County gets new game warden
Apr. 19—It took a while for Joshua Quail to get his dream job, but he is now on duty as Ashtabula County's new game warden.
Quail, who officially started in mid-March, said he grew up in Ohio before working in a wide variety of jobs across the nation and the world, during the last 13 years.
He served five years in the U.S. Navy and had two deployments from 2011-16. He said he wanted to become a game warden when he left the military, but the timing didn't work.
In the last eight years he has gained a lot of life experience while selling mattresses in South Dakota, working in a treatment facility in Ohio, and for the U.S. Post Office in North Carolina.
Quail said he worked six days a week and 12 hours a day in most of his previous jobs so the game warden job, that involves extensive hours as well, will actually involve less time.
Quail saw a posting last year and decided to pursue the position. He said there were a record 946 applicants for the position and 10 went through the training and were offered jobs.
Quail said he attended the Ohio State Highway Patrol training class to learn the details of law enforcement and then the ODNR Wildlife Academy to learn the specifics of being a wildlife officer.
"March 18 was my first day. So far it has been great. I have been welcomed by all the constituencies," he said of his time getting to know people in the last month.
He said he was excited when Ashtabula County was offered as a possibility.
"I am very excited to be here. It is a beautiful county with a lot of wildlife," Quail said.
A game warden has a wide range of responsibilities while patrolling large swaths of land throughout state parks and other wooded areas.
Jason Warren, a longtime Ashtabula County game warden, still works with the agency but left the county position last year to take on new responsibilities.
The game warden is also often a connecting point for fish and wildlife management projects and is the face of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources locally.
