Game & Fish reports local wildlife violation totals

Wyoming Game & Fish (WGF) has released its law enforcement statistics for the year of 2022, showing that both the regions that encapsulate Crook County saw a modest decrease in violations.

Sundance forms part of the Casper region, while Moorcroft, Pine Haven and Hulett sit in the Sheridan region.

Within the Casper region, WGF has seven district game wardens, one access coordinator, a regional game warden and a regional wildlife supervisor. In 2022, law enforcement documented 522 violations in this region, which was a decrease of 20% from the year before.

In 2022, 183 citations were issued, 333 written warnings were given and six cases were identified in which a suspect could not be identified.

In watercraft and fishing enforcement, 72 watercraft violations were documented, along with 76 fishing violations and 36 aquatic invasive species violations. Three arrests were made for boating while under the influence.

The Sheridan region also has seven district game wardens, as well as one access coordinator and a regional wildlife supervisor. This year, the region also had a game warden who attended the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy and spent two months patrolling Keyhole Reservoir before being promoted to a district game warden position in Torrington.

In 2022, 725 violations were recorded in this region, a decrease of 9% from the year before. Officers issued 229 citations, 422 warnings and investigated 74 cases where a suspect was never developed.

Trespassing to hunt, fish, trap or collect antlers was the most common violation due to the large amount of private land, with 39 documented violations. Other common violations were failure to properly tag a big game animal (33 violations), taking of big game during a closed season (28 violations), wasting or abandoning big game animals (25 violations) and taking an animal of the wrong sex (24 violations).

The Sheridan region had a dedicated watercraft and fishing enforcement game warden for part of the summer, which led to an increase in watercraft violations. Keyhole Reservoir and Lake DeSmet in Johnson County received the majority of watercraft enforcement.

A total of 173 watercraft violations were recorded in 2022, with 123 warnings and 50 citations. The mot common violation was failure to provide life jackets (66 violations), followed by operating an unnumbered watercraft (18 violations), failure to provide a throwable flotation device (17 violations) and failure to provide a fire extinguisher (11 violations).

With zebra mussels just over the border in South Dakota, there was a focus on aquatic invasive species. The 58 documented aquatic invasive species violations were an increase from 39 the year before; most were for failing to stop at a check station.

Across the state, the top ten violations documented by WGF in 2022 accounted for 45% of all the violations encountered. These most common violations don’t change much from year to year, so much of the department’s enforcement effort is geared towards them.

The most common violation in Wyoming is consistently fishing without a license. This is often committed by people who simply forgot to buy a license, while others do so on purpose and take their chances.

Trespassing comes in second on the list. Again, this is often unintentional, but WGF reports that, in many instances, the violators were aware that they were doing so.

Third are violations of the department’s aquatic invasive species regulations, followed by inadequate life jackets aboard a watercraft. The latter happens more often early in the boating season, and is sometimes caused by there being an adequate number of jackets, but not of the proper size for everyone aboard.

Failing to tag taken animals is the fifth most common violation, followed by failing to purchase a conservation stamp and taking an animal of the wrong sex. Trespassing on properties owned by the Wyoming Game & Fish Commission while they are closed during the winter months; failing to purchase an aquatic invasive species decal for a watercraft; and aiding or abetting someone else in performing a wildlife violation round out the list.