Anyone ever have a bad experince with a bad game wardon?Who do you complain to about such a experince?I have had them pretty much call me a liar,try to make up lies so they could make a case,and i had two in a truck bust up a flock of turkeys on opening day,That i had been calling to and they ruined my hunt for nothing.They checked me out as i was coming out of the woods and after they saw i was doing nothing wrong told me to have a good day!I had paid good money and time to hunt on the public land and here they were running my birds off and telling me to have a good day!It was a big rip off!I dont get some of those guys,some are good guys -some are jerks.......Am i the only one that has had this stuff happen?Kinda takes the fun out real quick!

I have had contact with Game Wardens while fishing and hunting in TX, hunting in Wyoming, hunting in Colorado, Alaska, Montana, an Idaho Game Warden while sitting on the border, between Idaho and Montana, hunting in Montana, With the Idaho offical that checks the camps and outfitters in Idaho.
I have never had a problem. All have been professional and friendly.
Their job is to protect wildlife for the honest hunter. They have a tough job, I support them.
If I was to come in contact with one that was less than professional I would report him/her to the head office.

Never had a bad experience with a fish cop.

Then again, in 15 years of bumming around the back country, I've only talked to two in the field. One was to turn in an illegal outfitter, one was a license check (someone had called in a poacher....). Seen a few more, on the roads, but never seen one off the beaten path. FWIW, Dutch.

Well in life there are two types of people:
constructive and destructive. Fortunately the constructive outweigh the bad by a large margin, but life is made rough by them. This world is a lot crazier place than people realize. Just because someone isn't talking to a wall doesn't make them crazy.

With that said you just came across some game wardens (anti-hunters in disguise in this czase) who entered the career to piss you off.

Oh yeah, "Have a nice day!"

Yeah, one warden I met in Colorado a few years ago. This guy was such a pain in the ass. He would stop you anytime he saw you & ask you for your license, hoping to catch you w/o it. He hassled me about my proof of hunters safety, this guy was such an ass. Guys like that keep me from hunting Colorado anymore.

Human nature would dictate that there are some out there for the wrong reasons. I have been fortunate in that I have never met that one yet. Most F&G I have met are pretty good people, and are not interested in abusing a position of power and authority. Perhaps I have been fortunate, and the situation could most definately be changing as the dynamics of our society change, and the level of expectation placed on them changes.

It was at one time, a common goal between F&G and hunter/fisherman, that is less and less true today. Or, maybe I am getting old and cranky!

The enforcement of F&G regulations by groupings is what prompted that comment. And yes, that I have seen.

G'day BBH,
Most of the Fisheries and Wildlife guys here are O.K. It's just the horses arse running the whole state who like to stuff hunters around!

Non Illegitium Carborundum!

Cheers, Dave.

Generally speaking I have little good to report about my experiences with them, but they're not all bad.

The first that sticks in my mind happened 15 years back on the hunting lease in Georgia. The guy drove thru all the leases in the area on opening day, starting about first light. On his 4 wheeler, making as much noise as possible by staying in low gear. Even did a couple of donuts on our place. A call to the regional boss and we never saw him again. He had a rep of busting people on very very flimsy grounds; we didn't miss him.

Another one was a Marine Patrol dweeb that I ran into 3 days after Hurricane Andrew, way the hell and gone back in Florida Bay near Flamingo. Only boat I saw that day, probably I was the only one he saw. His name was Headley. I only recall that because when he called base to report the stop for a safety inspection it went like this:

"Base, Headley."

"Go ahead, Headley." Laughter in the background.

Headley blushing, resplendent in Sperry Topsiders, OP shorts and body armour vest w/ Glock on hip, "Saftey Inspection on ..........at.........request registration, wants and warrants."

Two young lads in the boat with me, previously enthralled by the days catch of snook and reds, now cowering as far away from the yuppie ass as possible, base replies, " Computers are down Headley, we had a storm a couple of days back.", more laughter in the background. Another case of American Blind Justice I suppose.

