Life and work of the Game Warden

Photo By Sgt. Andrew King | Alan Steinhauer, the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, game warden, poses for a photograph on the air station, Nov. 3, 2019. As a conservation law enforcement officer, Steinhauer is responsible for maintaining the wildlife, giving hunting safety classes, responding and relocating wildlife, and enforcing all applicable conservation laws and regulations on the air station and outlying training ranges. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Andrew King)  

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NC, UNITED STATES

11.01.2019

Story by Cpl. Andrew King 

Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point

Alan Steinhauer, the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, game warden, isn’t your average, run-of-the-mill law enforcement officer. He’s a conservation law enforcement officer. He won’t pull you over for speeding, but you can bet he’ll give you a ticket if you try hunting or fishing on base without a permit.
“If there were no laws or regulations and no-one enforcing them, it would be a madhouse here,” he said. “As far as the hunters and fishers, they have laws and regulations and I’m the one enforcing them.”
On top of his duties wrangling the hunters and fishers on base, Steinhaurer has numerous other tasks and responsibilities as the game warden.
Some of those tasks include managing the different food plots on the air station during the hunting off-seasons, dealing with trespassers at our off-site bombing ranges and giving hunting classes during the appropriate seasons.
One of the major responsibilities that falls to Steinhaurer as the game warden include managing all wildlife on base, whether that is through working with private companies to restock the three fishing ponds on base or responding to complaints from personnel aboard the air station about wild animals at their home’s or offices.
As a retired gunnery sergeant, Steinhauer is deeply accustomed to the daily ins and outs of working on a Marine Corps installation. From the weekly safety classes, to working seven days a week, it’s almost as if he never took off the uniform.
“I enjoy the outdoors, I didn’t want a job where I’m stuck in a building all day long,” he said. “I enjoy hunting and fishing, but once I started this job I realized I don’t have a lot of time to go; but I still enjoy my job.”

Between retiring from the Marine Corps where he served as a CH-46 airframe mechanic and rescue swimmer with Marine Transport Squadron 1, also known as Pedro, and starting here 12 years ago, Steinhauer worked at a private company in Pamlico County, North Carolina, building duck impoundments.
“It’s not that I necessarily wanted to come back, but since I retired here I was already here,” he said. “I had that pretty nice job doing duck impoundments but when the station was hiring I applied and got the job.”
In the brief time off he gets, Steinhauer enjoys going to Colorado to hunt elk. While he may not have been successful yet, he says one of his goals in life is to get one.
Another goal of his is to own a log cabin in the woods when he retires, which after a combined 34 years working for the government, is close to reality.
“I plan on retiring in the next year, year and a half,” he said. “I already have a cabin in the woods and I’m looking forward to getting away from everything and being off the grid.”

• Date Taken: 11.01.2019
• Date Posted: 11.08.2019 07:48
• Story ID: 350563
• Location: MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NC, US