Mar 22, 2019 3 min read

From an early age, Johnstown-native Christopher Bence knew he wanted to be in law enforcement. He had the advantage of finding out what the career entailed from his father, a police officer at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Bence, 23, also loves the outdoors and is an avid hunter, trapper and fisherman. That’s one of the reasons he took elective classes in biology, ecology and the environment at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in criminology and homeland security.

“In my junior year, a game officer came into a biology class and spoke about the life of a game warden,” Bence said. “I was really fascinated and fell in love with the job.”

Shortly before graduating college in May 2017, he applied for the position of game warden with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the year-long application process began. Bence graduated from the Ross Lefler School of Conservation in Harrisburg in February and received his game warden certification, badge and credentials.

Calling the academy a police as well as a conservation school, he said took law classes with a concentration on Title 34 game laws as well as the Title 18 criminal code. He also took habitat, wildlife, wilderness, wildlife disease and habitat classes and trained in defensive tactics, martial arts and fire arms. Field work outdoors included the study of trees, birds, wildlife and human tracking.

Before graduating from the academy, the recruits were given a list of counties with vacancies and encouraged to come up with a wish list of their top five choices. A friend who worked in Greene County told Bence how nice the area is. Through researching, Bence discovered it was both rural and beautiful.

“I didn’t want to relocate to an area that was highly populated and Greene County made my top five list,” he said.

Bence arrived last month in Waynesburg and said his first impression of the county was that it’s everything he’d hoped for.

“It’s breathtaking, beautiful and I love it,” he said.

Bence said the state is broken down into game districts and the counties are usually halved to form those districts. He is assigned to the western half of Greene County and splits supervision of the eastern half with the game warden assigned to the western half of Fayette County.

In addition to his enforcement responsibilities, he also leads educational events such as wildlife and hunting safety classes in schools and clubs. Because the educational aspect of his job is typically curtailed during hunting season, the optimal time for classes runs from February to September. Bence also said he’s open to those interested in riding with him to see what the life of a game warden or deputy game warden is all about.

According to Bence, since the inception of the Pennsylvania Game Commission in 1895, there have been fewer than 1,000 game wardens.

“The position is hard to get, and it’s a prestigious one,” he said.