Long story short, I got a warning because one of the 6 jackets in the boat had been chewed on by a wharf rat, leaving 5 that passed inspection, leaving 1-2/3 jackets for each of us. I suggested that perhaps if we sank or something that we'd likely just walk home anyway as the average depth was about 3'. That seemed to cause a PB spike and led to another review of the paperwork, questions about why we were there, where we'd been, what we'd caught, etc, ad nauseum. We finally left after the inquisition, the little skiff popping up on a plane and over the bar ahead of us. That's what flats skiffs do. OTH, Officer Headley's boat, a 26' Mako w/ twin Black Max's was not designed to do that, and at last sighting his boat was hard aground on said bar, listing to port at high tide. A totally bad circumstance on any day.

It was a light hearted trip home, I never did hear how he got that barge off the bar. Maybe the skeeters helped after the sun went down.

DD, ROFLMAO! I have wished that on several game wardens over the years...We got checked THREE times on the SAME AFTERNOON by the SAME WARDEN one time...boy, I'm glad we didn't throw all the life jackets overboard like everyone is prone to do!

Another time I was in high school, after basketball practice, heading home in the old '69 F100, still in my sweats and practice jersey. 'We got a call about a red truck spotlighting game' was the best explanation they gave, but I endured 30 minutes of them crawling over and through my truck, trying to find anything wrong. No guns with me. No spotlight. No deer. 2 Wardens. 1 State trooper. 1 Sheriff's deputy. How long does it take to tell that I was not doing anything???

About 1 in 3 down here have a chip on their shoulder and treat everyone like a criminal. Not a good ratio, IMHO....glad to hear it is the exception, and that most of you have better luck.

I have had good experiences with wardens in Wyoming. One helped me chain up when I was having a hard time at a stream crossing.

I've been checked six times in ND. Twice the warden was fine, and the other three times he was a total ass. All three bad experiences were the same warden, one while fishing and twice hunting.

70% of the game wardens I have run into are just out to get someone. In there eyes you are guilty until proven innocent. I always thought the game wardens were there to help you and enforce the game laws not harass us hunters & fisherman.

Many years ago when I was young I had a Game Warden get out his ticket book to write my up a fine for hunting in a refuge area I came walking out of. Being the smart ass that I am I told him to look at the sign on the wire? He told me that this area has been a refuge for as long as he had worked and he knew what the sign said. I walked over to the sign on the wire that said public hunting area and asked him to read it. I had never seen anybody get so mad so fast in my life but after he read the sigh he finely clamed down. I didn’t go back to that hunting area for years. I figured he was out to get somebody no matter what and I wasn’t going to be the one.


A friend was ran off during extended season with a warning that if he was seen again hunting deer in the public hunting area which was not legal since regular season had closed to deer hunting and he could only hunt on private walk in areas that he would be fined. The park ranger didn't know what he was talking about because it was perfectly legal for my friend to hunt since he had a deer tag for hunting on public hunting area and the park ranger didn’t know the regulations. I asked a real game warden a week later about what the park ranger had said. The warden told me that park ranger didn't know what he was talking about. The worst part of it was that my friend had taken off work lost a day at double time and didn’t even get to hunt.

In about 30 years of hunting, I've met the fish cops twice, both in Washington. The first guy checked us out and gave us some good advice about the area we were hunting. The second time, we got stopped bringing a deer off an island in a boat. Three very senior looking guys hailed us from a new-looking Boston Whaler and asked if we'd been hunting deer. We said we had and asked if they needed to come aboard. They said no and told us to have a nice day.

Guys from the Hunter Education side of the house are another story. Okie John.

In my 30+ years of hunting and fishing, I have never been stopped by a game warden once. I must just live right I guess. I have hunted in Colorado several times, and have not even seen a warden there, but I have heard horror stories from several people about them.

DGK

The secret to staying away from game wardens, is staying away from roads during high traffic times. The average game warden is too lazy to get very far from their vehicle. Since game stations are largely out of use in wyoming anymore. These pricks only drive around and fuck with honest people.

