Charles W. Estes, Deputy Game Warden

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

The morning of Sunday, February 26, 1911, Estes left his home in Jenks and rode to the area of Turkey Mountain to investigate complaints that some men were illegally hunting ducks on Sunday. At that time Turkey Mountain was about five miles south of Tulsa but today is near where 71st Street intersects the Arkansas River. Estes rode to the top of the mountain, left his horse and walked down the side of the mountain searching for the illegal hunters. Between 1 and 2 P.M. a nearby resident heard two gunshots and went to investigate. He found the 40 year-old Game Warden dead with a single .33 caliber rifle shot wound to his abdomen. Estes’ Colt revolver, cartridge belt and money were missing. The second shot could have been a missed shot by the killer or Estes returning fire. Neither the killer nor Estes’ property was ever found. His wife survived Estes.

Melvin L. "Bucky" Garrison Jr., Game Warden

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

State Game Warden Garrison, 25, left home about 4 P.M. on Monday, December 26, 1971, telling his wife, Marie, that he was going to Lake Eufaula to work duck poachers and he would be home late. When he had not returned by early the next morning a search was launched. Warden Garrison’s flashlight was found floating in shallow water in the area known as “Hoffman Bottoms”, two miles east of Hoffman. Warden Garrison’s body was located in that area about 2:20 P.M. the afternoon of December 27. An autopsy indicated that Garrison had died as a result of drowning. Subsequent investigations were unable to sustain allegations of foul play however the engraved shotgun he always carried has never been located. Warden Garrison also left behind two young daughters.
 

Johnny Ray Maisano, Sr., Game Warden

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife 

Johnny Maisano had been a Game Warden for thirteen years when in January of 1988 he contracted Lyme Disease. He was hospitalized several times over the next couple years from the effects of the disease. In spite of his continual sufferings from the disease he remained an active Game Warden until his death the morning of August 26, 1990. He had died in his sleep during the night at home following an active day at a local sportsmen’s club fish fry at Robber’s Cave State Park. Maisano had filed a worker’s comp claim in 1989 and in late December 1990, the Worker’s Compensation Court of Oklahoma ruled that he had contracted the Lyme Disease in the course and scope of his employment as a Game Warden. Johnny Maisano was survived by his wife Mary and two grown children, Jim and Belinda.