Montana Game Wardens
- Thread starter katqanna
- Start date
mtlion
Well-known member
I've been biting my tongue the whole time I read this thread.
Sure wardens are underpaid but what about biologists? Montana is at the very low end of the scale for pay and we have been losing the best bios to other states for years now. There is something wrong when you need 7 years of school to make less than a garbage man.
If we brought our biologists wages up to match the time and money invested to get those management degrees we might have a shot at keeping some of them around. My two pennies worth.
Sure wardens are underpaid but what about biologists? Montana is at the very low end of the scale for pay and we have been losing the best bios to other states for years now. There is something wrong when you need 7 years of school to make less than a garbage man.
If we brought our biologists wages up to match the time and money invested to get those management degrees we might have a shot at keeping some of them around. My two pennies worth.
T
tjones
Guest
There is probably not a worse place to get credible
accurate info then Lobo Watch. Just sayin
There is no need to bite your tongue. You are absolutely correct. I would hazard a guess that every field personnel within FWP is pretty grossly underpaid.
The agency got by on many years because the demand for those jobs was high enough that they could pay less. However, many in upper management positions failed to realize that as years went by and pay stagnated, the demand for those jobs was diminishing rapidly. There has never been a large scale commitment to remedy the pay issues for ANY job class within FWP, and yet folks wonder why jobs remain unfilled because there is no demand for them.
BuzzH
Well-known member
Pretty much can say the same about nearly all State of Montana employees.
I haven't checked for a while, but last time I did, Montana ranked 47th in pay for their State Employees, ahead of only Mississippi and Arkansas.
JLS, you're absolutely right, this aint rocket science. But it seems that Montana Sportsmen are perfectly fine with paying for extensive training, attracting good employees, etc. then having them go to other States where they are compensated fairly for the job that's expected of them.
In baseball terms, Montana is a farm league for biologists and wardens.
I haven't checked for a while, but last time I did, Montana ranked 47th in pay for their State Employees, ahead of only Mississippi and Arkansas.
JLS, you're absolutely right, this aint rocket science. But it seems that Montana Sportsmen are perfectly fine with paying for extensive training, attracting good employees, etc. then having them go to other States where they are compensated fairly for the job that's expected of them.
In baseball terms, Montana is a farm league for biologists and wardens.
Straight Arrow
Well-known member
The flawed ideology of the current ultraconservative legislature in Montana continues to tout savings in state spending and savings for taxpayers, yet in the end it costs much more to pay for the attrition and the excessive ongoing training for more and more new employees. The pay scale certainly does not attract the "best and the brightest". Furthermore, who knows how it may affect the abuse of sick leave and other job perks that likely are freely taken advantage of due to dissatisfaction with pay.
sethkuhl
Well-known member
Educators in mt start at 26, 000 same people in Wyoming starts. At 48000. Would not trade where I work for money and obviously I have not. Price to pay for living in the big sky and I wouldn't change a thing.
onpoint
Well-known member
One Montana game warden who left recently, for greener pastures in a different western state, summed it up. To paraphrase "It amazes me that state with these resources can't take better care of them and it's people". Sums it up.
shoots-straight
Well-known member
The powers that be don't consider these resources a priority or anywhere near that point. It's low on their Totem Pole.
Misdemeanor/felony ?? The classification of an offence doesn't really mater to the Warden, alone, wrestling with a violator at 2:00 AM in some remote valley, with no available communication with the outside world. Over my career I was held at gunpoint, shot at while paddling a canoe, assaulted with a knife, assaulted with a beer bottle, made countless physical arrests, a group of hopped-up ATV operators tried to run over me when I was on foot, and had my patrol truck rammed by a fleeing drunk violator - all while working in remote areas alone. I arrested armed robbery suspects, and numerous smugglers crossing the Canadian border. All while working alone, with backup sometimes hours away (if they could find me) I had on-the-job injuries that lead to major surgeries on both shoulders and my back. In most states, Wardens, State Police and City Police all attend the same training academy. Equal pay with State and City Police. YES !!
antlerradar
Well-known member
shoots is right that there was an increase to in revenue but that increase did not come with out a cost. The lower income nonresident hunters pocket book was effected the most while the higher income nonresidents were effected little. The result has been that the average Montana nonresident hunter's income is much higher and they have a different attitude toward hunting than the lower income DYI hunter. Not good for hunting in Montana long term.
What we pay our game wardens is pathetic.
Antlerradar
What we pay our game wardens is pathetic.
Antlerradar
Similar threads