As for dickhead game wardens,it's a given. The job is a suck ass job to begin with and the only thing these assholes have to do is try to impose their will on the public.

The worst run ins I have by far,are during the summer months while boating. The last incident I had was with two wardens who were out using the departments new boat to run them and their two old ladys around the lake,under the pretense of enforcement. The lake was full of jet ski assholes running in and out of every no wake area ,but that was fine. These dickheads were after fisherman that day. I was legal and they couldn't fuck with me,so they wanted to chat. So I opened the conversation with an inquiry as to where they picked up the two "three dollar whores" they had with them. The conversation went to shit after that.

The latest bullshit from the wyoming game and fish,is their rules on being in attendance of a fishing rod. Its a case of whatever bullshit story they want to tell that day. I watched a guy in a 20 foot boat with cabin,get fined,because he was sitting in the door way of the cabin staying out of rain and had a rod in a holder about ten foot away. He was fined,because the rod wasn't close enough to him. According to the douche bag warden who wrote him the fine.

blackbearhunter:

Just out of curiosity, what state are you in? "cohutta wilderness/ocmullgee swamp" --- Is that Georgia?

-Bob F.

Just treat em like a rabid dog......don't look em directly in the eye and walk the other way

RMK, you are back! How was rehab?

quote:

Originally posted by RMK:
The average game warden is too lazy to get very far from their vehicle...As for dickhead game wardens,it's a given. The job is a suck ass job to begin with ...So I opened the conversation with an inquiry as to where they picked up the two "three dollar whores" they had with them. The conversation went to shit after that.

To steal a line from MASH...."Will Rogers never met you did he"?

Best,

JohnTheGreek

So is that mrhawgfucker,formerly known as madgoatfucker? Or are you still double posting,under seperate names?

Nope, and it is great to see that you still have your one syllable vocabulary.

How was prison?

MG

Yes,madgoatfucker is the foremost expert on wyoming prisons. He spent several years in the can for being a pediphile and according to the ACLU still donates himself for weekend blow jobs to inmates.

Ah those rowdy Wyoming boys.

I had never met a nasty or vindictive warden until the new one showed up this summer. She is a jewel. Not married and has two kids from being A.I.'d! She is a man hater extrodinair. I wish they would put her in Jackson with the rest of Wyomings liberal population!!!!!

I would love to see her and Madgoat go at it! (And not Sexually)

I must be an exception, because I can't remember ever meeting a Game Warden that I didn't get along with. I've hunted every state in the South and a few out West, but just never met anything but helpful GWs.

Moved to the Epworth community of South Carolina near Ninety Six, SC for a couple of years. As usual for me, I like to have the ability to blast a few Squirrels or Varmints while Deer hunting with some "Low Report" ammo. So, I often carry a centerfire rifle and another rimfire rifle or a 22 pistol/revolver loaded with Remington SubSonic ammo at the same time.

Read the Hunting Regs and noticed what appeared to be a situation where I could not carry both a centerfire "rifle" and rimfire firearm (rifle, pistol or revolver) at the same time during Deer Season. But, I could carry a shotgun with shot and a centerfire revolver.

Called the Game Warden and asked him to stop by my home to discuss the regs. He showed up when he said he would and confirmed what I read as correct for that Region of the state. We had a fine time talking hunting and he even suggested some places about 2 miles due West of where I was planning to hunt. Nice guy.
---

Had to call the Game Wardens on numerous occassions concerning Poachers in a few places. They were always interested and came to discuss it first-hand. Invited them to set-up on the property I had access to and occassionally they would, but I just didn't see them too much. But, the Poaching went way down.

Madgoatfucker would never do it with a woman. He's into that boy on boy shit.

The Michael Jackson of Jackson?

Hotcore, I'm sure you got along with every warden you ever talked to because you were always law abiding while in the field. I'm sure there is more to the story on most of these "encounters" posted here, and most of this chest puffing is a bunch of bull shit.

