GAME WARDENS

[MaterielGeneral]

I do not hate or dislike anyone in law enforcement. But... I do not trust anyone working in law enforcement. Every time you have an encounter with an officer you are being interviewed if you know it or not. Anything you say can be used in a court of law.

I had a self defense fight when I was younger with an arch enemy and the cop lied to make it fit a felony charge. I took the charges to trial and got a not guilty verdict. My attorney was a beast and she caught the guy lying on the stand. This was early 2000's and cost me over $10,000.00 in attorney fees.

I guess moral of the story was stay away from fights but the guy broke a beer bottle over my head. He lost the fight.

As for the DNR and state troopers, most that I meet have that arrogance about them like they are better than you. I dont like that. Our county guys are friendly. Probably because they live within the county.

 

[rf50cal]

In over50 years of hunting I've only had one unpleasant experience with a Warden. Back in '85 during the regular firearms Doe season, four of us were hunting the side of a long ridge on State Forest lands. Two would get out, climb the side to drive while the other two would move the vehicles ahead, then climb the ridge to watch. Mid morning, a friend and I had just parked the vehicles when two Deputy Wardens stopped. After checking our license the one asked me where my weapon was, The only flintlock I had at that time was Thompson Center Hawken, which was hanging on the rack inside the window of my Bronco. When I pointed to the window he immediately said "we have a problem, you can't hunt with that now. Only in the late season after Christmas". I was certain he was wrong. A long discussion ensued during which the rule book was consulted. Finally they decided it was OK for me to use the flintlock and went on their merry way. All's well that ends well, except, by the time my friend and I climbed to where we were to watch, the drivers were there waiting on us!

 

[longcruise]

When you are being interviewed by ANY leo for ANY reason choose your words and choice of what to disclose or reply to carefully. Regardless of how innocent you are or THINK you are, their report is written to convict. That's their job.

 

[User_Dan]

I had a fish warden come into my place of work to threaten me with arrest and prison if I fish a piece of public water where his friends stock fish and have a little club. This piece of water is deemed navigable and there is a canoe rental place that sends 100s of boats down a day. He tried bad cop first and when I didnt ruffle he tried good cop and left me with some words, "those are some tough guys there and if you needed to call for help I may not be able to make it there in time" I laughed to myself, my form of help weighs 147grs and travels at 1200fps.

 

[GWarden226]

Appreciate all your post. Glad that most have had good interactions with us Game Wardens, sorry to hear of the bad experiences. It is a career; as any law enforcement has, has really changed from when I started by in 1/71. We have a society that has made lots of changes and I saw peoples attitudes change over the years. The one thing I miss about the job was all the many many good people that enjoyed the outdoors and appreciated it. After retirement some of my outlaws told me no hard feelings, they knew I had a job to do. Today I am good friends with some of them folks- time and age change a persons outlook on things. You all have a good day.
Bob

 

[GWarden226]

Those that had bad experiences with Wardens, don't throw us all under the bus because of one bad experience.
Bob

 

[tom in nc]

I never have any interaction with game wardens because I have not hunted or fished for several years. However a cousin of mine and his son-in-law had a unfortunate experience a few years ago here. They were hunting turkey on land belonging to my cousin. My cousin, in his seventies at the time, was very hearing impaired. He and his son-in-law had split up during the hunt and the son-in-law heard a shot. Going to check on father-in-law, he found that a game warden had approached FIL and had shot and killed him. The warden had felt threatened by some action and defended himself. The warden was wearing camo and we wonder if cousin ever realized that he was a game warden. His probably never heard anything the warden said to him as they were never closer than several yard apart.

 

[SamTex1949]

TOM , that is an extremely sad story !

 

[Newtire]

A few years ago, I was holed up at the end of a pond behind some bushes when the game warden showed up in his truck. I saw him coming so stood up & waved. He came over and checked my gun & shells and then told me about a nice warm blind just a little ways from where I was. This was in Idaho.

 

[Tinhorn]

I think the Wardens do a great job, my beef is with the bizarre regulations and license/tag costs we have to deal with, here in Calif. You can hunt this side of the road, but where the deer are, on the other side, it's illegal... And no fence or anything else separating one side from the other! And the stream and water is on their side, too. And don't forget, this is August, where the dry leaves make stalking on a carpet of potato chips a better alternative. We hate our stupid game laws.
That being said, the most productive hunting method we see is 4am, 10-15 mph over the speed limit, any rural 2 lane highway in Calif. With your hi-beams on.. And after the sun comes up, turkey buzzards proudly standing atop Bambi..... as it rots away.
Come on out, you'll see for yourself! Tinhorn

 

[GWarden226]

