The Key to Success
Last week, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) announced that applications are now being accepted for the 68th Game Warden and State Park Police cadet class. If interested, you can find out all about it on the TPWD homepage.
Click on the “Read all news” tab under “TPWD News”, and scroll down to the Nov. 15, 2024, news release titled Protect Texas’ Natural Resources: Apply Now for the 68th Texas Game Warden, State Park Police Academy.
Back when I applied to the 42nd Academy in 1990, I hammered out my application on an electric typewriter. Norman Anthony, a graduate of the 21st Academy in January of 1968, handwrote his. Not too much before then, I think they chiseled them in stone. Now, it’s all done online.
That’s how it goes, though. Things change, and you adapt. In the early days, game wardens used personal vehicles, carried a weapon only if they wanted to, and often went out on patrol for days at a time with very little communication with anyone.
Today’s game wardens have smart phones, radios, comp uters, global positioning systems and all kinds of other cool stuff that make it fun to get the job done. Their patrol boats and vehicles are top notch.
Norman, who retired in 2003, saw a lot of change in his day. Take vehicles. Norman’s first vehicle, a 1967 Plymouth Fury with a 318 hp engine, came complete with low-bid, cheapo tires, no radio and no air-conditioning.
Getting that car where a game warden needed to go was challenging, but Norman, adapted as game wardens always do. It took Norman almost 20 years to get his first fourwheel- drive vehicle, a 1986 Dodge Ram Charger.
Things got progressively better from there. By the late ‘90s he had himself a crew-cab four-wheel-drive pickup with all kinds of amenities, including a key fob that allowed him to lock and unlock his door from a good bit away. This came i n handy when worki n g with a partner that you didn’t necessarily trust with your spare set of keys. If, while checking dove hunters away from the patrol vehicle, your partner needed to go back to the truck, you just pressed the button.
The first deer season after he got that fancy keyfob truck, Norman wasn’t having much luck. He had hit quite a dry spell trying to catch night-hunters. Game wardens don’t like dry spells, so he decided to try a new area of his county.
Norman found a spot where a decent buck liked to hang out consistently and set up shop. Several nights passed without any luck. Then, one night after he had sat for about six hours, a car slowed near that buck and continued on a bit before stopping and turning around.
Norman got excited. He leaned up in the seat to zero- in with his binoculars and prepared himself for the shot he knew was fixing to come. Brake lights. This was it.
Norman scooched up a little more, applying just enough pressure on the panic button on that new key fob in his pocket to send his patrol vehicle into a honking, blinking fit that shattered the still of the night and any chance that the guys in the vehicle were going to shoot. He got it all turned off just in time to hear the tires squeal as the vehicle sped away.
The next day, Norman took the fob apart and figured out how to disable that panic button. Yep… if you’re gonna stick with anything very long, you got to be able to accept change and adapt. Some might say that’s the key to success.
Applications for the 68th Academy will be accepted through Dec. 15, and the 35-week training period is scheduled to begin Oct. 1, 2025.
Jon Brauchle spent 29 years as a game warden.
