Oklahoma NWTF State Chapter Game Warden of the Year Award, Michael Taylor, game warden for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
EDGEFIELD, S.C. — The Oklahoma NWTF State Chapter presented Michael Taylor, game warden for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, with the Oklahoma NWTF State Chapter Game Warden of the Year Award at a recent ODWC meeting for his extraordinary dedication and commitment to Oklahoma’s wildlife and natural resources.
“It is an honor to win this award,” Taylor said. “It took several years to get this case where it needed to be, and it’s a win for the sportsmen by the way the case played out. Being able to catch someone who was taking resources from landowners and other sportsmen was rewarding. It is an honor to come back and protect the land where I was born and raised.”
Taylor is stationed in Cotton County, Oklahoma. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in agriculture education leadership and service from Oklahoma State University, he has served as an Oklahoma game warden in the county where he has lived for the last eight years.
Cotton County attracts hunters from all over the country, and Taylor’s personal ties to his community are an intangible asset when it comes to upholding wildlife regulations. His drive to protect his community’s wildlife resources was exemplified in one of his recent groundbreaking cases that took him over two years to complete.
Taylor received a tip about a semi-guided turkey hunting operation and decided to investigate. His initial research was inconclusive, but he had a hunch that something was not right. Then, during Oklahoma’s 2023 spring turkey season, a landowner reported a group of hunters on his property who didn’t have permission to be there. Taylor responded and found that the hunters purchased a semi-guided turkey hunt from that same suspicious hunting guide who was advertising semi-guided hunts on social media.
Nonresident hunters were paying the guide through online apps in exchange for locations where they could hunt, but most of the locations were private and tribal properties where no one had permission to hunt. Taylor’s investigation exposed 14 different instances of this happening (13 nonresidents and one resident) at a guide fee of $500 per person.
Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), which outlaws the use of computers as instruments of fraud, Taylor and his team charged the outfitter. After the case was made public, 11 more individuals came forward reporting that their money was taken by this guide and then all further communications were blocked. The guide pleaded guilty to all seven felony charges on Aug. 18, 2025. He was ordered to pay more than $17,000 in restitution to 22 hunters from across the country and more than $70,000 in court fines.
This diligent effort led by Taylor is just one example of his dedication to the natural resources of Oklahoma.
Beyond his duties as a game warden, Taylor is also a Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET) basic instructor for the state. He teaches numerous hunter education classes, coordinates shooting and safety training for his law enforcement district and assists the wildlife division with controlled elk hunts and wildlife surveys such as the winter turkey flock and spring brood surveys.
Taylor’s enthusiasm and passion for protecting healthy habitats and hunting heritage are what earned him the 2026 Oklahoma NWTF State Chapter Game Warden of the Year Award.
About the National Wild Turkey Federation
Since 1973, the National Wild Turkey Federation has invested over half a billion dollars into wildlife conservation and has positively impacted over 25 million acres of critical wildlife habitat. Since 2022, the NWTF has also invested over $2.3 million in critical wild turkey research that, when leveraged with partner contributions, has resulted in more than $22 million to guide the management of the wild turkey and to ensure sustainable populations. The organization continues to deliver its mission by working across boundaries on a landscape scale to deliver healthy forests and wildlife habitats, clean and abundant water, resilient communities and robust recreational opportunities. With the help of its dedicated members, partners and staff, the NWTF is committed to creating a nation united by the life-changing power of the outdoors.
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