Wyoming
‘Son Of A Poacher’ Recalls Wyoming Game Warden’s Career With Book Series
Reflecting on his life and career path as a Wyoming game warden, Scott Werbelow recalled decidedly different experiences with different men.
While he made his life’s work advancing Wyoming wildlife, he grew up in the shadow of an opposite legacy with an alcoholic father and unrepentant poacher.
“We saw the game warden’s truck, and my dad said, ‘Oh shit, there’s the goddamn game warden!’” he told Cowboy State Daily about one of the memories he has of his father. “He took a two-track off the main road, and we hid behind a hill until the warden was gone.”
Later, his parents divorced and his mother remarried a rancher.
Werbelow recalled that “when I was about 10 or 12,” telling the local Wyoming Game and Fish Department warden, Bob Trebelcock, that a trap that Werbelow set had gone missing.
“I told him, ‘I think somebody stole my trap’ and he told me, ‘OK, I’ll look for it,’” Werbelow said.
“About two days later, he came back to the ranch. And he had my trap. I thought he was God, that he’d hunted down that guy who stole my trap,” he said.
Turns out, Trebelcock had himself taken the trap because it wasn’t properly tagged, then brought it back to the young Werbelow, along with a lesson about doing things the right way.
“I saw what my dad was doing, and then I saw that guy who was enforcing the law, and I thought that he was a pretty cool guy,” Werbelow said.
He knew right then what he wanted to be — a Game and Fish game warden.
Book Series
Werbelow is 30 years into his career with Game and Fish. He lives in Meeteetse and is the game warden supervisor for the Cody region.
That’s a long way to come for the son of a poacher whose excessive drinking led to death at age 40 from sclerosis of the liver.
It’s a story so unusual and inspiring, Werbelow decided to write it down. So far, he’s written and published two autobiographical books, “Son of a Poacher: Wyoming Warden in the Making” and “Son of a Poacher II: Blast From My Past.”
Volume III is being edited, and Werbelow hopes it will publish soon.
“The second book takes us to about 1999, and at the end of the third book, we’re at about 2004,” he said, so there’s likely to be more volumes.
Werbelow was born in 1968 and spent his first five years in Emblem, Wyoming. Then his parents divorced and later his mother married Martin Mayland, who owned ranches north of Greybull.
Werbelow described Mayland as a great stepfather who taught him the value of hard, honest ranch work, along with how to hunt, fish and trap ethically, within the boundaries of the law.
“My parents instilled self-confidence and a strong work ethic in me from a very young age,” Werbelow states in his online biography.
Werbelow was set on his dream of becoming a game warden, but struggled in school. When he graduated from high school, his brother talked him into going to Chadron State College in Nebraska and earn a degree in industrial technology.
But the hankering to put on the distinctive red shirt and badge of a Game and Fish warden wasn’t so easily put to rest. Back then, jobs with Game and Fish were scarce and competition was fierce.
Werbelow eventually managed to get hired on as a temporary wildlife damage technician and worked his way up.
His big break came when we was called to be the full-time elk feeding ground manager in the Pinedale area. That morphed into a “game warden/feeding ground manager” position, and his career took off from there.
Why Do People Poach?
Given his genetic roots, Werbelow has done much pondering over why people poach — or kill animals illegally or out of season — rather than hunting legally and ethically.
He said that question really started to nag at him when he and his brother were young and spending time with their biological father.
One time, their father made them cut the head off a mule deer that he had shot illegally “and was still alive,” Werbelow said.
The cruelty and blatant disregard for the rules that his father displayed was baffling.
“I thought, ‘Why would my dad do that? Why didn’t he at least take the meat?’” Werbelow said.
Werbelow said he eventually concluded that his father shot animals whenever he could, regardless of whether it was legal or ethical, simply because he liked doing it.
“My dad didn’t poach for food, and he didn’t even really want the trophies. He just liked shooting animals,” he said.
And while busting countless poachers as a game warden, Werbelow frequently encountered that same mentality.
“I interviewed a guy after a poaching bust one time, and he told me, ‘I just get a high off the crack of the rifle, and seeing something die,’” Werbelow said.
For other poachers, it’s all about the ego trip of scoring a big trophy, he added.
