Wyoming
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.
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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.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
Related
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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