Mitchell Kern began duties as the Moorcroft game warden on Feb. 1. He replaces Jacob Miller who transferred to the Elk Mountain game warden district in January.

Kern, a native of Virginia, graduated from the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy in July 2020 and served as regional game warden in Casper prior to his arrival in Moorcroft.

Kern graduated with a bachelor’s degree in wildlife science from Virginia Tech in 2011 and then embarked on a series of wildlife field jobs. He worked in western Belize checking remote trail cameras for a jaguar research project before accepting a position with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service trapping and monitoring Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico.

His next jobs took him to North Carolina, Kentucky and Wisconsin where he participated in various research projects related to capturing, radio-collaring and studying white-tailed deer. He was then accepted to graduate school at Kansas State University where he researched survival and bed-site selection of white-tailed deer and mule deer fawns. He received his master’s degree in December 2019 and joined the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in April 2020.

“I’ve enjoyed the outdoors since I was a little kid and I want to ensure other generations have the same opportunity I did,” said Kern, about pursuing a job as a game warden. “Wardens play a crucial role in maintaining natural resources at sustainable levels. The warden positions in Wyoming are very unique because they involve a lot of biology-related work and public relation activities in addition to typical law enforcement responsibilities. I’m really excited to explore the diverse wildlife resources in the Moorcroft area and establish relationships with residents, landowners, and outdoor enthusiasts to help manage our wildlife resources.”