As if I didn’t already feel good about leaving Ca in a cloud of dust, I just got word today that one of my high school classmates got a job with the CaDF&W(she stated that she will be a "law enforcement officer with the CaDF&W, so maybe that is not a full game warden?). She was a genuinely nice person in high school and I had not seen her in almost 20 years when she found me on one of the social networking sites. In the couple of years we have been in contact through the site it has been clear that we share opposing views on hunting. She was very vocal about the Trump brother's hunt(stating that hunting should be banned, and calling them names, etc.) and would not listen to reason when I tried to explain the economics of sport hunting in Africa. I gave up pretty quickly when I realized that she was one of those bunny huggers who refuses to consider that hunting might have actual benefits.

Now for the rest of the story(you guys are going to love this): she is an animal rights PETA type who has freely posted her views on facebook in the past. Her college degree is in “Art”. She lives a liberal "alternative lifestyle" and is very obese. I guess she fits one of the demographics that the CA DF&W felt was underrepresented?

BTW, nothing against large women and alternative lifestyles, but I have to wonder why they would hire her.

She has stated that she has been working as a massage therapist, so I guess she was looking to land a real career(like me she is approaching 40).

Is this what the California Department of Fish and Game... excuse me... Is this what the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has come to?

I really feel sorry for you guys.

This is "fiction" right?

How does someone with an art degree qualify as a game warden?

I was born and raised in California and, while I miss some aspects (like the great selection of non-chain restaurants), I can't say I miss the politics and, shall we say, a vast majority of its people.

It always surprises me how many California and Colorado license plates I see around DFW. I would wager many of them, like myself, are here because they couldn't stand the state they were formerly living in.

Sevens, Lets hope that those transplants aren't bringing typical left coast politics with them to the Great Sate of Texas. I still cannot comprehend how homegrown Coloradans ended up getting politically californicated.

quote:

Originally posted by JBoutfishn:
This is "fiction" right?

Jim

I wish it were. When I saw that she had posted the new Ca DF&W logo on here page and people were congratulating her I thought that maybe she was in one of the groups that had pressured them to replace "game" with "wildlife". Then I read the comments and she said that she had been hired as a LEO with the DF&W.

Only in California.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
How does someone with an art degree qualify as a game warden?

Easy. In California, game management involves much more "art" than science. Everything is run based on emotion rather than facts or logic. I'd have to imagine that a trained wildlife biologist would be ripping their hair out having to deal with the shenanigans that go on in California. To an artist, used to dealing in abstractions rather than what goes on in the real world, it probably makes perfect sense.

Alabama has done the same type of thing. a dozen years ago Game&Fish decided they didn't have enough black/female LEOs, so a push was put out to hire more minorities. Problem was there were few applicants and those scored too low to hire....

Fixed it by changing the "scoring", now you get put in a "band", parameters depending on just how low the minorities scored so they can make "band one".....

Now we are hiring people who have NO background in hunting/fishing/outdoors to enforce hunting and fishing laws. Some cannot tell a raccoon from a deer, a bass from a crappie.

What a damn shame and joke.

quote:

How does someone with an art degree qualify as a game warden?

Kind of off topic just a little Ann, but the last few years I worked at the zoo, the folks that did the hiring there, would almost automatically hire anyone with a college degree, no matter what the degree was in. From what I have observed many companies/agencies moved away from hiring skilled or experienced workers, simply because they were too difficult to bend or mold to the philosophies of the company/agency.

It is rough to see such practices and such individuals employed by a government agency of any kind, city/county/state or federal.

Sad to look back at articles about hunting in California in the days when the Game Department was Pro Hunting and what has happened in the past couple of decades.

Colorado is in the sights of the same mechanism that has done so much damage to hunting in California.

quote:

Originally posted by joester:
Sevens, Lets hope that those transplants aren't bringing typical left coast politics with them to the Great Sate of Texas. I still cannot comprehend how homegrown Coloradans ended up getting politically californicated.

Yes, let's hope the "good" people are coming to TX and not the "bad" ones. The transplants I have met so far all seemed to be here because they were sick of the other state's BS. The ones that like California seem to want to stay there. Texas is too hot and godly for them ... hey, whatever helps keep the demons, err ... Californians at bay.

Now Colorado, I know quite a few people from California that really seem to like going there. Even have a cousin at Boulder right now who intends to stay there she likes it so much.

So listen up all you other gun-loving, pro-hunting states, if you want to keep it that way, don't have anything that a left wing Californian might enjoy. Avoid hip-hop music festivals, tie-dye colors, eco-friendliness, hybrid vehicles, and alternative lifestyles.

Unless she went through their academy and went through a POST certified police academy (which every sworn CA police officer does) she is lying. A POST academy has physical requirements, which if you are +40 years old and obese; you are going to have a real hard time passing. So unless she can run a couple miles, drag a 165lb dummy weight and clear a 6 ft fence, she is lying to you about her “job”.