“Maybe once, they legally shoot a big animal, say, a 30-inch buck mule deer, and they get all this recognition from their friends,” he said. “And then they feel like they’re this great, mighty hunter, and it’s the only great thing they’ve ever done. And they want that feeling again, and they don’t care if they have to break the law to get it.”
Dangerous Work
Game wardens work long, odd hours and are constantly on call, Werbelow said.
But he’s loved every minute his job has put him in Wyoming’s fantastic outdoors. And the job is great, because he never knows what to expect.
“You might get a call that somebody got attacked by a grizzly bear, maybe even killed by a grizzly bear. And then you go from that to somebody calling about a skunk in a parking lot with a jar stuck over its head,” Werbelow said.
Game wardens also must go into dangerous situations, frequently alone and almost always involving people who are armed.
“The typical guy I’m dealing with has a rifle, a pistol, a can of bear spray and a knife,” Werbelow said. “I’m probably most scared of the guy with the bear spray, who could hit you with that out of the blue and incapacitate you.”
More than a few times, he’s followed possible game law violation cases into hunting camps at night.
“You’re outnumbered. And they’re drinking, and they’re angry because you could be writing them a ticket,” Werbelow said.
“There’s been some situations where I’ve just decided to back out. To just say, ‘OK, you guys have a good evening,’ and then wait and come back with two or three other guys in the morning,” he said. “It’s just better to deal with them in the morning.
“Your brain’s your best weapon, and it will tell you if a situation is turning into something that you can’t handle on your own.”
Inspiring The Next Generation
Though anecdotes from his career anchor the “Son of a Poacher” series, Werbelow said the books also delve deeply into all aspects of his life.
“If you read these books, you’ll probably end up knowing me better than you wanted to,” he said with a chuckle.
He also shared a wry quote from the forthcoming third volume: “I have learned over the years that there are no perfect women or horses! You must decide what you are willing to tolerate.”
And he hopes the narrative of how he overcame his life’s challenges will inspire others.
“I look at my childhood and how I grew up, all the crap I went through,” he said. “My first book, it’s meant to inspire kids. If you want something bad enough, you can get what you want in life.”
He also hopes to get more young people interested in his career field. When he was starting out, the competition was almost impossible. There could easily be 10 other highly qualified candidates vying for the same open game warden slot.
Now, Game and Fish struggles to find only a few qualified candidates, he said.
Aspiring game wardens must be prepared to work hard, and sacrifice some of their own outdoor aspirations.
“If you really like to hunt and fish, you should probably not be a game warden. Because during hunting season, you’re not going to get to go out hunting on opening day, or just take a week off anytime during the season,” Werbelow said.
As he approaches the end of his career, he’s not sure what he’ll do next.
“At the end of the day, I feel like I’ve been blessed to have had this job for 30 years,” he said. “I spent my whole life doing what I love to do, so I’m not sure what my hobbies are going to be when I retire, because I’m probably going to want to do different things.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
This news report mentions suicide. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger of harming themselves, please call 911. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text “WYO” to 741-741 for the Crisis Text Line.
CASPER, Wyo. — Three Republican gubernatorial candidates shared their views on a myriad of topics spanning taxation, energy production, resource rights and more Wednesday at the third Politics in the Park forum.
The event at Casper’s Washington Park featured state Sen. Eric Barlow, retired Marine Corps Col. Brent Bien and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder. The candidates seek to replace Gov. Mark Gordon, who cannot run again due to term limits.
Fellow Republican candidate Curt Blake did not attend the forum, which was hosted by the Natrona County Republican Party and the Natrona County Republican Women. Other candidates in the race include Democrat Kenneth Castner and Constitution Party nominee Rebecca Bextel.
Taxes, budget and education
When asked about economic growth and budget strategies, the candidates offered different plans. Bien called for deep tax cuts and deregulation. He expressed support for a November ballot initiative that would exempt 50% of a primary residence’s assessed value from property taxes.
Barlow warned that broad tax cuts could hurt local public services.
“All your property taxes support local governments, your schools, your cities, towns, and counties and your special districts,” he said.
Degenfelder said the key to low taxes and maintaining services is increasing state energy production. She said the state must deliver public services efficiently without overspending, adding that the private sector is solely responsible for creating jobs and economic growth.
Elaborating on job creation and how to stimulate the economy, all three pointed to the state’s public education system as a primary workforce development driver. They stressed a need to shift focus toward trade schools and career-based learning to prepare students for current opportunities.
