HSU Alum Receives Texas Game Warden of the Year and Texans Caring for Texans Award

Texas State Game Warden Ryan S. Hunter ’09 was honored with two awards for his efforts during the 2023 fiscal year (9/1/2022 – 8/31/2023). Warden Hunter, who is currently stationed in the Randall and Potter counties duty station (Amarillo), received the 2023 Texans Caring for Texans award for the panhandle-area Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and was also selected as the Texas Game Warden of the Year for the TPWD Law Enforcement Division Region 6 area (Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene, Wichita Falls).

Warden Hunter was nominated for the Texans Caring for Texans award by a current board member of the organization and was subsequently selected by the other board members to receive this honor due to his service efforts as state agency employee to Texans in his current duty station. Warden Hunter was honored along with other state agency employees at the annual Texans Caring for Texans award banquet at the West Texas A&M University campus in Canyon. Numerous Texas state representatives and the president of West Texas A&M University were among the attendees at the Texans Caring for Texans award banquet. Warden Hunter was selected by the TPWD Law Enforcement Division Region 6 senior staff members as the Texas Game Warden of the Year due to his enforcement, community involvement, and leadership efforts within the region and division. TPWD Law Enforcement Division Region 6 Major Game Warden Chip Daigle stated the following when describing Warden Hunter’s efforts during the 2023 fiscal year; “His service and value in his area of responsibility, district, region and division cannot be measured. Ryan’s outstanding job performance, work ethic and positive attitude were just a few of the traits that led to him being recognized on a regional and state level.”

Ryan Hunter, M.S., graduated with his undergraduate degree from HSU in May 2009, and was hired as a Texas Game Warden in 2010. Warden Hunter was first awarded the Game Warden of the Year in 2012. He obtained his M.S. in criminal justice in 2014 and began teaching as an adjunct instructor for the HSU Criminal Justice Department in 2015. He worked as a full-time faculty member in the Criminal Justice Department from 2016 until 2018, then returned to working for the state of Texas as a Game Warden. Since 2018, Mr. Hunter has remained a vital part of the Criminal Justice Program at HSU as an adjunct instructor, teaching both undergraduate and graduate students.