Having a BA will not get you hired. You must be POST certified.

Remember, the DFG oops, DF&W, fired its director because he went hunting.

Give me a F&%$*&^ break.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
How does someone with an art degree qualify as a game warden?

Simple answer Anne. The same way someone with his major work experience as a community organizer qualifies to be president!

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
How does someone with an art degree qualify as a game warden?

Simple answer Anne. The same way someone with his major work experience as a community organizer qualifies to be president!

465H&H

Amen to that!!!!!

Hiring non hunters into F & G depts. ?
Classic BS in State and Federal state of mind
When are we gonna wake up?
Absolute travesty is all I can say.

quote:

Originally posted by CA Safari Hunter:
Unless she went through their academy and went through a POST certified police academy (which every sworn CA police officer does) she is lying. A POST academy has physical requirements, which if you are +40 years old and obese; you are going to have a real hard time passing. So unless she can run a couple miles, drag a 165lb dummy weight and clear a 6 ft fence, she is lying to you about her “job”.

Having a BA will not get you hired. You must be POST certified.

Ca Safari hunter and everyone else,

I believe there is a bit of "truth bending" going on. I spent 8 hours in my classroom today getting ready for the big day(students first day of school is tomorrow) and this was on my mind a lot.

I know that in Ca to qualify as a warden candidate you have to have 25 units of college biology, but a degree is not required. So maybe she has the 25 units of biology. But the fact that she could not run 100 yards with out collapsing makes me think that she in not headed off to "Warden academy". Also, she has already stated that she will be working in the same areas in which she now lives, so I guess she got hired and told where she would be working at the same time. Warden canidates don't know where they will be stationed until after finishing the academy....

She did state: "your looking at a new Government law enforcing wildlife woman!" I am wondering if all the desk jockeys are "sworn to uphold the law" in the same way a Sheriff's dispatcher is????

Maybe she will be a desk jockey? They seem to have a lot of those at the regional offices. They sell H&F licenses and answer phones, but enforcing the law is not really part of their job.

I'm sure she will be looking to climb the ladder though....

A sad state of affairs.

There's no way she can be a Warden or "Law Enforcement" without being POST certified. No degree can get around it. Just because she puts it on Facebook doesn't make it true. Just ask her when she got her POST cert and she what she says. Ask her if she even has her 832. If she doesn't even know what that means, she's just making "stuff" up.

ya'll don't think that POST would let her slide on the physical part of the testing because she is a female????

When I was at the State Academy here getting POST certified we had a white male Chief-of Police from a small town get sent home because he couldn't hang from a monkey bar for the req time. He had a broken arm and was trying it one handed He passed everything else. Sent his butt home.

Later in the course we had to qualify with our handguns. A BLACK student couldn't hit the side of a barn....qualifying score was 70%, he was shooting in the high 30, low 40's. Last chance to qualify he shot a 48 or so. All of us were sent to the bus and he and one instructor stepped out to the range for final try. He shot a 71!!!! Holy Cow!!! Miracle!!! Nope, they just passed him because he was a minority...

Now which is more important...hanging one handed from a bar or being able to shoot accurately????

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:

quote:

Originally posted by CA Safari Hunter:
Unless she went through their academy and went through a POST certified police academy (which every sworn CA police officer does) she is lying. A POST academy has physical requirements, which if you are +40 years old and obese; you are going to have a real hard time passing. So unless she can run a couple miles, drag a 165lb dummy weight and clear a 6 ft fence, she is lying to you about her “job”.

Having a BA will not get you hired. You must be POST certified.

Ca Safari hunter and everyone else,

I believe there is a bit of "truth bending" going on. I spent 8 hours in my classroom today getting ready for the big day(students first day of school is tomorrow) and this was on my mind a lot.

I know that in Ca to qualify as a warden candidate you have to have 25 units of college biology, but a degree is not required. So maybe she has the 25 units of biology. But the fact that she could not run 100 yards with out collapsing makes me think that she in not headed off to "Warden academy". Also, she has already stated that she will be working in the same areas in which she now lives, so I guess she got hired and told where she would be working at the same time. Warden canidates don't know where they will be stationed until after finishing the academy....

She did state: "your looking at a new Government law enforcing wildlife woman!" I am wondering if all the desk jockeys are "sworn to uphold the law" in the same way a Sheriff's dispatcher is????

Maybe she will be a desk jockey? They seem to have a lot of those at the regional offices. They sell H&F licenses and answer phones, but enforcing the law is not really part of their job.

I'm sure she will be looking to climb the ladder though....

A sad state of affairs.

Do people really exaggerate on social networking sites to make themselves look better?

Nah, that hundred pounder I shot in my backyard last week was real!

quote:

Originally posted by scottfromdallas:
Do people really exaggerate on social networking sites to make themselves look better?

