to share.

For example, one day he was driving through the woods on his rounds when he saw a group of guys down by the river.  Per protocol he went down  to the river to check things out.  When he got down there he asked the guys what they were up to, to which they responded, saying they were “just hanging out.”  Chianelli laughed and said to me that obviously they weren’t just hanging out, standing in the river,  in the middle of the woods for fun.

He asked the group if they were fishing, where the reply was a quick “no.”  However, looking a foot ahead of them was the tip of a fishing pole  sticking out of the river.  It turned out the guys didn’t have fishing licenses on them.  Chianelli said to me, “That’s one of those situations where it’s like ‘come on guys, just go buy a $20 license.”

The stories continued to my own amusement and even though we were out and about in the woods for six hours, it made the patrolling seem like  it went by in no time.  One story involved the recent transport of a black bear and her two bear cubs found on a woman’s property in Paradise.  Chianelli had to tranquilize the bears, get them in cages and drive them up past Thompson Falls where they were  released back into the wild.  Transporting bears is one of the many other duties of the Game Warden.  I found myself envious of Chianelli’s luck with seeing bears and my lack thereof.  I am sure I will regret this feeling the minute I actually do see a bear  up close, as Chianelli said the cubs were “mean little suckers.”

If there is one thing to be said from my ride along with the Game Warden it is that him and I have more things in common than I would have ever  thought and that is the fact that both our jobs require getting out in the public and simply talking to people because without the public both of us would not be able to do our jobs.

“Most people follow the rules.  I work for the people and depend on them,” said Chianelli