Daryl Ratajczak

As a young child Daryl followed in his Dad’s footsteps as they set off on hunting and fishing adventures in Western New York, just south of Lake Erie. Knowing that he wanted to live those special times as an adult, Daryl knew from a young age that his life’s calling was to be a wildlife biologist. Graduating with a B.S. in Forest Biology from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Daryl soon fell into the world of big game management. His first wildlife-related job was raising orphaned and injured black bear cubs brought to him by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. His job was to fatten them up and get them ready for release and a smooth return to the wild. After a great deal of success working with black bears, Daryl was hired by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency where he quickly moved up and in 2004, he became the state’s Big Game Program Coordinator and ultimately the Chief of Wildlife and Forestry. In 2015, Daryl made the move West to fulfill a childhood dream of living and working in the Rockies. Following a brief stint with the U.S. Forest Service in New Mexico, Daryl now serves as the Big Game Specialist for the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management. He now resides in the outskirts of Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife and two boys and routinely watches deer, elk, and pronghorn from his backyard deck.