鈥淏eing a game warden is the only thing I鈥檝e wanted to do since I was in seventh grade,鈥� says Emily Long, who is only the fourth female game warden in Oklahoma history. The job can be dangerous, and days can stretch into nights when she鈥檚 investigating a wildlife crime. But Long, who鈥檚 been in her position for seven years, couldn鈥檛 love it more.

She spends her days patrolling Payne County鈥檚 back roads, making sure that hunters and anglers from the driver鈥檚 seat of her 2016 Chevy 1500. Whether Long is setting up a new deer-decoy sting operation , she鈥檚 careful to keep everyone on their toes. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not out there to make friends,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e out there to make sure that the resource is there for generations to come.鈥�

Age: 29
Hometown: Stillwater, Oklahoma
Day Job: Oklahoma State Game Warden, Payne County
Credentials: Bachelor鈥檚 degree in natural resources, ecology, and management with an emphasis in wildlife ecology and management. Once she was hired as a game warden, Long completed a 17-week training program at the .
Ground Covered: Payne County, Oklahoma, where Oklahoma State University is located.
Favorite Game to Hunt: Whitetail deer and turkey
Favorite Guns: Glock 19 for patrols; Mossberg 835 12-gauge shotgun for hunting turkeys; Savage .30-30 for hunting deer鈥斺�淚t was my first deer rifle.鈥�
A Game Warden鈥檚 Best Friend: 鈥淚 have a named Isa. She鈥檚 a massive dog and weighs about 120 pounds. I also have a silver Bengal cat named Charlie.鈥�

The Path Toward Wildlife Enforcement: 鈥淚 wanted to be a vet for a really long time, until we had a career day in middle school. One of the presenters was a game warden. I didn鈥檛 know what that was even though I鈥檇 hunted and fished with my dad as a kid. My teacher explained to me that game wardens are law enforcement officers who make sure people follow the wildlife laws and regulations. I thought, 鈥業 get to be outside, and I get to carry a gun? That sounds like the perfect job. Sign me up.鈥欌��

An Average Day: 鈥淚 patrol all of Payne County, which means checking in at different fishing and hunting spots throughout the year and making sure people are following state wildlife regulations. My truck is my office. It鈥檚 an unorganized mess. Besides my radio system and citation book, I have extra food (almonds, beef jerky, and protein bars), water and energy drinks, a 12-gauge shotgun, an M4 .223, hunter orange, night-vision goggles, extra batteries, and a host of necessary paperwork (extra licenses, lifetime license applications, field interview paperwork, and hunting regulations). My day really depends on what season it is and if any wildlife crime reports have been called in. If one has been, I鈥檒l either follow up with the person who phoned in the tip or investigate the area where the incident has been reported. When there鈥檚 no report to respond to, I like to drive along the back roads and stop in at different hunting or fishing spots to make sure everyone鈥檚 legal. I try not to be consistent; I like to keep people on their toes.鈥�

What Kinds of Cases She Deals With: 鈥淚n the summer, the majority of the people I write up are fishing without a fishing license or trespassing on land they don鈥檛 have permission to be on. I have to handle people drinking and using drugs while fishing, which can be a hassle. In the fall, it鈥檚 a bit different because of deer season. I鈥檒l have to investigate reports of road hunting (illegally shooting from or across a public highway or driving around in a vehicle with a loaded weapon while trying to spot game) and spotlighting (using high-powered lights and off-road vehicles to locate nocturnal animals), though in the past few years there haven鈥檛 been as many. For the most part, turkey hunters aren鈥檛 that bad鈥擨 don鈥檛 usually write that many tickets during spring or fall turkey season.鈥�

Dangers on Duty: 鈥淓very person we encounter in the field is armed because they鈥檙e hunting. Even fishermen carry knives鈥攁nd 95 percent of the time we鈥檙e working by ourselves with backup quite a ways away. A lot of times, we鈥檙e so remote that we don鈥檛 have radio or cellphone service. If I go into a situation where I鈥檓 already on edge, I make sure county dispatch knows where I am, just in case. In those types of situations, I go with my instinct on how to proceed, relying on what I learned at the police academy and, even more so, what I鈥檝e learned during my time on the job. For instance, if this person pulls a gun, where is my closest cover or concealment? I also learned to write tickets not standing in the crook of my door without enough space should they push me or try to flee.鈥�

