I’m not a huge fan of “reality TV” shows, but I have to admit that I occasionally enjoy watching Deadliest Catch… if only to wonder if I’d ever have had the gumption to take that job in my younger, wilder days.  It’s the same reason I watch the Professional Bull Riders tour, I think.

Anyway, according to this article in the Sacramento Bee, the folks who produced the Deadliest Catch series are now planning a series called California Game Wardens. 

I don’t know if any of you are familiar with the Game Warden books by Terry Hodges, but it sounds like the new show may take its inspiration from these great tales.  Hodges is a reasonably good writer, but the content of his stories stands pretty much on its own.  Some pretty cool stuff.

Of course, we all know the average day of a game warden isn’t anything to build a reality show on, but these men and women are in an inherently dangerous job and they’re doing it for relatively little pay.  Things can get sketchy in a hurry, and unlike CHP or city cops, things often happen far away from any kind of help.  It’s a heck of a job, and most of these folks do it well. 

I’ve got the highest respect for anyone who’s willing to wake up every morning, pin a target (badge) on their chest and go out to face the scum of the earth, but game wardens hold a special place… if only because they’re out there trying to shut down the poachers and scofflaws who are trashing our natural resources (not to mention the reputations of law-abiding hunters and fishermen). 

I expect the program will focus on the more sensational events, of course, but maybe it’ll help folks get a better perspective on the job of a game warden, especially in a state like CA, where the DFG is sadly understaffed and underfunded, even as the wardens are faced with policing one of the largest states in the US.  At latest count, there are under 200 wardens enforcing fish and game laws across the entire state! 

It looks like Chad Love, over at the Field and Stream blogs has posted about the show as well, and it’s spurred some interesting discussion.  A handful of folks there are concerned that this show will give off a negative impression of hunters, since it’ll be focused on poachers and lawbreakers.  They think people are going to see that activity, and get the idea that all hunters are involved in that kind of thing. 

I can see how this may be a concern, but personally, I’d like to give the general public a little more credit than that.  Anti-hunters are going to cast us in stereotypes anyway, but most non-hunters recognize the difference between the guys who slaughter a dozen deer and bears for the international market and those of us who hunt according to the laws and some general ethical standards.  My guess is that the cases demonstrated in the program are not going to walk any tightlines between legal and illegal, or ethical and unethical.  It’s gonna be pretty cut and dried.   

If you’ve got a notion, head over and check out what the folks are saying. 

Anyway, the show looks like interesting stuff… maybe even good stuff.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

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