Nebraskaland

April 2026 • Nebraskaland 57 i n f i s h e r i e s a n d w i l d l i f e a n d criminal justice. Ac c e p t i n g t h e j o b m e a n t t h a t Gobber was trading the timber and whitetails of southeastern Nebraska for the rolling hills and canyons of mule deer country in the southwest. Prior to becoming a CO, she had never visited that part of the state. "My husband and I always told each other, 'Two years and we're going to move home'," Gobber said. "But we have absolutely fallen in love with southwestern Nebraska, and the natural resources that are out here, and the people, and the landowners, and the opportunities for being outdoors — personally and professionally. It's just an amazing place to be." Gobber loves the complexity of her work. She enjoys the diversity and ever-changing nature of a career that combines law enforcement, wildlife conservation and education in one. She gets to teach people firearm safety and take kids and first-timers out hunting, and she gets to work with landowners. "Landowners are what fill my cup," she said. "I love talking about the wildlife populations that are on their Operation No Trace, conducted by conservation officers from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and multiple state agencies, was one of the largest game violation cases in Nebraska history. After more than four years of investigation and subsequent court proceedings, federal sentencing outcomes were handed down against outfitter Dustin Noble and his business, Noble Outdoors, in U.S. District Court. Noble was ordered to pay more than $179,680 in restitution and is currently serving 22 months' imprisonment for 114 big game animals and turkeys he or clients of Noble Outdoors illegally harvested between 2015 and 2021. The first evidence from this landmark case came from a traffic stop on the Missouri River bridge near Nebraska City in 2017. A state patrol officer stopped a hunter who had a pronghorn in the back of his truck. The officer called Russ Mort, the conservation officer assigned to that area at the time, who asked where the animal had come from. The pronghorn had not been checked in legally. The hunter told Mort he had been hunting with Noble and his outfitter business near North Platte. From there, officers investigated and found Noble was hunting and guiding mostly at night with thermal devices and suppressed rifles; he was also leading clients to hunt before the season and dumping carcasses at nearby public areas or in the Tri-County Canal. As a taxidermist, he would mount the heads for the clients. These actions weighed in the favor of investigators from Game and Parks, as well as colleagues from the Fish and Wildlife Service, By Jeff Kurrus OPERATION NO TRACE

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