Kansas game wardens find many changes during deer seasons

The gray that would be daylight was just beginning when Jason Barker hit the road Saturday morning. The day’s patrol would certainly be different than any other the game warden had encountered this year. This year, as well, would be different than any of the 17 years he’s served.

“Things have changed a lot, for me, over about the past 10 years,” said Barker, who currently covers Sedgwick and Kingman counties for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. “We don’t spend as much time working spot-lighters as we used to.”

Barker was referring to the illegal act of using artificial light to find, and poach, deer after dark.

“Now they have the technology (night vision equipment) so the really serious guys don’t need to spotlight. They’re really hard to catch, then,” said Barker. “When they’re out there in the dark they know their chances of getting caught aren’t very high with 60 game wardens to cover 105 counties.”

Actually there were probably about 65 game wardens afield, working the firearms deer season that runs from Wednesday through next Sunday. That includes 11 field supervisors, according to Kevin Jones, Wildlife and Parks law enforcement chief. Several others were out, sick. At least three spots are vacant as some game wardens retire and others are lured away to better pay in other states.

Barker said the tools he and other game wardens use have changed for the better, too. Updated communications systems, including radios and cell phones, have made it much easier to contact others. Cell phones in the hands of landowners and deer hunters have also changed things.

“Seems like any more I rely more and more on other people turning somebody in,” Barker said as he drove toward the Byron Wildlife Area, west of Kingman. “When I worked Harper County there were a lot of places where I couldn’t (call out or be reached). It’s not like that any more.”

Decoy days are over

A tool that used to serve wardens doesn’t seem to currently work as well, though.

For years Kansas game wardens made many cases letting the bad guys come to them by placing a fully-mounted buck in a field. The ploy was to tempt hunters driving a nearby road to take a shot at the fake deer. Often game wardens hiding nearby were able to ticket such offenders for things like shooting from within a vehicle and hunting where they didn’t have permission amid other infractions, said Rick Campbell, a Kansas game warden since 1980 now working near Manhattan.

“I saw some incredible stuff with a decoy those first few years. The first time I think four of the first five trucks to drive by stopped and shot at it,” Campbell said. “But it just doesn’t seem to work any more. I think the decoys really cut down on road hunting. People don’t take shots at them.”

Barker agreed he doesn’t answer as many calls about people shooting from roads as he used to.

There was a time, Barker said, when it seems Kansas had a lot of non-residents driving the roads, looking for deer to shoot illegally.

“I think that’s changed, too,” he said. “Most of (the non-residents) have a place leased and they pretty much just stay in there and hunt. I don’t seem to get as many complaints.”

But an ever-increasing interest in hunting Kansas, from hunters from other states, has complicated things for game wardens in other ways.

Dan Melson, a law enforcement supervisor in northeast Kansas, said game wardens now spend a lot of time working cases where a non-resident has gone through fraudulent means to get a deer hunting permit. Some may have lied about being a Kansas resident so a permit can be purchased online. Others may hunt illegally on a permit issued to a friend who is a resident.

Barker said the use of crossbows during Kansas deer seasons has also changed things. He thinks being able to use something that has the simplicity of shooting a gun has encouraged many who once hunted with high-powered rifles to hunt the much longer archery season, which includes the November rut when bucks are most active. Barker said he’s even encountered poachers using crossbows as they spotlight deer, so the sound of a rifle echoing for miles wouldn’t give them away. Some poachers have used them illegally to hunt in Wichita parks, too.

While other parts of the state, particularly southeast and western Kansas, have seen a lot of deer hunting pressure since the season opened, Barker said things have been relatively slow in his district.

Saturday morning Barker headed to Byron Walker hoping to find a lot of hunters. The cold and wet conditions, he said, might keep many hunters home.

Cars and trucks were well-spaced when he made his first drive through the 4,685 acre public hunting area. Driving back through at about 9 a.m., he encountered several hunters coming back to their vehicle to warm up or head home.

Slow season

Action had been slow. Most hadn’t seen a deer. Michael Lloyd, hunting with his son and father, had seen a six-pointer and missed him twice.

At a campsite near Kingman State Fishing Lake, Barker found the skinned carcass of a deer hanging in a tree. Aaron Blagaard said he’d shot the buck on Thursday. Barker pointed out the hunter’s deer permit was illegally attached to the buck’s antlers, which were in his tent. He gave Blagaard a verbal warning because the permit is supposed to remain with the meat at all times.

He gave another verbal warning to a hunter who came from the woods in a blue stocking cap, which is in violation of the requirement to wear an orange hat while hunting. The hunter promised he’d correct the situation before he returned to the field.

“Usually if I think it’s purely a mistake I’ll just issue them a warning,” Barker. “We normally try to use some common sense.”

That’s one of the few things that hasn’t changed in his career as a game warden.

This story was originally published December 3, 2016 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Kansas game wardens find many changes during deer seasons."