Wyoming

That Time Wyoming’s Game And Fish Director Was Caught Fishing Without A License

Published

2 weeks ago

November 10, 2024

That Time Wyoming’s Game And Fish Director Was Caught Fishing Without A License

It’s been nearly 30 years, but many in Wyoming still remember the time when the state Game and Fish Department director was caught fishing without a license.

In June 1995, a young game warden was checking fishing licenses on a stream near Rawlins and asked then-director John Talbott for his license.

Talbott, then 42, didn’t have one, according to reports from the time. Then he reportedly tried to cover up his gaffe, allegedly using a forged license.

That touched off a scandal that led to him resigning in early 1996, ending a 17-year career with Game and Fish.

Talbott, contacted by Cowboy State Daily, declined to comment about getting caught without a license and accusations of trying to cover it up.

Incident Mirrored In ‘Joe Pickett’ Novels

The incident inspired famed Wyoming author C.J. Box to mirror it in his highly successful “Joe Pickett” series of novels, describing the adventures of a fictional Game and Fish warden.

In the series’ first installment “Open Season,” Pickett gives a ticket to the Wyoming governor for fishing without a license. That incident is mentioned in subsequent novels in the popular series.

Box told Cowboy State Daily that Mark Nelson was the real-life warden who ticketed Talbott. Nelson still works for Game and Fish, at the agency’s headquarters in Cheyenne.

Nelson did not return a request for comment.

Talbott went on to work at Oregon State University in Corvallis. The University’s website lists him as a member of the College of Agricultural Sciences staff.

However, staff at the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences told Cowboy State Daily that Talbott had retired from that position.

Moreover, John Talbott is not to be confused with another former Wyoming Game and Fish Director, Scott Talbott, who retired honorably in 2019 and has no connection with the fishing license fiasco.

Forged License?

Former Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer took office in January 1995, and told Cowboy State Daily that he remembers the incident involving John Talbott.

It seemed out of character, because Talbott had been with Game and Fish for a long time and had a stellar reputation, Geringer said.

“It really struck me that John somehow slipped into that, fishing without a license, because of his integrity and professionalism,” Geringer said.

He thinks that initially it was just a simple mistake on Talbott’s part to head out fishing without first making sure that he had a license.

To avoid such a slip-up himself, Geringer said he bought lifetime fishing and upland bird hunting licenses.

He’s not sure if those lifetime licenses were available at the time when Talbott was ticketed.

The alleged breach of integrity came later, according to reports from the Casper Star-Tribune at the time.

Talbott allegedly went through fishing license receipts at the Game and Fish office, found one bought by somebody matching his weight, and tried to pass that license off as his own, the Star-Tribue reported.

He was later fined $400 in Carbon County Court and had his fishing privileges revoked for a year.

Geringer said the Game and Fish Department is highly autonomous, so the call for Talbott to resign likely came from the Game and Fish Commission and not his office.

“I didn’t have direct authority” over Talbott, he said.

Even so, Geringer said he “had a high standard for professionalism in my terms as governor” and supported the decision.

The lead headline on the front page of the Feb. 1, 1996, edition of the Casper Star-Tribune announces the resignation of Game and Fish Director John Talbott. (Newspapers.com)
The Jan. 27, 1996, issue of the Casper Star-Tribune follows the investigation into the alleged cover up of Game and Fish Director John Talbott’s fishing without a license. (Newspapers.com)
The Feb. 7, 1996, issue of the Jackson Hole News and Guide, left, reports on the John Talbott investigation and that charges won’t be pursued for an alleged cover-up. At right, the Jan. 26, 1996, issue of the Casper Star-Tribune reports on Talbott’s plea to fishing without a license. (Newspapers.com)

‘The Initial Error Was Very Human’

Mary Kay Hill was Geringer’s director of policy at the time.

She, too, remembers the incident involving Talbott causing shock and disappointment.

“He was well-respected. He’d come up through the ranks as a well-respected manager of wildlife,” she said.

Most people at the time didn’t fault Talbott for fishing without a license, she said. The real fallout came from trying to cover it up later.

“The initial error was very human,” Hill said. “I think many people could have put themselves in his shoes.”

She added that as far as she can recall, the warden who ticketed Talbott didn’t know who Talbott was at that time.

“It wasn’t somebody who was trying to nail his boss,” Hill said. “It was just an unfortunate human interaction.”

Recently retired Game and Fish director Brian Nesvik told Cowboy State Daily that the incident with Talbott happened just as Nesvik was starting his career with the agency.

Nesvik said he wasn’t directly involved, but was proud of how his colleagues handled the matter in not giving special treatment to Talbott because he was the director of the agency.

“It demonstrated real integrity on the part of Game and Fish, because it showed we are willing to enforce the laws, regardless of who was involved,” he said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.

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Wyoming

Wyoming governor pledges to appeal after judge blocks pro-life laws

Published

7 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Press Room

Wyoming governor pledges to appeal after judge blocks pro-life laws

By Kate Quiñones

CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 06:00 am

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

Wyoming judge blocks state pro-life laws

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court after a county judge blocked two pro-life laws in Wyoming. The judge blocked the Life Is a Human Right Act, which protected unborn children except in cases when the mother’s life was at risk or in cases of rape or incest, as well as a law prohibiting chemical abortions via abortion pills, a law signed by Gordon in March 2023.

