Pa. Game Commission ends Deputy Game Warden program

More than 100 people are currently serving in the program, which began in 1903.

By MEGAN SWIFT, PATRICK VARINE and MEGAN TROTTER TribLive

The Pennsylvania Game Commission announced the state’s Deputy Game Warden program is coming to an end, which will cut the number of state wildlife wardens nearly in half.

The program began in 1903 and has more than 100 people serving as deputy game wardens across the commonwealth.

In an email to deputies, the commission said the decision to end the program was difficult one and expressed gratitude to the volunteers who served. It referred to the closure as “a natural evolution.”

“This decision reflects our focus on having the most efficient and effective full-time, professional workforce,” the commission said in the statement.

A deputy game warden is a parttime or volunteer worker who assists full-time wardens. They enforce hunting, fishing and trapping laws, manage nuisance wildlife and teach hunter safety.

A recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that game wardens must obtain a warrant before entering private land played a part in the decision.

“It was not the sole reason, but it did play a role,” commission spokesman Hunter Kauffman said. “The ‘open fields’ decision highlights that the legal landscape and complexity of wildlife law enforcement have changed so much in recent years that it would be unfair to put those burdens of interpretation onto a volunteer workforce.”

Bill Eckenrode, a member of the White Oak Rod & Gun Club in Allegheny County, said he doesn’t understand the decision.

“It’s going to put the (full-time) game wardens in a tough position, because they aren’t going to have any help at all,” Eckenrode said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

There are more than 140 deputy game wardens across the state, including 10 in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. There are 155 full-time state game wardens.

Deputy wardens are paid a stipend of $100 per day, and receive about $10,000 in state-issued uniforms and equipment, according to an archived version of the commission’s website from January — the deputy game warden section of the commission’s website has been removed.

Deputies were required to join full-time wardens on a ride-along and pass a background check, then undertake nine days of training in Harrisburg.

“Deputies are commonly involved in: law enforcement patrols and investigations, answering complaints and calls for service, nuisance wildlife control, hunter-trapper education classes, educational programs and assisting other agencies,” according to the archived version of the website.

Kauffman said the decision to end the program was not the result of a vote by the board of commissioners. Their next meeting is not until September.

“The deputy program is a discretionary program of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and decisions regarding its administration are made at the staff level,” Kauffman told TribLive.

In addition, Kauffman said the move was not necessitated by the recently passed Pennsylvania state budget.

“The game commission is an independent state agency, and as such doesn’t receive an appropriation from the state budget,” Kauffman said.

National Deer Association CEO Nick Pinizzotto said because the deputy warden roles were largely volunteer positions driven by a passion for wildlife resources, many deputies feel a deep personal loss regarding the change.

“These are more or less volunteer jobs. You do it because you love the resource, and so those people have a very personal connection to this work, and they give a lot of their time,” he said.

Pinizzotto lives in Indiana, where he said the hunters rely on just a couple game wardens to cover the entire county.

“Those guys are working really hard, and I know that’s the case all across the state,” Pinizzotto said. “I do think that initially this is a big change, and as we’re coming into particularly the archery deer seasons, there’s no question it’s going to leave full-time wardens a little bit short-handed.”

While the specific details behind the Game Commission’s decision to end the more than century-old program have not yet been released, Pinizzotto speculated the decision is part potential long-term strategy to streamline efforts for both fish and game management to better serve Pennsylvania outdoorspeople.

“There is a much larger plan for the commission, and long-term, there may be a good solution to this. We don’t know about that yet. I think that’s part of the problem. There’s a little bit of a vacuum of information,” he said.