Partners in Life and Law Enforcement: Long鈥檚 husband, Ryan, is an Oklahoma State Trooper, so he鈥檚 one of the few people who understands how chaotic and dangerous her job can be. 鈥淚t鈥檚 actually easier that we鈥檙e both in law enforcement, because we understand the day-to-day stuff and what each of us is going through. We can support each other鈥攂oth at home and on the job. For example, the other day, there was a call for a domestic dispute that we both responded to. Because we work in the same county, I was able to help him out. I know a lot of people in our positions who have trouble explaining their work to their spouses, but we don鈥檛, which makes work less stressful.鈥�

Fitness Fanatics: 鈥淢y husband and I really enjoy hunting and fishing. We are big into fitness: CrossFit, lifting competitions, obstacle courses鈥攜ou name it. We actually got married at the end of a Tough Mudder.鈥�

On Being in a Male-Dominated Field: 鈥淚鈥檓 in a very male-dominated profession. I鈥檓 the fourth female ever hired in Oklahoma. And I鈥檓 the youngest. But the fact that I鈥檓 a woman in this role doesn鈥檛 usually matter that much. The only time it ever plays out is if I鈥檓 working with a male game warden and we have to talk with someone who, rather than address me, talks primarily to the male game warden. But I don鈥檛 let it get to me. Sexism is part of our lives and part of this world. There鈥檚 no reason to get upset about it, because .鈥�

Interested in Being a Game Warden? 鈥淕et in touch with your local game warden and ask to go on as many ride-alongs as they鈥檒l let you.鈥�

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鈥淏iologists are so lucky to see the things we see,鈥� says Heather Wilson, 40, a wildlife biologist and pilot for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service鈥檚 Division of Migratory Bird Management. 鈥淏ut pilot-biologists are even luckier.鈥�

Wilson is one of five female pilots flying remote landscapes for the FWS. She conducts aerial surveys to keep tabs on migratory bird populations for species management and to set sport hunting regulations. When the weather鈥檚 good, she spends hours in the air and calls the job 鈥渦nbelievably satisfying.鈥� There are challenges, of course, not least of which is the changing climate. 鈥淚n just the past 15 to 16 years, I鈥檝e documented longer fall seasons, shorter and less severe winters,鈥� says Wilson. 鈥淚鈥檝e had to adjust when the aerial surveys are conducted鈥攏ot by days, but by weeks.鈥�

Age: 40
Hometown: Anchorage, Alaska (by way of Yreka, California)
Day Job: Pilot-biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service鈥檚 Division of Migratory Bird Management
Mode of Transportation: For work, an amphibious Cessna 206 (owned by the Department of Interior). For play, a PA-18 Super Cub (built by her husband).
Ground Covered: All of Alaska. Primary survey areas include the Arctic Coastal Plain, the Yukon Delta, and the Alaskan Peninsula.
Work Hours: 鈥淚n summer, whenever there鈥檚 good weather and daylight.鈥� Her longest flight was 7.5 hours. The rest of the year, Wilson clocks a typical nine-to-five day.
Favorite Midflight Snack: 鈥淢y husband thinks I鈥檓 crazy, but I sometimes crave rock salt in the airplane on long flights.鈥� She also snacks on baby carrots, chocolate chip Clif Bars, and , which Wilson claims are also great fire starters in an emergency.

Biology Beginnings: While Wilson was getting her PhD in population biology at the University of Alaska, she met her future employer at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They were both doing field work in Fairbanks. 鈥淩uss Oates, the head of migratory bird management at the time, ended up in my field camp where I was doing my research. We ended up talking over dinner.鈥� Initially, Wilson thought being a pilot-biologist wasn鈥檛 for her because she 鈥渨anted to do more than just fly an airplane.鈥� But as she wrapped up her research over the following summer, she decided to try it out. 鈥淥ates put me on every aerial survey they had, so I got to fly with all of these old guys who were great and had been doing it for 20 or 30 years,鈥� says Wilson. 鈥淚n the end, I decided it was much more challenging than I thought it would be.鈥�

