20 New State Game Wardens Heading to the Field

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AUSTIN – Twenty new state game wardens soon will be taking to the field following their completion of seven months of training at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Game Warden Training Center in Hamilton County.

Members of the 56th Game Warden class graduated in ceremonies at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the House of Representatives chamber at the Capitol in Austin. Featured speaker at the event was State Rep. Ryan Guillen, chairman of the House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee.

The new game wardens will be reporting for duty at stations spanning the state from East Texas to El Paso. While the primary duty of state game wardens is to enforce hunting and fishing laws and water safety regulations, they are fully commissioned peace officers who also respond to natural disasters, assist other local and state law enforcement agencies as well as conducting public outreach on a variety of conservation-related topics.

“State game wardens are the primary law enforcement off the pavement in Texas,” said Major Danny Shaw, director of training at the academy. “We do a lot more for the people of Texas than enforcing game and fish laws.”

The new game wardens received 618 hours of instruction to meet the state- mandated training requirements for their basic peace officer certification including criminal and constitutional law; firearms; self defense; use of force; defensive driving; arrest, search and seizure; ethics, and first aid. They received another 700 to 750 hours of training related to wildlife and fisheries enforcement, the Texas Water Safety Act, wildlife and fisheries identification, public relations and communications, boat operation, ATV operation, and specialized patrol tactics. The new wardens also have become certified hunter education and boater education instructors.

The 20 new wardens will bring to 532 the number of men and women who are carrying on a tradition of service to Texas that game wardens started in 1895.

These are the new game wardens and the counties in which they will be stationed:

  • Mallory Brodrick – Lubbock  
  • Buck Burchett – Webb
  • James Burris – Webb
  • Jerry Byrne – Zapata
  • Daniel Cantu  – Cameron
  • Kirk Clendening  – Val Verde
  • Gregg Johnson –  Maverick
  • Anthony King – Presidio
  • Trey Kram – Scurry
  • Nicole Leonard – Comal
  • Chase McAninch – Montague
  • Kyle Nevins – Hale/Floyd
  • Stewart Rogers – Hartley/Dallam
  • Robert Sadowski – Anderson
  • Carson Wardlow – Zapata  
  • William Watts – Trinity  
  • Clifton Westbrook – Stephens  
  • Gerald Whitworth – Starr
  • Douglas Williams – Bowie  
  • Aaron Willoughby – Val Verde

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