Lincoln, Neb. — In the Karen community in Lincoln, Say Poe said that what’s for dinner is often squirrel, catfish or crappie. Karen people know and follow local laws for hunting or fishing these small animals, but some would like to add venison to the menu. The problem, Poe said, is uncertainty of big game hunting laws. He plans to get such knowledge to his people by studying at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and becoming a conservation officer.
“I want to get into that career because I want to help them to understand and make sure they follow the rules,” Poe said. “And I want to keep the natural resources and keep up the habitat.”
He is earning a degree in fisheries and wildlife with a criminal justice minor to reach his career goal. As a conservation officer, he will have the power to uphold the law by writing citations, issuing fines and arresting people.
Poe’s ability to speak English and the Tibeto-Burman dialect of his family has proven helpful over the past two summers when he rode along with conservation officers from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission on their rounds.
On one ride-along, he and the officer came across Karen women fishing. Poe was able to verify that they had fishing licenses and knew the limits on the fish they were catching.
The Karen want to follow the laws but because they know hunting laws for only a few animals, they tend to stick to hunting those few animals, Poe said. He and other Karen people he knows use a Game and Parks Commission map that shows public lands outside the city limits where it’s legal for them to hunt.
Poe uses a .22 Long Rifle, and his mother prepares curry with the squirrels he gets. Nebraska hunting laws allow him to bag seven squirrels a day, in season. He sometimes cleans his catch and gives it to relatives.
Members of the Karen community try to help one another, Poe said. He encourages young children in the community to go to college and seek better jobs than factory work. Older Karen, in turn, encourage him.
“They always try to encourage me to keep going to represent our Karen people, to raise our name,” he said.
Like his parents, most Karen he knows fled war-torn Burma into Thailand. Poe and his two younger brothers were born in the Thai refugee camp Mae Ra Moe. The Poe family came to San Diego, California, in 2011, when he was nine years old, and Lincoln in 2014. The majority of Karen live in Omaha, with estimates of their Nebraska population ranging from 5,500 to 9,000.
Poe is working toward graduating in December 2025 and said the ride-alongs with the Game and Parks Commission have given him a better idea of what he needs to do to become a conservation officer.
“I know that I really want it and could do it,” he said. “I really want to become one of those guys one day.”