Most regulations in most states are now made by politicians- that right there explains why we see the things you mention.
Bob

 

[Dr5x]

GAME WARDENS
I recently had a subscriber who I am pretty sure was a game warden. This got me thinkinking about the Good Old Days when if you wanted a snack you didn't have to aim or anything difficult like that. You just fired whatever you had straight up and a rain of dead and dying passenger pigeons fell around you. The skies were black with them. They are gone now. Not a trace. This all happened before the funny Game Wardens,
Another Good old Days practice was to float a raft adorned with a row of I think, 8 gauge shotgun barrels , close together pointing in all four directions with another bank of barrels aimed up a very carefully estimated angl out in the middle of a pond which you had previously acted with duck goodies, a few decoys and whatever else would attract ducks.
When the pond was at peak capacity you would first fire the bottom row of barrels to get most of the ducks on the water and the very shortly after the first volley you would fire the second row of slightly upturned barrels to get those that escaped that first horror isle mass killing shot.You would gather this enormous number of duck bodies sorting out those killed with head injuries so you could send those to Diamond Jim Brafy's restaurant where the guest did not like finding gun shot in the delicious meat. Fortunately someone, somehow started the early days of the Gun Wardens before there wasn't a duck left.
The fact of the value of game wardens was demonstrated in a different way in, I think, Pennsylvania where the Bambi crowed got deer hunting stopped dead. No hunting at all nottoo long a time passed when people in Pennsylvanias mass forest areas noted that while the population of deer had certainly increased, the quality of these deer was disturbing, The deer were growing as much as before. Then They began showing indications of sickness and somehow someone figured that the increased population did have equally increased feed sources and that the the deer were nowhere up to the quality of deer when hunting was allowed. They reversed the NO DEERHUNTing Law and very shortly thereafter the deer resumed theirnold health standards and growth. All this was managed by the funny Game Wardens the butt of all those clever hunter jokes.
If you're a deer hunter and harvest one or just got to see one. Thank a game Warden. This also applies to ducks and geese as well.
I don't know about the passenger pigeon. If the sky was black with them the earth must have been white with that invigorating poop they must have provided. The parasol might not have been for sunshine alone.
Dutch Schoultz

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO ADD A SHORT ITEM INTO TH STREAM OF OF THE FORUM
But I recently mentioned selling a book to someone in South Africa which I thought was amazing. On Monday. July the first I sold a book to a gentleman in Lapland which is a place on the north end of Finland located on the edge of the Arctic Circle.

I am astounded

Dutch

 

[Sidney Smith]

The game wardens I've encountered over the years have run the gamut from real jerk, to real nice guy. I must say lately they are all pretty decent. They at least approach you in a friendly greeting manner, unlike back in tne day when you were guilty until proven innocent.

I agree with the previous post of not to trust them though. You've got to watch what you tell any law enforcement because they will use anything against you. Of course if youve got nothing to hide then why worry right? I just watch my Ps and Qs when talking to them because you've no idea what they're looking for and what they might pin on an I.suspecting blabber mouth..

 

[Okie Hog]

Yep, it's fashionable to badmouth game wardens. Game wardens have a job to do and i fully support them. Sadly, there are not enough game wardens in Oklahoma: Poaching is rampant here. Every year i find the carcasses of bucks with the heads removed.

For many years game cameras would pick up photos of very nice bucks on our property. The poacher neighbor killed them before bow season. Gave the local game warden a gate key. But that game warden was soon transferred.

Fast forward a couple years: i met a man with a crippled grand daughter. The girl's only desired was to kill a nice buck. The same poacher always killed the nice bucks on his place too. That man tired of the poachers shenanigans and put him out of the cattle business. Now there are nice bucks on the places in deer season.

i would not have killed the scumbags cows.

 

[TNGhost]

Being a lifelong hunter and then a career LEO I have known and worked with many Game wardens and have several good friends who are wardens.

Tough racket really. No other law enforcement officer has to walk up to people with loaded guns in their hands, without drawing his own. Many wardens have died in such circumstances.

About the only complaint I have, is that while they are often open and sharing about information they have, some of them will try to direct you away from certain areas/legal game, that they personally feel shouldn't be hunted despite it being legal by regulation and OK with the biologists, or direct you to areas where they felt game should be culled and there may not be "that buck" or whatever you were looking for there, only lesser animals.

Could be a times they were right, as most knew their territory and the animals in it, could be they were simply protecting their "honey hole" as most were hunters.

Knew one in NM like that. He had his pet herds of deer and javelinas, and would finagle to get you to hunt elsewhere. He didn't hunt, so it was more of his objections to what the biologists had decided.