Point taken.... As I said, I will try to get more info.

I have a number of friends who work for, or worked for, California Fish and Game (Wildlife) and they all shake their heads at the sad state of affairs at our wildlife department. Fish and Game has become a politically correct joke and morass of inefficiency. One of my friends is a former Director of the department and he can't believe how bad things have deteriorated. My game warden buddy is totally disgusted and just putting in his time, can't wait for the day he can retire and leave this state. That's really too bad, as he's lived here his whole life and is one of the best wardens the state has.

quote:

Do people really exaggerate on social networking sites to make themselves look better?

Here is the answer to that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6EaWO-wbYE

quote:

Originally posted by CA Safari Hunter:
There's no way she can be a Warden or "Law Enforcement" without being POST certified. No degree can get around it. Just because she puts it on Facebook doesn't make it true. Just ask her when she got her POST cert and she what she says. Ask her if she even has her 832. If she doesn't even know what that means, she's just making "stuff" up.

Shouldn't be that difficult to verify a public employee's status should it? Perhaps the OP can check for us and verify before causing all of our BPs to skyrocket on this beautiful morning.

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:

quote:

Originally posted by CA Safari Hunter:
There's no way she can be a Warden or "Law Enforcement" without being POST certified. No degree can get around it. Just because she puts it on Facebook doesn't make it true. Just ask her when she got her POST cert and she what she says. Ask her if she even has her 832. If she doesn't even know what that means, she's just making "stuff" up.

Shouldn't be that difficult to verify a public employee's status should it? Perhaps the OP can check for us and verify before causing all of our BPs to skyrocket on this beautiful morning.

Norton

You are right. Do you have any idea how I can confirm a public employee's status?


BTW, this had me up three hours later than I wanted to be on the Sunday before school started. I really couldn't sleep thinking of what a **** up this is. And I don't even live in that **** up state.

Jason old chap,.....

Water Off A Ducks Back.

Up here California is largely ignored. Occasionally giggled at sure, but on most days its considered another state in the nation much like Delaware or New Jersey, but not much else. Your new neighbors would agree?

Fug 'em. They're welcome to hire PETA VP's for every Fish and Game position for all I care.

JBrown....PM sent.

States have to post ALL state employee's salaries....easy to find in NH. I found CA too.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
Jason old chap,.....

Water Off A Ducks Back.

Fug 'em. They're welcome to hire PETA VP's for every Fish and Game position for all I care.

You are correct. I need to focus on the future, not the past.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
How does someone with an art degree qualify as a game warden?

As an Artsie, I have to file an objection here.

Grizz

The real problem is that the original story, whether accurate or not, is entirely plausible. As a refugee from the People's Republic, I freely admit that I would believe just about any story that you could tell me about the insanity therein.

quote:

Originally posted by analog_peninsula:
the original story, whether accurate or not......... I would believe just about any story that you could tell me about the insanity therein.

Believe it. Just can't make this stuff up: As seen here.

quote:

I'm working for the Gov. now....I guess I should be careful with my political rants now

quote:

I am working around waterfowl, protecting them and dealing with hunters

quote:

can't let the hunters see those pearly whites...

quote:

Originally posted by double:

Believe it. Just can't make this stuff up: As seen here.

Yes, that's the one. Almost all of the political stuff has been deleted and all of the animal rights stuff is gone. Shocking.

As a now happily retired 25yr So. Cal. cop, I can tell you several things. #1 She WILL have to satisfactorily complete a California basic law enforcement academy before she can become a warden. #2 Ca DFG does NOT have any other types of LEO, all sworn personnel are wardens. #3 Her statement that she may be staying in her current area is absolutely possible, F&G has no academy of their own, they send all warden candidates to a local agency academy. In San Diego we had every agency in the county in the our class. #4 Things in that state (and in that agency) have absolutely gone to hell so now you will just have to wait and see if she can graduate! Keep us posted.

quote:

Originally posted by kjjm4:
Easy. In California, game management involves much more "art" than science. Everything is run based on emotion rather than facts or logic. I'd have to imagine that a trained wildlife biologist would be ripping their hair out having to deal with the shenanigans that go on in California. To an artist, used to dealing in abstractions rather than what goes on in the real world, it probably makes perfect sense.

Unfortunately, you have a valid point.

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:

quote:

Originally posted by double:

Believe it. Just can't make this stuff up: As seen here.

Yes, that's the one. Almost all of the political stuff has been deleted and all of the animal rights stuff is gone. Shocking.

Looks like that FB page has been deleted. I can't pull it up.

quote:

Originally posted by Wendell Reich:
Looks like that FB page has been deleted. I can't pull it up.

I think you have to be logged into FB. For the record, several people have asked her to elaborate on what her job will be and she has skirted the issue. I went so far as to send a PM but never heard back.