Looking thru the new Reg Book I see there are lot's of vacancies scattered throughout the state. I you have ever thought about being a game warden, this might be a good time to prepare to pursue it.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

There are no open job announcements right now, but you may want to check the qualification requirements so you will be ready if an announcement does come open.

The requirements are:

JOB INFORMATION
The Conservation Enforcement Officer – General Option is a permanent full-time position with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Positions are located throughout the state. After completing required training, Conservation Enforcement Officers
are responsible for the enforcement of conservation laws pertaining to game and fish, seafood, water safety, and parks.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
• High School Diploma or GED
• Six (6) months of experience participating in any area related to Conservation programs and their laws and regulations, to include
activities involving game, fish, seafood, water safety, and parks
• U.S. Citizenship
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
• Applicants must be age 21 or older at time of application.
• Applicants must possess a valid driver’s license issued by the Alabama Department of Public Safety at time of appointment.
• Applicants must meet the standards of the Alabama Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission during their probationary
period.


The continuous annoncement is at the following link: Continuous announcement link

If you have a college degree and want to be an enforcement officer with a biologist option, the continuous announcement can be found at this link:
Officer/biologist link



Go ahead and get on the notification list if you're interested.


Here's a link to the new Reg Book. All the game wardens are listed with their counties in the front of the book, and you can see there are a lot of vacancies there:
Game and Fish Regulations 2011-2012


Good luck with your job search,
Eddie

We can't keep them in Jackson Co. . We've had a hard time keeping 2 last few years. We need 4! We have a large county, with more management areas than anyone else. We've got deer, turkeys, ducks and geese. Hunters from other counties and states leave their area and come to ours! Not to mention we have some world class road hunters and spot lighters of our own.

They've had vacancies for 15-20 years, never at full strength.

Unfortunately, most law enforcement agencies have this problem these days.

Is that due to lack of funding or lack of applicants?

well I think that it is the lack of pay,which would fall under lack of funding,which would cause a lack of applicants

lack of funding, they have hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants.

up and down cycle for the 26 years I spent with DCNR, depending on how much money the DCNR had. Sometimes a LOT of vacancies , sometimes just a few.

They fill them as they can.

What is the starting pay for a GW?

35-36k

Basically, a step above living on food stamps.

Better than some neighboring states.

I took the test back at the first of October and received my test results at the first of November I scored in Band 1. From what I understand is there could be 20 people or 2,000 people in band 1 so you don't really know how many people your up against. I know when I took the test in Montgomery there was about 20 other people taking it also. I just hope and pray that I get the opportunity to pursue this career it is something that I have been working for since June.

I hate that "band" rating/scoring thing. They started it so they could hire minorities that might be # 187 on the actual score alone but put everyone from 188 and lower in band one and you can hire him/her over someone who had the highest score. Total bs....

I agree Bhamfred, I heard that was why they use that type of scoring.

I took the test tears ago and got a one also and after the time elapsed to take the test again I changed what I wanted to be my career. Never a call or nothing.

If you are a current state employee and you were selected for one of these jobs, would the base salary be higher, considering time in the retirement system?

I wish we could have 4 or 5 in each county, but I doubt that will ever happen. Times are thin and funding is short. Gas prices have really been hard on the DCNR's budget the past several years.

I think they do a great job with what they have, I just wish they had more!

It would take 4.2 GWs in each county to provide 24/7 coverage. With no overtime of course.

Elkhunter, they are going the other way.....

They have come up with a new term...hybrid officers! They will be enforcement officers for Nov-Jan and become biologists(Wildlife) for the rest of the year. But they are taking an Enforcement position off the list....

If there were anyone I'd say deserves not to pay income taxes, its these guys. Along with Cops, Firefighters, and military at income levels like this. Amazing that you litterally can put your life on the line daily and make less than a waiter/waitress. I know that its a "choice" to do so, but some "callings" are not always a choice.

BhamFred, so your saying that they are doing away with the enforcement position and having only the enforcement/Biologist(degreed) position?

They are not doing away with the normal conservation officer positions. They still hire COs. They also hire COs with the Biologist Option. Some of these positions are new, like the hybrids Troy is talking about. They will do enforcement during peak hunting seasons (deer) and assist the biological programs (WMAs, deer, turkey, private lands, etc) the rest of the year.

what Matt said....

I understand what your talking about now. Thanks....

From what I have heard about the "hybrids", the positions are not as cut and dry as Nov.-Jan. as a CEO and the rest of the time as a biologist. More of a if they are needed to do biologist type work then they do that, but if the LE section needs something done then they help out with that. However, during Nov.-Jan a majority of their time is spent doing L.E. work.

Raise some out of state license's and pay better!

This question is mainly for troy. And feel free to pm me. But I am medically retired military I got pushed out because of a few too many explosions in iraq and being a gw has been a goal of mine for years! And want to know since you were in that line of work for so long what do I need to do to help my chances? Thanks

Veteran's points help, but disabled veteran's points will help a whole lot more.

Yeah fair enlightenment and I have applied for the job several times. But is not having a biology degree hurting me that badly? Or is there something I should do?

Truthfully alot of it is timing. Even though they have alot of opeinings, they don't get to hire often due to the seemingly constant state hiring freezes. Being in the right place when they can hire is the key.

A big strike against you is that you are not already an APOST certified officer, or at least I gather that you aren't. You are competing against seasoned LE officers for these jobs. Naturally, the brass is going to go after the known commodities when they can. That way they have an idea of who they are hiring and can save money on training costs.

