Almost 30 years have passed, but many in Wyoming still remember the time the director of the state Game and Fish Department was caught fishing without a license.

In June 1995, a young ranger was checking fishing licenses on a creek near Rawlins and asked then-director John Talbott for his license.

Talbott, then 42, did not have one, according to reports at the time. He then allegedly tried to cover up his blunder by using a forged license.

This sparked a scandal that led to his resignation in early 1996, ending a 17-year career with Game and Fish.

Talbott, contacted by the Cowboy State Daily, declined to comment on being caught without a license and allegations that he tried to cover up.

Incident mirrored in the “Joe Pickett” novels.

The incident inspired famed Wyoming author CJ Box to mirror it in his best-selling “Joe Pickett” series of novels, which chronicle the adventures of a fictional game and fish warden.

In the first installment of the “Open Season” series, Pickett gives the governor of Wyoming a ticket for fishing without a license. This incident is mentioned in later novels in the popular series.

Box told Cowboy State Daily that Mark Nelson was the real-life principal who gave him the ticket for Talbott. Nelson still works for Game and Fish at the agency’s headquarters in Cheyenne.

Nelson did not return a request for comment.

Talbott went on to work at Oregon State University in Corvallis. The University’s website lists him as a staff member of the College of Agricultural Sciences.

However, staff at the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences told the Cowboy State Daily that Talbott has stepped down from the position.

Also, John Talbott is not to be confused with another former Wyoming Game and Fish director, Scott Talbott, who retired honorably in 2019 and has no connection to the fishing license fiasco.

Forged license?

Former Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer took office in January 1995 and told the Cowboy State Daily that he remembers the incident involving John Talbott.

It seemed out of character because Talbott had been with Game and Fish for a long time and had a stellar reputation, Geringer said.

“It really struck me that John somehow slipped into this, fishing without a license, because of his integrity and professionalism,” Geringer said.

He believes it was initially just a simple mistake on Talbott’s part to go fishing without first making sure he had a license.

To avoid such a slip-up himself, Geringer said he bought lifetime fishing and upland bird hunting licenses.

It is not certain whether those lifetime licenses were available at the time Talbott was ticketed.

The alleged breach of integrity came later, according to reports from the Casper Star-Tribune at the time.

Talbott allegedly looked at fishing license receipts at the Game and Fish office, found one purchased by someone matching his weight and tried to pass that license off as his own, the Star-Tribue reported.

He was later fined $400 in Carbon County Court and had his fishing privileges revoked for one year.

Geringer said the Game and Fish Department is very autonomous, so Talbott’s request to resign likely came from the Game and Fish Commission, not his office.

“I had no direct authority” over Talbott, he said.

Even so, Geringer said he “had a high standard of professionalism in my time as governor” and stood by the decision.

“The initial error was very human”

Mary Kay Hill was Geringer’s policy director at the time.

She, too, recalls the incident involving Talbott causing shock and disappointment.

“He was well respected. He rose through the ranks as a respected wildlife manager,” she said.

Most people at the time didn’t charge Talbott with fishing without a license, she said. The real fallout came from trying to cover it up later.

“The initial error was very human,” Hill said. “I think a lot of people could relate to him.”

She added that as far as she remembers, the guard who ticketed her for Talbott did not know who Talbott was at the time.

“It wasn’t somebody trying to get their hands on the boss,” Hill said. “It was just an unfortunate human interaction.”

Recently retired Game and Fish director Brian Nesvik told Cowboy State Daily that the incident with Talbott happened just as Nesvik was starting his career with the agency.

Nesvik said he was not directly involved but was proud of the way his colleagues handled the matter, giving Talbott special treatment because he was the agency’s director.

“It showed real integrity on the part of Game and Fish because it showed that we were willing to enforce the laws regardless of who was involved,” he said.

Mark Heinz can be contacted at [email protected].