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Heath Hampton has only been back in the state as an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission game warden for two years, but his exemplary record in that brief time earned the Arkansas native the 2026 Sgt. Monty Carmikle Game Warden of the Year honor at the agency’s Enforcement Awards banquet July 16.
AGFC commissioners, Director Doug Schoenrock and his staff, AGFC Enforcement Division Chief Col. Joe Williams and other attendees filled a ballroom for a luncheon at the Wyndham Riverfront Hilton in North Little Rock for the awards, some of which are regional honors through other outdoors organizations and others that are voted on within the AGFC’s Enforcement Division. The 37-year-old Hampton was among nominees from each of the Enforcement Division’s 12 districts for the Carmikle Award, named in honor of a veteran AGFC officer who died in the line of duty in 2008. Others nominated for the division’s highest annual honor were Game Wardens Adam Helm, Tanner Mills and Haylee Applegate, Game Warden First Class David Foret, Senior Cpl. Robby King and Corporals Doug Martisek, Briston Gould, Jeff McMullin, Troy Faughn, Wade Grayson and Chris Lynch.
Along with plaques both for the Carmikle Award and his district honor, Hampton received a watch courtesy of Sissy’s Log Cabin and presented by Commissioner Bill Jones of Pine Bluff.
Hampton, who grew up in Greenwood and is assigned to District A-2 based in Sebastian County, acknowledged that it “felt good” to hear his name announced by Maj. Brian Aston as the award-winner, but he added, “You don’t do it for any of this. We work hard every day for the people of the state and keep everybody safe on the same playing field.”
This year, Hampton participated in 18 public events, reaching 2,000 youth and hundreds of adults. Aston noted that Hampton has taught other wardens interview and interrogation tactics, and has established close relationships with other local, state and out-of-state game wardens and federal agents.
One of Hampton’s biggest cases, among 293 officer violator contacts and 57 filed incident reports, involved a case covering multiple states and the arrest of an apparent serial turkey poacher — a final warrant in the suspect’s home state uncovered about 48 turkey fans in his possession and 130 violations, with 17 charges prosecuted in his home state.
“Most (of the case) took place in 2025; that’s when the part in Arkansas took place, but the violations span back into 2024 as well,” Hampton said. “A lot of states were involved in the investigation; it just happened to start right here in our home state.
“We didn’t know exactly where the guy was hunting at; I got a tip that he was hunting with a group from Louisiana (before turkey season on an Arkansas WMA). That’s how all of this got started. Then, when I was able to obtain a name, we found he had violated in several states. Multiple states were involved; especially Ohio helped with it. It was a great case and someone who needed to be caught.”
Hampton, who attended college at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, began his enforcement career in Wisconsin in 2021; his wife (then his fiancee, Celeste Gish, also from Greenwood) had begun a job practicing dentistry in The Badger State. Though he says they loved northern Wisconsin, where they were based, they wanted to raise their two children (now ages 5 years and 10 months) back in Arkansas, so they returned two years ago.
While juggling enforcement and daddy duties, Hampton said he loves turkey hunting and crappie fishing, and he applies that love of the outdoors to his job.
“A lot of it is just the fact that it’s something I’m passionate about,” he said of the job. “Even people that are violating, if they have a fishing pole in their hand, we can find a common ground because when I take the uniform off, I’m just like them, I’m doing the same things. But I have to play by the same rules that I enforce.
“That’s my favorite part of it. The unfortunate part, a lot of times, we’re dealing with good people, but the fortunate part about it is, 90 percent of the time we’re dealing with people who I can find a common ground with. They’re sportsmen.”
