MONTVILLE – A Maine game warden might snowshoe through the woods, silently tailing a poacher one day, then use infrared cameras and global positioning system devices to track a missing camper from a helicopter the next.

These cops of the Maine woods straddle the divide between tradition and technology, and they do their jobs like shadows.

“Most of what we do, you don’t see,” said Warden Investigator Albert St. Saviour, who has been with the service for 20 years.

Many Mainers think of wardens as the hunting and fishing police, poking around in freezers and bait buckets. But the woods are changing. Wardens spend countless hours investigating fatal snowmobile accidents, chasing all-terrain vehicles off private land and even fighting the illegal drug trade.

“We might be the only law enforcement officer for miles,” said nine-year Warden Joel Wilkinson, who is based out of Greenville. “We’ve always provided support in rural areas. The problem is that there are so few of us.”

On Friday, seven new state game wardens and two wardens for the Passamaquoddy Tribe in Down East Maine graduated from “Warden School,” a 10-week program designed to prepare new recruits for this ever-changing job.

The hands-on training program is the last step before the new wardens begin policing Maine’s hundreds of thousands of acres of wild land. The candidates have passed polygraph tests, psychological profiles and the state’s 18-week Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro. Now, after a few days off, they will join the force of 100 or so officers who already shoulder the responsibility of enforcing Maine’s woods and waters laws. Due to retirements, all seven will have jobs despite the recent budget cuts.

But first, the recruits were tested by their peers, who this week staged a series of law enforcement scenarios at the Frye Mountain State Game Management Area – a war games of the woods.

“They’ll be dealing with real violators. There won’t be anything to pretend once they get into the field,” said Warden Mike Morrison, a 26-year veteran based in Charleston. “We hope we show them the worst situations we’ll ever see. But we can’t guarantee that.”

The trainees, who include a 25-year-old pursuing his first career and a 47-year-old retired UPS driver, stood around a garage on a recent morning, eating muffins and bemoaning the torrential rain and the lack of coffee. The trainees all wear the green wool uniform of a Maine Game Warden with pride, and share stories of their love of hunting or fishing. For most wardens, this is all they’ve ever wanted to do, though state and local police forces are often steppingstones.

“It’s great to see these guys with their eyes so bright,” said Warden Mark Thompson, who is a 21-year veteran based out of Sidney.

Wardens have to love their jobs, veterans said. The pay is low, and the duties are unpredictable. It’s a solitary life – living from your truck, sometimes for days at a time, because you’re permanently on-call.

“There’s a lot to this job. It’s like being a monk in a monastery,” said Rick Ouellette, one of the seven candidates, who will be stationed in Monticello.

“It’s more of a way of life than a job,” agreed Wilkinson.

Over the past few months, the new wardens have been schooled in the service’s traditional skills such as wildlife tracking, canoe poling and orienteering, and have learned the state’s fish and game statutes backward and forward.

“Way back, when game wardens were hired, they were handed a law book, a badge and a gun,” said Mark Warren, training supervisor for the Maine Warden Service.

“[Today] they need to expect the unexpected,” he said.

So, as part of the recruits’ training, experienced wardens take on the roles of poachers and trespassers. Some are compliant, others unruly. In one scenario, a fisherman caught with undersized fish turns violent, swearing, shouting and shoving the warden. Ideally, the scenario ends in an arrest.

“The sad thing is, this is so true. That’s why it’s here,” said Sgt. Chris Simmons, who is based out of Sidney.

Ninety-nine out of a hundred people will be agreeable, but being alone, far from backup, with a drunken or out-of-control suspect – who’s often carrying a rifle or a knife -is a reality for wardens. A few years ago, Wilkinson wrestled to the ground and arrested a violent suspect who, while high on vodka and crystal meth, struck Wilkinson in the back with a rock.

“You know where these things come from? They’re all from our mistakes,” Thompson said. “We’ve probably made every mistake there is, and we’ll still probably find two more next year.”

During a bird-hunting scenario, the warden catches three hunters driving down a dirt road with loaded guns and then shooting at his decoy from the road – an illegal act. As he’s arguing with the driver, the passengers unload their guns and toss their ammunition – and the warden’s evidence – into the brush. In a fishing scenario, illegal worms are dumped from a small box that should contain fishing flies.

“Sometimes, it’s so quick it’s just like a magician,” said Warden Bill Livezey, a 14-year veteran based in Patten.

Warden school is about learning the tricks, about predicting hunters’ and fishermen’s actions, and about knowing how to respond.

“It’s a study of people,” said Warden Mike Eaton, a 33-year warden based in Greenville. “We’re all creatures of habit.”

Most importantly, the warden school is about learning how to remain in control of a situation that has the potential for chaos.

“There’s a whole bunch of these things that are pulling on you from all different directions all the time. A lot of decisions have to be made,” St. Saviour said.

Only experience can teach these new wardens how to strike the right balance, veterans said.

Thompson tells of watching a mother reunited with her 9-year-old son who had been lost in the woods all night and found by the warden service.

“She just about ripped him in half, she hugged him so hard,” Thompson said. “When you lay in bed at night, that’s the reward … then the phone rings 20 minutes later.”