Gordon said on Tuesday that the ruling was “frustrating” and that he instructed his attorney general to prepare to appeal the decision to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens ruled on Monday that the two laws violated the state constitution by restricting medical decisions. Owen has blocked Wyoming abortion laws three times since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Now that the ruling has been struck down, abortion is legal up until fetal viability in Wyoming.

The plaintiffs included Wyoming abortion clinic Wellspring Health Access, two obstetricians, two other women, and the Wyoming abortion advocacy group Chelsea’s Fund. Following the ruling, Chelsea’s Fund stated on Tuesday that it “will do everything in our power to uphold this ruling in the Wyoming Supreme Court.”

Montana judge blocks licensing law for abortion clinic

A Montana District Court temporarily paused the state’s recent health department licensing regulations for abortion clinics amid pending litigation. House Bill 937 required licensure and regulation of abortion clinics and included rules for sanitation standards, emergency equipment, and hotlines for women who are coerced into an abortion or are victims of sex trafficking.

Two abortion providers, All Families Healthcare in Kalispell and Blue Mountain Clinic in Missoula, and an abortionist sued over the regulations, saying they would have to close if they were implemented. Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Chris Abbot ruled in their favor, saying that H.B. 937 was a shift in “the status quo” that abortion providers “are not generally considered health care facilities subject to a licensure requirement.” Montana voters approved Initiative 128 on Election Day, enshrining a right to abortion in the constitution and allowing abortion after fetal viability.

Virginia bishops condemn fast-tracked right to abortion proposal

Two Virginia bishops recently opposed a proposed amendment granting a right to abortion, which was fast-tracked by the state House Privileges and Elections Committee. Bishops Michael Burbidge of Arlington and Barry Knestout of Richmond in a Nov. 13 statement called the proposed right to abortion “a fundamental tragedy.” Virginia law currently allows abortion up to 26 weeks and six days and allows abortion after that in certain cases. Burbidge and Knestout encouraged Virginia to “work instead for policies that affirm the life and dignity of every mother and every child.”

The bishops also opposed a fast-tracked proposal to remove the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman from the state constitution. The bishops noted that they “affirm the dignity of every person” and “affirm too that marriage is exclusively the union of one man and one woman.” Following the election, the bishops encouraged “deep engagement in decisions” that are at “the heart of who we are.”

Kate Quiñones

Kate Quiñones is a staff writer for Catholic News Agency and a fellow of the College Fix. She has been published by the Wall Street Journal, the Denver Catholic Register, and CatholicVote, and she graduated from Hillsdale College. She lives in Colorado with her husband.

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Wyoming

Wind advisory includes Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties

Published

15 hours ago

November 20, 2024

Press Room

Wind advisory includes Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties

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Wyoming

What Wyoming coach said about Boise State, Ashton Jeanty

Published

23 hours ago

November 20, 2024

Press Room

What Wyoming coach said about Boise State, Ashton Jeanty

Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel had high praise for No. 12 Boise State during his weekly press conference.

“This is probably the best Mountain West team that I’ve seen in the five years I’ve been in this conference,” Sawvel said of the Broncos (9-1, 6-0), who travel Wyoming (2-8, 2-4) this Saturday.

“It’s a big challenge when you’re playing a team that’s on track to play in the playoff. They’re very well-rounded. They’ve got experience on defense, and they’re productive and opportunistic on that side of the ball. And then obviously Ashton Jeanty, who is kind of ridiculous. … We’re obviously going to have to play our best game we’ve played all year defensively to hang in with them.”

The Cowboys are coming off a 24-10 road loss to Colorado State.

Here are the highlights from Sawvel’s press conference.

On Boise State’s offense

“There’s a large model of what they do that is what we want to become. When you look at the blueprint in a sense, nobody is going to have Ashton Jeanty, I get that … but there’s a lot of things foundationally to what they do that is like ‘OK, this is what we want to look like.’”

On Boise State’s balance

“(Ashton Jeanty), great player there. But to be honest with you — he’s amazing and he deserves the credit that he gets, Heisman consideration and those types of things — but the quarterback, Maddux Madsen, really makes them go. Because … you can load the box on everybody run-game wise, but his accuracy and what (offensive coordinator) Dirk Koetter does with him offensively creates a balance for them that makes them that much harder to defend.”

On maintaining eye discipline, spying Madsen

“You’ve got to do your job and you’ve got to have your eyes in the right spot. That’s something that’s foundational to anything defensively. But if you start looking around too much in the run, (Madsen) is a very good quarterback. They’ve got good skill that opens things up. Just his movement, his ability to move. He’s a hard guy to sack. He’s got 19 touchdowns and three interceptions, so there’s an accuracy there that’s important, too.”

On ‘getting up’ to play Ashton Jeanty

“Well, let’s be careful a little bit about that. There’s a guy from San Diego State that chirped a lot about Ashton Jeanty, and that didn’t work out very good. So look, anytime there are good players on the field, I think players want to play good when there are other good players on the field.”

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