Georgia is experiencing a sever shortage of game wardens, partly due to budget cuts over the past several years. The Georgia General Assembly has allotted the Georgia Department of Natural Resources fund to hire six new game wardens this year. But Col. Mike England, director of the agency, says that will not make a dent in the number of game wardens that are needed to cover all 159 counties in Georgia. England says that pay raises for DNR Law Enforcement that have been granted as part of the Governor’s plan to up the pay of state employees across the board is a good thing, but much more is needed to hire, train and retain game wardens in the Peach State. Georgia’s game wardens only get one weekend a month off and are on call twenty-four hours a day. Right now, the average salary of a Georgia game warden is less than $38,000 per year.
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