These poor bastards don't get paid shit, work tremendous hours, and are assigned territories to cover that are larger than Rhode Island. As hunters, we need to police ourselves a little bit better than we do. Besides, I can't think of one outdoorsman I know who didn't consider being a game warden at one time or another, unless we are RMK and don't give a ratts ass about anything but himself.



MG

Most have been straight arrows, some overzealous.

I had one get mad at me when he repeatedly walked past my blind without seeing me. I stayed still. Turned out he was looking for me. About the 5th time he walked within 50 feet he saw me and was pissed! Claimed I had been threatening him with my bow since I had not announced my presence and had an aroow nocked. I told him that I normally didn't shout when I was deer hunting!

I had all paperwork. An anti-hunting neighbor had called him and said I was poaching. (She was known for years to interfere with hunters at every opportunity, so he had every reason to ignore her call about an adjoining property. My truck was parked in plain view in the owning farmer's driveway, so he knew I was legit. He'd parked behind me and had not even knocked on the owner's door!)

After a few minute's conversation he *relented* and decided not to press charges. What a nice guy! Upside was that as he walked out he stirred up a nice fat doe that found her way into my freezer.

Another tale:
In Texas I wound up sharing a breakfast table with a warden early one morning. All the other tables were crowded with goose hunters who were making loud snide remarks about the warden.

Some were about the "stealth" truck he drove - a faded, rusted-out, primer-patched old Dodge. After a few minute's nice conversation with me as we awaited our meal he told me "These guys don't understand that my supervisor has told me the only way I'll ever get a new truck is to confiscate one when I catch them breaking a Federal law. I'm paying for repairs on that truck out of my pocket. I reckon I'll never have a new truck."

I figure he was a keeper, and that memory makes me forgive over-zealous, vindictive, and incompetent game wardens I've run into since.

quote:

Originally posted by Don G:
"These guys don't understand that my supervisor has told me the only way I'll ever get a new truck is to confiscate one when I catch them breaking a Federal law. I'm paying for repairs on that truck out of my pocket. I reckon I'll never have a new truck."...

Hey Don, That reminds me of a whole herd of Federal Wardens that swooped down on a "baited" Dove Shoot back in the real early `60s. I'd got an invitation to go to the Shoot and just happened to mention it to an "old" Gunsmith.(He is still alive and hunting Doves.) He told me to stay away from that place because it was baited.

He just happened to be a fellow I had, and still have, a lot of respect for, so once he told me it was a done deal to pass on that Shoot. Kept my ears open and heard of another shoot on a farm close to the baited one and went to check it out for myself. No bait and plenty of Doves.

So when the Opener rolled around, there were probably 40 of us going to this one farm and we drove right by the baited farm. All the Big Wheels of the area were at the baited shoot. Fancy cars all over the place.

We had a great shoot and limited out in a bit over an hour or two at the most. As we were coming out, we noticed the Feds writing tickets on the Doctors and Lawyers who had carried firearms into the Baited fields.

Normally that would be the end of the story, but these Big Wheels were so "important" that they figured they could go right back and shoot it again and only have another "ticket" to pay. Well, two days later they got the tickets just as they expected, but they also lost all their guns and their vehicles were confiscated.

So, if your buddy had been in on this one, he could have had his pick from a whole lot of fine cars. I do not remember any of them driving a truck. Lots of Caddys and BIG Mercs got towed though.

Blackbearhunter...You are killing me. You obviously have a serious problem with wardens, just like people who hate cops. The way I see it, a guy who hates cops or game wardens probably has something to hide, or has been busted sometime in their past and just can't accept the fact that they broke the law... And got caught. Instead, they pass the blame on the guy who caught them. Kind of like a second grader who gets mad at his teacher for making him sit in the corner after disrupting the class. I've met wardens and cops that I really didn't care for, but I've also met hunters who were assholes too. You probably treat your local law enforcement folks like trash, which is probably why they don't go out of their way to be friends with you.

