Admin note: Fixed the quotes to ensure that I am being quoted for exactly what I said.

Now I'm not exactly sure what you're saying sir, but I am sure "the possibility of getting checked" hasn't gone anywhere. It's alive and well. As it should be.

But I'll also try to expound upon what I said... I'm not saying that GW policies should state that it's unlawful to do any license checks at anytime. But that as a matter of practice, unless a law is being broken, GWs shouldn't willy nilly check licenses during those prime hunting times we all hold dear. It's ultimately unnecessary because if they don't have a license during the hunt, they're not going to have a license when the GW checks them when they get back to their truck.

Let's put it another way. What if a person was on a $4,000 guided two-day hunt, and a GW decided to check the party simply for licenses one of those days during evening prime time. It's not unreasonable to say the GW may have ruined that evening's hunt, and to the hunter, that's lost money.

I have no issues being checked at all. Heck, GWs have even scored my deer for me before. I want to have good working relationships with my GWs (and I always have) because I want them to come out to my place and help keep poachers off of it.

But check me in camp before the hunt. Check me when I'm getting back to camp. Check me during dinner. I don't care. But don't come out to the stand boogering everything up to check my license during prime time. It's not necessary.

A professional GW (and 99% of them are!) knows that doing his/her job successfully largely depends on folks working with him to identify folks not doing the right thing. If they act capriciously to every citizen they encounter and earn a reputation as such, they'll be the lone GW that no one talks to and dare I say, game violations will run rampant in their area.

Let me tell you a story that happened many years ago that I am not very proud of. Myself and 2 of my friends were dove hunting. It was a milo field that had been harvested. We were young and had never seen this many doves. We shot quite a few more than the law allowed. We put the excess doves in a paper sack that one of my friends carried. We were walking back to the truck through some brush when a GW stepped out in front of us. My friend dropped the sack of doves in the brush. The GW asked how the hunting was. Checked licenses and shell capacities of the shotguns. Then asked my friend what was in the sack he dropped in the brush and told him to go and get it. The CW emptied out the sack and asked who shot the doves. My friend said that he did. The GW then told us that before we lied to him any more that each dove was a separate offence and that we could be fined up to $200 for each offence. Now he ask who shot the doves? We told him we all did and he just fined us for exceeding the bag limit and the fine was $50. Like I said not very proud of what we did but a very good experience with a wise GW.

I agree. They are either lacking in intelligence to check you before the hunt to give you the chance at multiple violations or they do it just because they can to disrupt your hunt.

Thanks for sharing. I think if we're honest, most of us have been in a similar situation, whether caught or not. I also think that probably represents the vast majority of GWs and I don't believe that as a rule they're out to get me.

That's a pretty broad brush you're painting with. I can tell you for a fact some LEO's are nice to people because they believe in treating people with courtesy and respect until the person gives them a reason not to. Believe it or not, sometimes that's all that's going on.

why should anyone want to kiss arse of an LE like that? GW or other.

They get paid off of taxes that the gov takes from working people. They work too, but they don't produce a product or service that gets taxed. As the gov passes more and more laws, they have to hire more and more people to enforce them.

I only owe them some basic respect and compliance with the law and they in turn must respect and protect my rights under the law. I would imagine they swear an oath like other LEs do.

I don't think STX meant that seriously, that was a jab at Trex for a comment in another thread. Inside joke if you will.

There are good LEOs and crappy LEOs-just like in any profession.

It's basically about courtesy and respect. Professionalism. The vast majority have it. Some don't. Lack of it is way more prevalent as you work your way down the food chain.

I can't define it but I know it when I see it. Crappy attitude. Treating you like you are John Dillinger. Lording over you. Being a smarta** for no reason. Basically just because they have a badge and know they can. Just the "power trip" syndrome.

Fortunately, only a very small percentage fall into this category. You just remember them a lot longer.

just don't forget, if you think things are going bad for you, the best thing to do is comply and shut your mouth. to heck with the good ole boy shooting the breeze conversation, just shut your trap and comply with their commands and ask if you are free to go or are you being detained or arrested. If you are innocent, you can beat the rap, but you may not beat the ride.

Reading some of the posts about LEO's and GW's strong arming folks makes me wonder if some of our members are borderline criminals/lawbreakers, with a reputation following them around like rifleman.

rancher, is that you?



its a numbers game, there are 50k+ members here, of course there are some outlaws amoung us....

I have you know I am a strictly by the book kind of person.

Which book again?

Coloring book.

Don't see the comic books I go off of.

Game Wardens are people too and like all people, there can be good and bad. Just be courteous and professional to them and given them respect. Like with any LEO if you feel wronged, take it up after the fact with the proper channels. You want to be on the good side of the GW in the areas you hunt and fish as there is typically one or two GW's to a county (sometimes more than one county). There can be no better fried for your land, resources and you than a GW. I keep the phone number for mine on me at all times and call him if I'm going to be out hunting hogs at night or see anything suspicious.

Earl

Typically the situation people who get "caught" in dictate their viewpoint of the encounter...

Long time ago, my brother drove out to the Panhandle for a pheasant hunt. He got his limit and threw the birds in his truck.

A year later, he was driving back from dove hunting in South Texas and got stopped by a GW. When my brother opened his truck to show the GW his take for the day, the GW spotted a single pheasant feather down near the wheel well.

Yep, a ticket and a fine.


Stones1950

The first thing Ive always done when getting a new lease is contact the G/W and get to know him..cause by showing him you have nothing to hide..goes along way..ours is great and has helped us several times...

May moons ago the GW would stop me just about every time I left my lease...it was always at the gate and he was always very nice. I finally asked him why he seemed be watching our lease so closely...he said that a lease member had requested that he keep an eye out for some "uninvited" guests...I laughed and told him that I had left the message with the SO...he laughed and I gave him a key to our locks...he never stopped me again but did come by our campfire on occasion...

rick

IMO this GW's approach was poorly suited to "getting to know" his area and landowners, especially entering the gate uninvited without fully explaining himself. I would be disturbed if this happened to me.

By that game warden's account I've killed guinea's, chickens, deer, turkeys, doves, keystone lights, zeigon Bock's, rainbow trout.....

Ain't that like hauling off your beer cans for recycling, and getting busted for an open container?