A great many DNR or other officials are not any more experts in firearms or in hunting than any other Law Enforcement person. They are hired to do the job, and the training is set by the state legislature. Unfortunately there is a trend to get anybody who will apply vs. recruiting men and women who know the sports first, and are willing to enforce the regulations. One of the best autotheft detectives I ever knew was a good auto thief as a teen, one of the best narcotics cops I ever new was a "runner" for a dealer as a teen, and a couple of the best DNR cops I ever met .., one poached a lot as a teen, and the other ran 'shine as a teen....,
PA has a large group of DNR officers, and so they still have a great many qualified folks, but here in Maryland the days of the classic game warden are waning, and the support staff seems to be of the single digit IQ club. Case in point..., I used to moonlight as a "call taker" at our county PD dispatch center, and a DNR dispatcher called on the phone, rather unconcerned, as one of her female officers had been jumped by a suspect while serving a poaching summons, and had been disarmed. :shocked2:
Now I'm not faulting the lady DNR officer, I am faulting the morons who sent all 120 lbs. of her out to deal with a 250 pound criminal, alone. (Nobody thought to check to see if "Tiny" had other criminal violations in his past - duh) :shake: Anyway the DNR Dispatcher wanted to know if the county police might have somebody available??? :shake:
So I hit the emergency button, launching the call as a "signal 13 - officer needs assistance with armed suspect" which sent everybody at high speed with lights and sirens [cue music - Ride of The Valkyries]. So I asked the dolt at DNR if she had a description of the man who took the officer's handgun..., she asked "why?" :cursing: Gee maybe because the house he's at has a back door, and he's running around inside or outside somewhere with a fully loaded 9mm Beretta?? :cursing: "Is that a good enuf reason lady?"
Anyway the DNR officer was OK, and the guy came out without further incident, and they found the officer's handgun. Could've been a tragedy though, and the DNR dispatcher was as worthless as teets on a boar hog.
So when you point out the bureaucrat's lack of knowledge, you make it obvious to all what a lack of expertise they have, and this is then a threat, so the folks locked the thread. I'm surprised they even have a blog for folks to converse with the PWC.
LD