There are some GOOD ones. Back in the early 60's HWY Patrol & GW's drove stock white Plymouths and sold the old ones at local used car lots.A friend of mine bought one of the DPS
cars and a few weeks was night hunting in the national forest. The GW saw them and went to stop them. Before he got there, they spotlighted and shot a deer. Fool 1 gets out to get the deer while fool 2 gose to turn car around to escape on the 1 lane dirt road. #1 drags deer to road,opens door,and starts to load deer in GW's car.The GW was more upset about the blood on the backseat and cracked ribs
from laughing than anything.He took them both to town to the school hangout and to the Texan Cafe and then home to dad(worse than jail). They were embarassed and harassed forever,not to mention the ass kicking at home,and never got in trouble again. Both are DPS officers.

Hunting near Tomahawk Wisconsin several years back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was this one Yahooo From the Wisconsin Dept of Resources.

He would come out with two other people, as "witnesses", and he was the type who took that kind of job just to screw with people.

First he would go up to people who had put up tree stands, and asked them first, if they knew who the tree stand belonged too. If the person said Yes, he would first write them a ticket for putting up a tree stand on State Property that was not removalable each night. This was not illegal on land owned by Paper Companies, yet he wrote the ticket like it was all on State property and then just to see if the person was smart enough to figure it out before going to court if they did go to court to fight it.

He especially loved giving tickets to people who were either from out of state, or from down state, like Madison or Milwaukee, as he knew most would not make the 3 or 4 trips up to Tomahawk to fight it.

After he wrote some one a ticket for putting up a tree stand on state property that was not removable at the end of the day, then he would write you a ticket for BEING IN A TREE STAND ON STATE PROPERTY!! Two ticket for the price of one!


One young 20 yr hunter in our party one year had a run in with this guy. After he asked for the kids license and gave him the crap for being in the tree stand, and wrote him up for that, the kid let his orange hood down from his coat, and then just took off his orange coat because he was "hot", probably from wanting to choke this asshole.

Then the warden wrote him two more tickets, for not having orange on his head ( state law whatever), and then another for not wearing orange on 50% of his upper body.! So he got 4 tickets, totaling a almost $1,000.00!

Yet I saw the whole thing, and the kid never argued with the guy or gave him any crap, or lip.
Until he got the second pair of tickets.

I went over and told him I saw the entire thing and I was going to report his activities to the local DNR field office, that he was basically Harrassing Hunters, and creating tickets that were not legit.

So he demands to see my hunting license. I told him I was not hunting!

"So what are you doing in the woods with a rifle then?' he asked.

"Hiking and this is for personal defense in case I am attacked by a bear or something" was my answer.

I told him he did not see me aiming at any deer, or sitting in a tree stand, so he had no reason to question what I was doing.

I also pointed out if he wanted to take me to court for hiking during deer season, and taking a firearm to defend myself in case of being attacked by a bear, I would be more than happy to see him in court, as soon as he showed me in print what state law that violated.

He refused and demanded to see my hunting license. I showed him my firearm was not loaded and told him NO since I was not hunting and he couldn't prove other wise.

I also told him the young kid had a witness also since he brought his two witnesses along, to say that he went out of his way to harass the kid from our party.

Then he tried to tell me he saw me in a tree stand earlier. Once again, I told him to prove it since I was NOT Hunting.

Then he demanded my drivers license, I refused to show it to him unless he showed me his ID card and indicated what he wanted it for. I was not required to show him any ID unless he could tell me what I had violated or he proved to me that he had the state authority to request it, and what did he need to see it for. I told him to show me in print.

I don't know if I was pushing my luck or not, but this jerk, finally left without me showing him squat. He said he would be back, and I told him fine, we would probably not be there, but If he did, bring his law book and show me in print.

Almost any game warden I have seen otherwise was professional and courteous. But a few use their position to screw with others, plain pure and simple.

I am sure this jerk in Wisconsin had his two "witnesses" so that someone would not just waste his ass on day.

I found out the local stores would warn hunters if they knew if this clown was in the area. He gave honest law enforcement officers a bad bad name.

seafire

Almost afraid to ask, any bad experiences in Oklahoma or Texas?

I have to share my experiences with a few officers and what I did about it...

