Jerry Davis

DNR game wardens may have dreamed of becoming a field warden because they love being out in Wisconsin’s natural resources. They know protecting those resources comes before personal recreation, and that means working the nine-day gun deer season. Even when moving up within the ranks, “admin” game wardens can expect to work the gun deer season.
While times have changed and some game wardens do hunt deer with a rifle in November, nearly all wardens work during gun deer season instead of taking a large portion of the nine days to put venison in a freezer or trophies on the wall.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Iowa County Conservation Warden Mike Burns was a bit perplexed regarding a headless deer carcass in Grant County called in on the DNR’s anonymous tip line in December 2022.
There was a bullet hole in the carcass and a cape had been removed as well, presumably before the head was cut off.

Wisconsin’s 2022 deer seasons had closed when Aaron Koshatka received a call that a deer had allegedly been shot with a rifle on the last day of the archery season, Jan. 9, 2023. At the time, Koshatka was a Sawyer County DNR game warden. He now works in Polk County.
“The party did a great job in providing information. Also, there was fresh snow, making tracks and blood clear. The temperatures were below freezing, helping to better pinpoint events, too,” Koshatka said.