“We skipped an entire generation of teaching these kids [trades] when they were in school,” Bien said, emphasizing that electricians and welders can currently name their price.
Degenfelder said pushing too many students toward college caused a workforce disconnect and led young people to leave the state. She said Wyoming must prepare students for local job openings to keep them from moving away.
Barlow said educational institutions must partner directly with local industries to align training and secure the economy.
Energy and climate
Questions about uranium mining, rare earth minerals and oil and gas leasing on state lands drew unified support for ramping up extraction and streamlining the permitting process while avoiding federal overreach. Degenfelder spoke about the national security implications of domestic rare earth processing.
“Do you know who processes 90% of rare earths? It’s not another state. It’s China,” Degenfelder said. “I spent time in China. Trust me, we do not want China to be in control of who’s processing rare earth minerals.”
Bien urged the state to speed up leases and permits to generate employment. Barlow supported subsidizing and promoting rare earth processing.
Regarding climate change, Bien rejected the narrative of man-made climate shifts and favored legacy industries.
“I do believe that God controls the climate,” Bien said.
Degenfelder said climate policies have been weaponized against Wyoming’s legacy energy industries, and argued that Wyoming’s cleaner-burning coal should be used globally. Barlow advocated for an all-of-the-above approach where all energy sources compete without subsidies.
When asked about specific infrastructure projects, including an influx of data centers and a proposed pumped hydroelectric project at Seminoe Reservoir, the candidates saw things differently. Bien firmly opposed both. He said a 2010 state law unfairly granted tax waivers to multibillion-dollar corporations, creating a system of corporate favoritism that leaves local ranchers and small business owners empty-handed.
Degenfelder said she supports data centers only if they don’t deplete water resources or raise utility rates for residents. Barlow countered the negative premise of the question entirely, saying the state already has over two dozen data centers without widespread neighbor complaints or resource abuse.
All three candidates agreed the State Board of Land Commissioners has a fiduciary duty to balance energy development with long-term benefits for schools and communities, and that the state must push back against federal regulations that threaten Wyoming’s core industries.
Infrastructure, water and land access
The candidates answered questions about infrastructure, water rights and corner crossing. Degenfelder said keeping water is vital to Wyoming’s survival and pledged to work with the federal government to stop what she considered downstream theft.
“Without water, we don’t have life. Nothing else matters,” Degenfelder said. “And right now, for many, many years, we’ve allowed these downstream states to steal Wyoming’s water and now we’re in the fight for our life … for our water rights.”
2026 Politics in the Park coverage
Bien said he wouldn’t give up any more water rights beyond original compacts. He suggested investing state savings into local water storage and irrigation. Barlow acknowledged that the current multi-year drought has created natural and legal challenges, adding the Legislature is increasing its technical and legal expertise to defend water rights.
On the topic of corner crossing, the candidates noted recent court rulings that favor public access but offered different solutions. Bien said the Legislature should define a corner, Degenfelder favored case-by-case reviews, and Barlow proposed land exchanges to resolve disputes.
“If we want to have less conflict, less corner crossing, let’s work toward fewer corners,” Barlow said. “Let’s work toward consolidations within the current law. Let’s work toward things that make meaningful access available to those public land users and still protect all the private property rights.”
Healthcare and community services
The candidates expressed support for telehealth expansion, rural healthcare access and annual cancer scans for firefighters.
Degenfelder said emergency medical services should be an essential service. Bien said funding models need standardization before making a statewide EMS designation.
Barlow promised to create a healthcare strike team on Aug. 19 if he wins the primary election. He said the team would bring providers, payers and patients together to improve care.
The candidates supported protecting Medicaid for vulnerable people. Bien called for tort reform to lower insurance costs, while Degenfelder spoke about expanding the healthcare workforce pipeline.
On the state’s high veteran suicide rate, candidates supported wrap-around services, with Barlow citing local nonprofit partnerships and Bien pushing for robust VA hotline access. Degenfelder said Wyoming must make sure returning veterans are provided with strong community support and are made fully aware of the services available to them.
2026 Election Tracker
Regarding food insecurity, the candidates advocated for localized solutions, with Bien calling for ranchers to feed local schools and Barlow suggesting potential state support for school boards using their funds for nutrition programs. Degenfelder said her strategy focuses on creating more physical sites for food access and actual meals, rather than expanding government programs.
