Hey Skin....not to get off topic but been many moons since I've seen tide as low as it's been at times in past 2 weeks....driving fish into a few safe deep areas...snowbirds been killin fish in MC and South Bay. Wardens been watching em pretty good though I hear.

Yes Sir. I sure love good hard low tides but I've been working Have buddies that have been doing real good, big trout too. I'm looking forward to getting a line wet when I get off. Gotta watch them damn snowbirds

My thoughts too!

Fished & hunted almost 50 years and had many encounters. Not one single bad experience. Some were very by the book, most were polite & cordial. A few even stopped by for nothing but a cup of coffee....... I was bad one time and after filling out the back of the license & forgot to check the box. Warden just checked it for me and never said a word until I asked.

Game Wardens have as much power as any law enforcement agency in Texas and probably one of the most dangerous jobs around. The ones I've met seem to be "good guys". While you don't understand the request, he probably has a good reason for it. I'd cooperate with him any way I could.

Had the came warden stop several times at my place the first 2 years. He hasn't been back in the last 3. Always welcomed him. Offered him coffee etc. We have nothing to hide. Not comfortable however with the fishing. Seems unnecessary.

Absolutely incorrect information. Peace Officers may randomly run the registration of vehicles as well as check a name and date of birth for warrants for no reason other than just to check the information, there is no Fourth Amendment violation. This has been long established from a myriad of case law and is not even questionable.

Seems someone may be wrong or both may be wrong. Be interesting to hear the conclusion on this.

I'd say my vote goes with BigPig knowing what he does for a living and also knowing he ain't no rookie.

I don't know this for sure, but I'm willing to bet he has an arrest or two and has had to represent the law before a judge.

Ntxtrapper is correct. Criminal history checks are ran through dispatch and monitored but license plates and name/dob are ran all day by officers on patrol in their squads. We have license plate readers mounted above roadways and on patrol cars that check every plate that passes in front of them, without "good cause."

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Ntxtrapper is correct. Criminal history checks are ran through dispatch and monitored but license plates and name/dob are ran all day by officers on patrol in their squads. We have license plate readers mounted above roadways and on patrol cars that check every plate that passes in front of them, without "good cause." [/quote]

Yes sir, I remember when they strengthened the rules for CCH pulls sometime around the late 80's iirc. Memo I recall, said the system was being abused by ex's, folks checking on friends, family, neighbors, or something to that effect.

Having a license, vehicle tags, or doing something regulated by the state (driving for one, hunting is another) You inherently agree to have less anonymity for the "privilege".

I would suspect there is more to it like maybe someone in the area has reported a theft.

My current position causes me to sort out extremely complicated arrest, search and seizure issues everyday such as tracking devices on vehicles, going up on a phone ect ect ect. This is really basic stuff here.

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1468527.html

This thread just keeps on giving. It's a testament to the excellent training GW's go through that so many people truly believe they're paid by the state to be their buds.

And some believe they are "just out to get ya"

And some believe they are "just out to get ya" [/quote

That is, in fact, their job. No one, not me, not you, not anyone, walks into the field and doesn't break a law. Their job is to find what you're doing wrong, and cite you for it. Buddying up to you makes their job easy.

I choose to make their job less easy. It amuses that people point out instances where GW's "helped" them back into the lines. Their naivite is epic. And funny.

I'm not as jaded as you I suppose and don't think every GE and every LEO is out to get me. I have also never been cited for something when I didn't break the law. I am not "friends" with our GW, but respectful. He has never "tried to catch us", but is professional and comes into camp and does his job. He has let some infractions slide and has cited some for minor infractions.

I am not jaded either, but the game warden wasn't requesting the information to determine who was supposed to be on the property because he has some sort of concern for the lease being utilized only by people on the lease and he isn't wasting his time to look for random trespassers on this one property out of all the properties in the county and he isn't going to every lease and making the same offer. So there is deceit going on. He is involved in some sort of investigation because some wrongdoing has been done and therefore likely trying to find somebody. He isn't there to be the leaseholder's buddy. To believe otherwise would be just plain naive.

GW's handing out citations for violations that don't exist will in fact tend to bias one. However, jaded or not, the GW's duty is always the same, they are there for one primary purpose. To cite you for game violations (to "get you" in your terminology). To believe otherwise is to ignore the facts.

what do you think his job is? trespassers are often poachers, catching poachers is probably his most important task. of course he isn't going to every property, can a street cop watch every stop sign or school zone at once? I can imagine if he is "fishing" that he has picked out an area of his patrol zone and is focusing on that, next week it could be a different area.



their job isn't to cite violators any more than a police officers is, its a small part of their overall job duties. and yes, some officers write more tickets than others and some MIGHT "get a talkin' to" for giving to many warnings.

you had a bad experience with a GW, we get it, I had a bad experience when I was about 16 with a ranch owner my (never hunted) step-dad found in the newspaper selling "mouflon ram" hunts, should I expect you to rip me off too if I ever called?

Be careful of who you invite to your hunting location is my warning even if you call that Game Warden a "friend".

A simple GPS tracker on the GW's vehicle led another agent to our camp. Once he knew where it was it was his weekly routine to show up and show his arse.

Nobody is perfect and they will find something if they're in the mood

JSHouse you are certainly one conflicted dude on this subject. Your words:

"catching poachers is probably his most important task."

You are trying to disagree with me, when that is exactly what I said.

Definition of poacher:
1. a person who hunts or catches game or fish illegally.

One becomes a poacher when one breaks a game law. Sorry to jerk you into such a harsh reality.

ok, I suppose ive been misinterpreting your posts. your tone lead me to believe you think GW's are walking into camps looking to write tickets to people that haven't signed the back of a tag or some other petty infraction, akin to a street cop writing a ticket for failing to signal a lane change.

sure we can get into semantics, but to me, a poacher is someone that is killing deer at night, killing more than they have tags for, killing from a roadway, killing while trespassing, etc. more like the street cop out looking for drug dealers, he could give a rip about citing for that lane change. I don't know all the offense levels for poaching, but when I think of poaching I think of "someones going to jail," not just getting a ticket.

to be short, I don't think most GW's are out looking for petty infractions so they can write a ticket, but I have never had a "bad" incident either.

our game warden showed up last year uninvited. He checked all our hunting licenses and logs, questioned why my mother (who doesn't hunt) didn't have a license and suggested she should have one if she was going to be there, which is bs. We got out without any infractions, but he certainly was looking for something to write a ticket for.

Same chit happened to our group a half dozen times over the past two seasons.