When I was 19, I got off work one afternoon during the late muzzleloader deer season at 4:00 p.m. As a young colege student who worked full time, I hadn't been able to get to the woods a single time during the season and this was the last day.

My dad had a 4x4 and I didn't. During the firearms season, I hunted an area in which a 4x4 was a must. So, we traded trucks for a weekend. When I got my truck back, my dad left his .243 Winchester ammo in my truck. At that time, the white-tailed deer was the only critter my dad and I used a centerfire for. I told dad he'd left his ammo in the truck...he said he'd get it sometime.

Anywho, I leave work and drive to my uncle's farm parking my truck beside a tobacco barn just off the roadway...in plain view. In my neck of the woods, it gets dark at around 4:30 p.m. during the December season. It's 4:15 p.m. I jump out of the truck with the smokepole and head to a vantage point where we sometiomes see deer below. I'm putting my coat on as I'm walking across the field and I realize that I don't have my orange vest or hat with me. I made a mistake and kept walking.

By the time I reach the vantage point, I've scared everything off walking so fast and my iron sights are useless in the low light. I sat momentarily by a whiteoak tree trying to at least appreciate the fact that I was in the woods. I got up and walked back to the truck.

When I'm about 50 feet from the barn, a game warden hastily comes from the other side of the barn with his sidearm drawn! I stop immediately and said, "Hello!" He replied and I assured him that I wasn't going to shoot him! He talks on his radio and in a flash, a Bronco with three other officers pulls up.

I responded to all their questions and told them I was deer hunting and yes, I knew I was supposed to be wearing orange. Up to this point everything is ok. Then, one of the officers notices the .243 shells in my truck seat. Where's the rifle? he asked. I explain the situation. He's not buying it. He asks where my buddy is. I assured him that no one was hiding in the woods with a centerfire rifle waiting for me to give the all clear. I can tell he still doesn't buy it. He asked about my muzzleloader. I showed it to him. While one officer is looking at my muzzleloader, another is questioning me more. This one wants to know if my smokepole is loaded. I guess this is where I messed up worst. I said, "I'd have a heck of a time shooting a deer with it empty!" He scowels and continues his questioning. The one with my muzzleloader asks me for a cap. Without thinking, I gave him one. He places the cap on the nipple and aims the muzzleloader across the field I'd just walked through.

Now, I know that my uncle doesn't have cattle in this field right now, but he recently had. The hay rings were still at the lower end of the field in the edge of the woods I'd just came out of. Even knowing there were no cattle in the field, I didn't appreciate the jerk's disregard for safety. I said in a not so nice tone (mistake #2), "Hey! Wait! You can't shoot down there! My uncle has cattle all over this farm!"

By now, the moon is shining brightly in the late afternoon sky. The jerg points my muzzleloader at the moon and shoots it! Now, I don't like cleaning my modern day in line. I hated cleaning the old Hawken he'd just fired on the last afternoon of season. Now, I'm pissed off (mistake #3).

After some heated discussion, I get a citation for hunting without orange. The next day, I was reflecting on the previous afternoon's events while enduring a boring lecture from a philosophy professore. I decided to write a letter and send it to the state department. I did and when I mailed the letter, I honestly never thought I'd hear a thing from it.


Three weeks later at 5:00 p.m. or so, I was cutting a beef chuck in the butcher shop where I worked. I was paged to the front of the store. Captain Mac Warren (regional supervisor) had been sent to investigate the complaint by his superior. I explained everything and this guy was very cordial and knowledgeable. I conceded the fact that I was not wearing orange and knew very well that I should have. The problem was all the cursing, smart mouth, attitude, and firing my muzzleloader. He tried to explain what the officers were trying to do and that they were utilizing their training in thinking I had a hiding .243 buddy. I again conceded that one looks suspicious with centerfire ammo in his truck during muzzleloader season. However, suspicion is not guilt. He said that he had no idea why the officer had fired my muzzleloader, but he assured me that would not happen again. (He was not happy when I told him the ramrod was marked for loaded and empty and there was no sense in firing a rifle at any time to see if it was loaded.)