All three candidates opposed the decriminalization of marijuana.
They agreed the state’s pardon and expungement system needs reform to help nonviolent offenders restore their rights.
When asked what they would stop, Bien named corporate favoritism and regulation.
“Number one is to stop the exodus of young people from the state of Wyoming,” Degenfelder said. “You should not, if you’re a grandparent, have to get on an airplane just to see your kids and your grandchildren.”
Barlow pledged to protect public lands and reduce “the divisiveness, the ugliness that’s going on in our political climate.”
“I don’t believe it serves this nation,” he said.
Federal overreach and transparency
When asked how they would assert state authority, Bien cited the 10th Amendment and a Montana court case involving federal funds.
“So, it is one of those things to where, if it’s not in the best interest of Wyoming and it falls within the 10th Amendment and outside of those enumerated powers, I will definitely push back,” Bien said.
Degenfelder favored working with a sympathetic federal administration to return power to the states. Barlow said he would order the state attorney general to challenge unconstitutional federal mandates.
On transparency, Bien called for a state audit and an end to nondisclosure agreements in public–private partnerships. Barlow pointed to the need to update the Wyoming Public Records Act for the digital age, while Degenfelder focused on giving grassroots citizens direct access to the governor’s office rather than catering to special interests.
Closing thoughts and up next
In a lighter moment regarding daylight saving time, the candidates joked about the inconvenience, with Barlow suggesting moving the clock a half-hour permanently. He and Bien mentioned the possibility of working with governors from neighboring states to press the federal government to do away with the time change. Degenfelder said it’s an issue the Legislature is grappling with.
The evening wrapped up with a lightning round about the candidates’ favorite things about Wyoming. Barlow and Degenfelder praised the honest, hardworking people, while Bien celebrated the state’s wide, wild landscape.
Related
Warsaw, N.Y. — Speedy cow, a new community owned internet service is now online in Wyoming County.
The service will bring faster, more reliable internet to Wyoming County residents.
The county received $15 million in grant funding to build the broadband network.
Anyone living in Wyoming County can sign up on the Speedy Cow website.
With the network being community run, that means all customer service experiences will be locally based.
“At the end of the day we own the system, so if there’s an issue with the system, the service or anything like that, you call the county and we’ll take care of it,” a county official said. “We’ll reach out to community broadband networks necessary and resolve any issues that the residents might have and at the end of the day, the residents of the county, the taxpayers of the county, own this system.”
Net profits from the service will be returned to expand and improve the system.
$3.8 Million in funding awarded for Affordable Broadband in Genesee County
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One of the biggest auto and truck collections in Wyoming is about to go up for auction. You are not going to believe the size of this event. Chunks of old classics to working old cars and trucks will be on the block.
Watch the video below as they preview the Rick Knigge Collection up for auction in Evansville, Wyoming. This auction will feature many hot rod project bodies, muscle cars, old trucks, Jeeps, rock crawlers, and more. This will all be sold by VanDerBrink Auctions with online and live bidding.
The auction will be held Saturday, July 8th. Some of the auctions will be online, but some will be in person only.
According to the website, Rick passed away unexpectedly, and his family decided to offer this wild collection at auction. The auction will be live onsite with online bidding for vehicles, motors, bodies, and a few other items. There is a large assortment of 1932-35 Ford, MOPAR, Chevrolet parts, performance parts, Tri-Five, and more. These parts will be offered only to onsite bidders, so plan now to attend this wild auction.
Rick Knigge Liked to “Go Fast”! The louder, faster, the better! There are many 1932-40 Ford, Dodge, Plymouth, Chevrolet Cars and Bodies for Rods along with parts!
Here is a second video with more about Rick and the collection he loved.
The collection has muscle cars from a Plymouth GTX to Chevelles and Camaros, and more. 1970- 80s speed boats, Monster Trucks, just to name a few. There will be motors, high-performance, and vintage speed parts.
You are not going to believe the size of this event. Chunks of old classics to working old cars and trucks will be on the block.
SEE: 39 Hot Cars On Display In Wyoming
The goal of this gallery is not to provide every detail of every car, their modifications and their owners.
This was just a cool car show in Casper Wyoming.
Not matter if the people attending were into cars or not.
There was a lot of OHHH and AHHH’s heard up and down every street.
Gallery Credit: Glenn Woods
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