The game wardens in AK are a branch of the state police. When patrolling in the backcountry, just about everybody they run into is packing something capable of (or that they think is capable of) taking down a charging grizzly.
Very good idea for them to be polite to these people.
Hunting and supplying hunters is big business in Wisconsin. As our Governor (Scott Walker) has pronounced: “Wisconsin is open for business!”