The Off-Season: Working as a migratory bird biologist is a highly seasonal position. Winters are spent compiling data and reports based on surveys completed earlier in the year. 鈥淥nce spring arrives, we鈥檙e prepping the airplanes, getting safety plans ready, staging fuel,鈥� says Wilson. 鈥淲e鈥檙e making sure everyone has their required training for emergency evacuations in the water, wilderness first aid, etc. In early May, we start flying nonstop.鈥�

Up in the Air: 鈥淲hen I first started, it seemed overwhelming, and I鈥檇 be exhausted after just a few hours. But with more time and experience blending and managing all the tasks at hand, I started to look forward to it,鈥� says Wilson. 鈥淲hen I鈥檓 flying the plane so viscerally鈥攎aking constant small adjustments to maintain 125 feet above the ground, staying on transect, scanning for obstacles, scanning the instruments, staying ahead of traffic and radio calls鈥攁ll while letting the bird observations flow in, instantaneously translating them to vocal observations I record through my helmet microphone, it feels good.鈥�

Counting Birds: 鈥淢ost of our surveys are done during the breeding season. With ducks, for example, we鈥檙e counting only the brightly plumaged males and assuming they each have a camouflaged female on a nest somewhere.鈥� During nonbreeding season, when flocks of waterfowl take to the skies, Wilson estimates the number of animals, which she says 鈥渃an be a bit of an art and is definitely a learned skill.鈥� To practice, she uses computer simulations and flies extra surveys.

Climate Change鈥檚 Co-Pilot: Wilson monitors wetlands and coastal areas from the Arctic Coastal Plain on the northern edge of state all the way to the tip of the Alaskan Peninsula. In the past couple decades, she has seen glaciers rapidly receding, coastal erosion advancing, permafrost degrading, and interior lakes drying up. 鈥淎reas on our old maps are simply gone now,鈥� says Wilson. 鈥淰illages and fishing sites are slumping into the sea.鈥�

And then there are the shifting seasons: 鈥淲e joke that winter is not coming to the north anymore,鈥� says Wilson. 鈥淔reeze-up comes later and later. We can鈥檛 count on snow and ice throughout the winter the way we did even ten years ago, and there are more frequent warm low-pressure systems, which leave the landscape more open, thawed, and unpredictable.鈥�

These warm winters are changing migration timing of the birds Wilson studies, making it difficult to match historical data with current breeding schedules. Some species, like Pacific brant geese, have acclimated to the warmer winters and no longer migrate as far as they used to because the weather is mild enough to allow year-round access to their Alaskan sea-grass feeding grounds. 鈥淪cientists are hypothesizing that as tender grasses start to outcompete the more traditionally cold-tolerant vegetation like lichens, geese may win while other species like caribou may suffer,鈥� Wilson says.

The Best of Both Worlds: 鈥淚 feel very lucky to have found my job. Airline-style flying would have never been for me, and neither would lab work. Finding a position that blends field biology and natural resource flying鈥攖he type of low-level flying that entails looking out the window more than in the cockpit鈥攈as been unbelievably satisfying. Looking back, I can see how lucky I鈥檝e been to have a direct supervisor, work team, husband, extended family, and now kids who all wanted to see me succeed and were willing try most of my crazy plans to balance motherhood and career鈥攕ome of which were epic failures!鈥�

Working Mother, Redefined: 鈥淚鈥檝e had moms ask me, 鈥榊ou put your kids in the airplane?鈥� And I respond, 鈥業鈥檓 a professional pilot. Are you kidding me? Yes!鈥� Wilson and her husband, Paul, often take their kids鈥擟oal, 7, and Teal, 5鈥攐ut for flights as a family, landing in some of Alaska鈥檚 most remote wilderness to hike, hunt, and fish. Wilson relies on a support system made up of family, friends, and fellow pilots鈥� wives, 鈥渨ho come up and babysit my kids in the field,鈥� to help her balance having both a family and a challenging career.

Paying It Forward: Several years ago, Wilson鈥檚 close friend and fellow wildlife pilot-biologist Shelly Szepanski passed away from a rare form of melanoma. Wilson took the proceeds from the sale of Szepanski鈥檚 airplane and started the for female pilots pursuing flight training for careers in either natural resource management or remote Alaska services.

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