WGFD Green River Region Chronic Wasting Disease Technician Steve Kyles spent nearly 40 years conserving wildlife and serving people. Kyles has a long, impressive career, working as a wildlife technician, wildlife biologist and conservation officer (game warden) for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources and Arizona Game and Fish. Kyles recently signed on to be the CWD technician in southwest Wyoming. In his spare time he is also one heck of a wildlife photographer. I had the pleasure of working with Steve at game check stations. He is the only guy I work with that can talk about locating nuisance bears AND ALLIGATORS! Yup; alligators! Below reads a brief resume' from Kyles' past:
• Plan and execute management tasks for wildlife management area such as plant food plots, build and maintain structures, conduct managed hunts, run check stations, take biological samples, data collection via removal of jawbones for aging deer, teeth from bears for aging, and collecting disease suspect animals, removing/preserving lymph nodes (CWD sampling), assist Southeastern Disease Study Unit with stomach collection for parasite counts in whitetail deer, collect hogs for swine brucellosis and pseudorabies, collect racoons for rabies vaccine research, capture and relocate deer and turkey, relocate nuisance bears and alligators, operate equipment such as bull dozers, backhoes, skid steers motor graders, dump trucks, boats, barges on Intercoastal Waterway between Savannah and offshore islands.
•1991 (Georgia) Wildlife Technician of the Year
• 1995 (Georgia) Law Enforcement Ranger of the Year
• 1995 Atlantic Coastal Conservation Association Law Enforcement Office of the Year Award for making the largest ever (to 1995) fin fish case on the U. S. East Coast
• 2001 (Georgia) Governor’s Public Safety Award
• 2002 Georgia DNR Board of Commissioners Heroism Award
• 2010 POST Instructor of the Year, Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training
• 2014 National Bobwhite Quail Initiative Award for Management of Bobwhite Quail on DiLane Plantation Wildlife Management Area
Remember: Age is relative and your age is just a number. Never underestimate the knowledge and skills of the older generation! Thanks Steve for your knowledge and experience and good sense of humor!
