State game wardens patrol miles of terrain

Mineral County is in Region 2 of Montana Department of Fish Wildlife & Parks, an area that contains mountain peaks reaching above 10,000 feet and valley trout streams stretching over 1,500 miles. 

Over 62% of the region is public land (Mineral County is over 92% public), with deer, elk, moose, sheep, black bears and goats inhabiting the region. The area is also home to eleven unique state parks and 72 regional fishing access sites serving as gateways to water recreation on the Blackfoot, Clark Fork, and Bitterroot Rivers, while 170 public lakes and reservoirs dot the region. 

A large, growing urban center for Montana, Region 2 has over 18% of the state's population and only 7% of Montana's land and water area.

There are less than 60 FWP game wardens in Montana, but they need more, and hiring is getting underway, said Sgt. Derek Schott from the Region 2 headquarters in Missoula. 

“First you need a bachelor’s degree, and it doesn’t have to be in wildlife biology or law enforcement. You just need to prove that you stuck out college for four years and graduated as that alone says an awful lot about your character,” he explained. 

“You need to be in shape because there’s many times you find yourself, especially in Mineral County, hiking back to the lakes to check fishing licenses or help campers or hikers that get turned around. Enjoying the outdoors and its recreation opportunities is a given and being a hunter and fisherperson adds points, but it is not the defining part of the position,” Schott noted. 

There is no age limit to apply as there is with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service being 36 years of age. Those who are accepted will attend the Montana Law Enforcement Academy and then another 12-plus weeks of FWP training.

Schott was raised in Big Timber and his first assignment with FWP as a warden was near Plentywood for eight months, but he has been in Region 2 for 29 years since, so he knows this area thoroughly. 

So do the other wardens who patrol and enforce game laws, as Mineral County is well-covered when it comes to protecting wildlife resources. Wolf and mountain lion seasons are going on now, which Schott gets a few calls about, but the wardens also check for required snowmobile registration and permits in the Haugan to Lookout Pass area. 

“The lack of snow has had a huge impact on all of those recreations. Hikers have had an extra-long season and the only good news is there have been almost zero reports of dogs getting caught in traps because of it,” Schott shared. “We do assist the county (Sheriff’s Office) and Highway Patrol as backup on different calls whether it is a traffic stop or a felony arrest,” he shared, so writing game violations and trespassing citations is not their only law enforcement duties. “Sometimes we stop at an accident scene and ask if assistance is needed from the agency already there. Many times, just adding more hazard lights from our trucks to help catch drivers’ eyes is all that is needed.”

Is there a county or an area in the western part of the state that has more violations than usual?  

“You know, all in all when averaged out, it’s pretty close per capita,” Schott said. “You’ve got people in all of the counties who break laws, and some are intentional and many are flat-out mistakes that are made.” 

1-800-TIP-MONT makes a lot of good cases and he encourages people to use this number even if they are not certain a violation was committed.