Unless I'm terribly wrong in my generalizations of most Aldeer members, your pigmentation and the package between your legs don't help you either. May not be right, but it is a reality. If you are a minority member, I apologize for stereotyping and tip my hat to you for not allowing yourself to be constrained by what society thinks you should be.

If you really want to be a GW, the best way is get on with a local agency and get your certification, do your contract time (usually two years), and then go after it and remain patient.

Jawbone I appreciate everything you have told me thus far. I truly do. And I am a white male vet ha. You nailed it. What is that certification? And with DCNR is that who you are saying I should get certified and do "contract" work with? And what is that? I have a million questions about this I apologize. But I appreciate your patience with me on this one. and as far as qualifications go. In the army I was a combat engineer, I am trained with professional explosives, homemade explosives, could terms mobility and mobility breaching. I am CLS certified (combat life saver) basically a paramedic. I ama a SAWE small arms weapons expert a trained armorer, and was in sniper school before being medically retired. I have a purple heart, army commendation medals Army achievement medals and an Iraqi campaign medal w/ spear head device. Because of what I did in iraq. Which was patrol in front if every other convoy 4-500yds away in a vehicle without a mounted weapon and clear the route of any and all explosives. So I don't know what this certification is but I feel as if it would be that difficult to achieve or maybe I am wrong.

Jawbone is referring to APOSTC certification, as in having been to a police academy. You generally have to be employed by a LE agency in Alabama to attend an academy.

http://www.apostc.state.al.us/

AUduckiller, sorry, been off the puter for two days.

Contrary to what DCNR says they are almost 100% hiring folks with college degrees, usually in biology or law enforcement.

Your service definitly helps.

A APOST certification definitly helps, as the dept dosen't have to pay to send ya to the police academy.

Timing is also VERY important, as a LOT of the time they aren't hiring at all, no matter how qualified you may be. I stayed after them for three years before I was hired, keep at it and good luck.

If ya need more help just ask, here or pm.

troy

too little given the responsibility involved
and the danger.

Troy,I heard they didn't like to hire you for the county you live in? If someone gets hired as a GW for a county do you have to live in the county or a certain mileage from the county?

If you are hired for a county, you MUST live IN that county, sometimes even within a geographic area of that county.

The longstanding policy of not assigning a new hire to their home county was done away with a few years ago.

Scruffy, for many years they wouldn't assign a new hire to their home county, ya had to work elsewhere for 5 years. Gunslinger says no more so we'll go that way...

Ya have to live in the county yer assigned to, some counties(Baldwin) have divisions within the county so ya may have to live in a certain area.

Some Captains try to make their officers live in different areas of the county, some don't care.

troy

Thanks! May have more ?'s when they come to mind.

Scruffy,

Don't forget that one of the qualifications is this:


There are other state jobs you could take to help you qualify as well as get you on the state payroll. I never applied for a game warden job because my color blindness usually eliminated me from any law enforcement positions. [I was in the top 5 for Bham PD when I first got out of the Army 'til they found out about my color blindness].

I did apply for Biologist Aide II with the state because I had college courses in biology, and I got an offer with the state but declined it. It was with ADEM, but it might have helped me eventually get to the DCNR if I had pursued it.

I also applied for, and was eventually offered a job as Forest Ranger Technician. I found out that the advertised salary included 5% that would be deducted from my pay for retirement, and that changed my mind about working for the state. The feds paid about $8 an hour more at that time for the same position, but they wouldn't even consider me because I was older than 34.

You might shoot for Biologist Aide to help get your foot in the door and meet the (6) months experience requirement above.

Here's a link to the announcement for Biologist Aide:
Biologist Aide announcement

They used to have Biologist Aide I and II, but I don't see that any more. I qualified as Biologist Aide II as an entry level job. Here's a link to the promotional job though:

Biologist Aide, Senior


BTW: I was no. 1 on the list for Equip. Oper. for years, but I never got a job offer. The DCNR has EOs too. That might help you move up to gw if you can qualify and work with the DCNR as an EO.

Equipment Operator announcement

or forest ranger:
Forest Ranger Technician announcement


List of job classifications at DCNR - link


Some federal jobs:
Biological Science Tech
Bio Sci. Tech - General
Bio Sci Tech - Wildlife

Park Ranger - Wildlife Mgmt.

The forestry firefighter jobs have turned into temporary positions starting out. They paid much better back when I applied, and they were permanent positions. I don't know if they still hire permanent or if you have to get promoted:
Forest ranger/firefighter - temporary position

The "6 months experience" has been VERY loosely interpreted in the past, as including hunting, fishing, boating, etc...........

Gunslinger, I was hopeing since I have been a hunter education instructor since 2009 it would cover the 6 month experience. I have a degree in Agriculture so I have taken a lot of biology classes. I had an offer for the forest ranger tech position back in May and thought I would really like the job but the Forestry commission laid off so many people in 2010 I didn't want to be without insurance with a 3 year old and a new born baby so I didn't take the job.

Duckiller, sorry I wasn't clear. I get carried away with the jargon sometimes. It's a bad habit for police officers.

What I meant was your best bet is to get on with a local police agency. Let them send you to a police academy to get your APOSTC (Alabama Police Officer Standards and Training Commision) certification. In return for paying for your training and your salary while in trainng, they will require you to sign a two year contract saying that you will work for them for two years. If you leave voluntarily within those two years you owe them for the reasonable prorated cost of your training. Different agencies have different figures. For the full cost I've seen them range from $6000 up to $16000.

With your qualifications, you should have no problem getting hired. It will just take longer, or take perfect timing, with the more desirable agencies.

This will probably be the easiest way, albeit a long way, to eventually get on as a GW.