Two years ago, my dad and I were going to another of my uncle's farms to ask permission to hunt. We knew it would be ok, but we always ask for courteousy. My uncle owns 1770 acres in one area and has a neighbor's 1200 acres leased for farming. His neighbor allows no hunting period. My dad and I turn off the main road and head to the farm my uncle has leased because my aunt said he was there working calves.

A game warden is parked beside the road. He falls in behind us. My dad has on a Kentucky blue University of Kentucky Wildcats CAp and a blue sweatshirt. I'm wearing a flannel shirt and a Carharrt cap. There are no signs that we are hunters. We had hunted another area that morning and we had backpacks and camo in the truck bed with the tailgate shut and two inlines in the cab with us.

The game warden follows us on our bumper then backs off then gets on our bumper again. I told my dad. "You may as well stop. He's going to pull us over." Dad turns in the drive where my uncle is supposed to be...he's not. He'd already left. The officer stays down the road some 100-150 yards. We saw that my uncle's truck was not at the barn so we back out and pull onto the road heading toward the officer to go back to my uncle's house to wait for him.

The officer is out of his truck and flags us down. We stopped and he approached my window. He looks into the truck bed and then into the cab. With the most stupid looking scowl I've ever seen, he says "You boys know road hunting is illegal?" I'm older, bigger, and more stupid than I used to be. So, I replied, "Nope road hunting ain't illegal...I do it all the time when I'm lost." He pops off some wise remark about me knowing what he meant. I told him that we were not hunting deer from the roadway and explained that I was looking for my uncle. "Who's your Uncle?" I tell him. "Is he on foot?" he asks. "The last time I saw him he had two of them" I replied. "Well what are you doing on the Rowe place looking for your uncle?"

I told him my aunt said he was here working calves. The warden proceeds to impress me with everything he knows about this area (He's from the bordering county) in which I've lived my whole life. I told him I knew that Ms. Rowe didn't allow hunting as well as I knew my own name and that I was trying to find my uncle to make sure it was still ok to hunt on his place. This guy is cursing, ranting, and spitting ambeer all over the place. He finally let's us go having nothing on us.

My dad sent an email to the state department. Low and behold, on a cold snowy day in December, an investigator calls. I lay carpet for side money and I had a house of carpet to lay this Saturday, but he offers to meet my dad and I at the carpet store. He listened and again was very cordial. He said, "We take them into the academy and do our best to train them, but the one thing we can't teach is how not to be an asshole and it seems that at least half of them are very good at it."

One more....

A friend of mine and I were spotlighting deer late one Friday night. At this time in Kentucky, it was legal to shine deer as long as you didn't have a weapon in the vehicle. It was two or three weeks prior to the season opener and my friend and I just had to see some deer. Now, before I open a can of worms, allow me to say that it is now illegal to spotlight in Kentucky period. I'm glad. It never should have been legal and although I never abused it, I know that many did.

Anyway, my friend and I are driving his pickup slowly down an old roadway after shining three or four fields. Headlights and bluelights come on right on our bumper. These wardens were very nice. They didn't use good sense though. They asked my friend to raise his truck hood. They took his breather cover off and raised his air filter. Then, they found some red spots on the hood of his truck. Now, they begin serious questioning. My friend has a big tree in his driveway that has these red berries all over it. They fall on his truck sometimes. He explained that but, they wanted proof. They scraped the hard mess off the hood and put it in a zip loc bag and told us we'd hear from them when the test results came back! What a riot. Can you imagine some lab wasting valuable time to determine that these were in fact berries?

All that said, I applied for a game warden position and qualified via the state's very difficult test. I have a close friend who is now a state trooper, but was a game warden for two years. I was interviewed and I declined the position when they would not agree to match my present salary. They do have a tough job. When you think about it, I would have though I was guilty in every instance if the tables were turned.

I would be cordial and respectful however. There is no need for their attitude and filthy mouths. IMHO

Two stories. Good and Bad.

