Episode Details

Wendy Corr:

Well, hey there, folks, welcome to The Roundup. We're a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and our focus is on interesting people in the Cowboy State. Today, what an interesting person with an amazing career, and we're able to celebrate the career of this gentleman here on our podcast today.

First though, I want to make sure that you all know about the Wyoming Business Alliance, Business From the Basement podcast. It is a fantastic resource for anybody who is a business person here in Wyoming. If you have any questions, if you've got ideas, if you've got issues, stop by, take a listen to the business from the base podcast. They are just a great resource there at the Wyoming Business Alliance. So check them out.

But first you want to check this out. You want to check us out here on The Roundup, because we're talking today to Brian Nesvik. Brian just wrapped up a 30 year career in the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. On top of that, he's also been a career National Guardsman, and so we get to talk to him about being a part of both of these really important, important organizations here in Wyoming.

And I just have to say, welcome, Brian and congratulations on your retirement. I hear it's going well!

Brian Nesvik:

It is, Wendy, and thank you for the opportunity to come and visit with you here today.

Wendy Corr:

Well, we are thrilled to have you on. And Brian, I want to tell people you're coming to us from Glendo, Wyoming, and there's not a whole lot of people that are there in Glendo, so you get to celebrate and really be a part of that. This is a place that's important to your family history.

Tell us about your place there in Glendo.

Brian Nesvik:

Yeah. So my wife grew up on her long time family ranch here, just west of Glendo. It's been in the family for over 100 years, and we had the the fortune to be able to come here and start our own ranching operation here a little over a year ago and and so that's what we do, just here, here, west of Glendo, it's a great place to be.

Wendy Corr:

So you went from managing wild animals to managing tame animals. What's, what's your operation there?

Brian Nesvik:

Yeah, so we, we have a cow calf operation. And, you know, there's an opportunity to, like, a lot of, like, really, all ranchers in Wyoming, you have an opportunity to manage your land for both wildlife and for domestic animal production, and we certainly do that here, and have a tremendous value for wildlife and provide a lot of wildlife habitat.

Wendy Corr:

Wow. So you get to continue the work that you started 30 years ago. Let's go back real quickly. Let's go back 30 years and you saying, I think, I think I want to become a game warden for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Tell us about that decision. Where were you at in your life? Where you said because you were already in the National Guard by then, right?

Brian Nesvik:

Yeah, actually, I had made this decision when I was a 14 year old kid, that this is what I wanted to do. So that was before I joined the Guard. But I actually wanted to join the guard then too. My dad served, and my grandfather served in World War Two, and so I always had that desire to be able to serve in multiple ways.

But I literally, I was always fascinated with the outdoors and with wildlife, and I'll never forget it. I was in Deer Creek Park, south of Casper, Wyoming when I was 14, I was on my first deer hunt. At that time, you had to be 14. It's now it's 12, but at that time, had to be 14 in order to hunt big game.

And it was my first hunt, and I was with my father and one of h