First the bad; One year a couple of days before deer season opened, we had set up camp and were enjoying the halcyon days along Wikkiup reservoir in Central Oregon. We’d been out cutting wood or scouting or something like that, when we came rolling back into camp. As we pull in we see a couple of guys poking around camp and looking in our tents (opening the doors to do so). Ross (our hunting camp elder statesmen) is ready to get the gun out and ask questions later, but we calm him down. Turns out these clowns are with the DFW. They immediately accuse us of using DuPont spinners on the Browns that are following the spawning Kokanee up Davis creek. We express our incredulousness and firmly tell them that they’d just violated our 4th amendment rights, they were lucky they didn’t get shot, and to get the Fâ€ck out of our camp.

They proceeded to hassle us the rest of the season. Repeatedly asking us for our tags and licensees. Accusing my buddy of having blood on his boots and poaching. But they never came back into our camp even with deer hanging on the buck pole...



The second is a bit funny. My buddy and I were working our way back to camp as it was getting dark. More dusky than dark. We were about 10 miles out and driving along an old narrow logging road. I look in my rear view mirror and see a rig about a 1000 yards back. He seems to be moving along at a bit of a clip. I few seconds later I figure out it’s a state bull (wildlife enforcement), so I pull over so he can pull in behind us or around us if he’s in a hurry. He pulls in behind us. Randy and I get out to meet him. He’s a young guy, probably in his mid-twenties. We start to chat and I ask him if he needs to see out tags and licenses. He says sure, but it’s clear that he’s not interested in writing us a ticket or even really interested in how ‘legal’ we are. After returning our papers and a bit more small talk, he sheepishly looks down at his shoes. He looks up at me and asks, “So how do I get back to the main road from here†.

I’ve really never had a problem with the State Troopers (wildlife enforcement). But I can’t remember a DFW guy who didn’t act like he had a chip.

-Steve

I have very respectful memories of 2 gamewardens, Einar Palm of Colorado, and Al Marble of Northern Michigan. The first one had a reputation as a VERY tough fellow, but when he found me with several large brookies and without a license, he generously allowed me a day to produce the license I told him (truthfully) I had left at home. The second caught me with undersize smallmouths, hidden in a bait can (smallmouths taste great, no matter their size). He gave me a ticket, and in a gentlemanly and courteous manner. I have always admired his professionalsm.

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Anyone ever run into this type of game regulations in there state?Do you have to tell the local wardon your plans and area before hand?

BBH, FWIW in Texas it is legal to hunt any animal not classified as a 'game animal' (per the list published yearly in the TP&W digest) at any time, day or night, 365 days a year. All other rules apply (must have a hunting license, be on the property legally, not a protected species, etc.) but feral pigs, 'yotes, and such can be shot with anything, anytime. The digest does recommend that you place a 'courtesy call' to your local warden if you are going to be doing so at night. I guess I could call the regional office to find out who this is, as it changes regularly, but have never bothered...and have never done it other than on private property.

The only way they can (legally) tell what you are out hunting is by what is in your bag...unless your method is VERY obvious. Duck decoy spread comes to mind there...as does rattling buck antlers or such...but just walking around with a rifle is considered normal around here in the woods.

I had a warden point a loaded Mini 14 at a friend and myself, create a ficticious story saying we shot a squirel (one) from the road, haul us in, fine us 175 dollars each and hold our guns hostage till we paid the fine. Another time a warden held up an entire line of people trying to get into a wildlife management area on opening mornig to do a search of the first truck in line and do things like measure his broadheads and laying out everything in this guys truck on the road in front of it. No ticket was issued but two hours of opening morning was wasted, this at Richland Creek WMA. The other incident happened near Ratcliff Tx. Another game warden blew a stalk for me on the biggest buck I have ever seen on a WMA by blowing his horn. Another time I was bowhunting at Anderson county WMA when a game warden blows his horn around 8:30 am for 15 minutes to pull everyone out of the woods so he can check their locenses on opening morning. Most of us thought it was some kind of emergency. The game wardens in east Texas use the WMA's as trolling for tickets and fun.