And then there are those the GW says I think im just going to skip little johnny’s house.

And then there is this - "The issue I have is being stopped or having your property searched without a warrant or probable cause, which happens often. I know the former LEO's and boot-lickers think that's fine, but every citizen who believes in the Constitution should have a problem with it. You can't legally do it to folks driving, and you shouldn't be able to do it to hunters on their land or a guy pulling a boat down the road."

GW's protect that which is for the benefit of everyone. Been out in the field a bunch and having been actually paid to be a guide, I can easily attest to the essily noted perception the idiot side is much more heavily weighted on the hunter side than the GW side. Hence the need for GW's. GW's are some of the biggest gun nuts out there and they ain't going to be the ones coming after guns.

Daddy told me to respect the man who is entrusted with a badge and wears a gun for a living. Seen some "interesting" ones of those guys, but they always get the beneffit of the doubt from me. Somes actions caused the trust to be lost. So now I get some hunyuck and DocHor teaming up to label me and others as being "boot lickers". A big problems is I do not like or respect the attitudes held by some which make a GW's duties indispensable.

well said Hud - if respecting law enforcement makes me a boot licker then that is what I am.

Most of you have no idea what LEO's deal with everyday. I do because my son has been a deputy for 15 years and I have ridden out with him many times and personally seen some of the [censored] holes he has to deal with - but he always does it respectfully and by the book.

And my personal experience with GW's over many years in the field has been nothing but positive (mostly because I make sure to follow the laws and rules)

And in my estimation, immediately and unequivocally rendering respect for the badge usually ends in a pleasant and decent experience. Has for me every time we have encountered GamecWardens.

Exactly. I don’t understand what’s so difficult to comprehend about our rights or exercising them. So many people seem to think exercising your rights or expecting law enforcement to respect our rights means that you hate law enforcement. It’s simply not true, and extremely short-sighted.

Hunters should not ignore the law. I agree completely. GWs and law enforcement should not ignore the law, either, but they can if they want to in many cases. I was operating 100% legally and complied 100% as stipulated by the law, yet still got threatened with removal from the property I was hunting if I didn't provide proof of permission or contact information from the landowner because the GW "had a complaint" not from the landowner about somebody hunting, LOL. That isn't how the law works. He tried to bluff his way through his "investigation" and I called him on his bluff. Of course, LEOs can lie to people as part of their jobs, but providing false information to a LEO in Texas can result in a misdemeanor charge against you.

Mine have as well BUT....following the laws (as I do) is NOT insurance you won't run into a bad GW (or one having a bad day). I am very supportive of LEO and had the pleasure of knowing one of the older 'icons' of the profession (Game Warder Grover Simpson) that patrolled Travis and Williamson counties back in the day. He was absolutely professional and a wonderful person to know and hunt with.

Conversely (in the same county) I had an experience I would challenge anyone here to reconcile. (The Judge damn sure didn't see it the GW's way).

Long story but read it:

Circa late 1970's. Location (Lago Vista on Lake Travis).

Our family owned a Lake House in Lago Vista and we also kept a Houseboat and Ski Boat at a marina on the Lake. Myself, my Brother, my Sister and her then Boyfriend had been Bow-fishing off of our houseboat as we often did on weekend nights. It was about 3 am in the morning when we decided to call it a night and head back to the lake-house to get some sleep.

On the way back a group of Deer were slowly walking across the street ahead of us (probably 200 ft. away). Deer in the Lake Side communities are thick as fly's and you need to always be watching for them. I was at the wheel of my truck, brother was in passenger seat, sister and boyfriend in the bed of the truck.

I slowed down as soon as I saw the deer and came nearly to stop. Even honked at them to get them to hurry across the road. Well...this 'Security' officer happens to pull in from a side street and sees my Sister who is holding her bow across her lap. So he rushes up (lights flashing) gets out and AT GUN POINT orders us all out the vehicle! Accuses us of HUNTING deer at night! No joke.

I told the guy what we had been doing (bow fishing) and that we were just heading back to the house. Pointed out that we had BOW-FISHING gear (1600 gr. fiberglass arrows tethered to 50' of 90 lb. braided line) and asked him how he thought anyone would shoot a deer (200 feet away with that)! Not to mention NO ONE was pointing a bow at the deer, my sister didn't want her bow getting banged up in the bed of the truck so simply had it in her lap. No arrow nocked.

This guy calls the Game Warden who shows up about 45 minutes later and is obviously displeased at being called out at such an hour. We all related the same story to the GW. GW decides he will let the JUDGE decide. So he confiscates everyone's bows (for evidence), doesn't write anyone a ticket but gives us the number of the judge to call. A date was set (3 weeks later) to see the judge. All four of us were shooting in an amateur archery league at that time and using the same bows to do that. We were without our equipment for 3 weeks.

Day comes to see the judge. GW actually shows up. We relate the story to the judge. He literally rolled his eyes, dismissed the case and gave us our property back.

'Security guy' was fired the next day of the incident by the Manager of Lago Vista, said he was simply aghast to learn that the guy had actually pulled his pistol and held it on us almost until the GW arrived.

Now someone tell me this: GW ACTUALLY thought he had a case there (no tickets were issued, just property seized) or was this just punishment for him having to get up and come out there. What is the legality even of what happened. Judge didn't seem any too happy with the GW.

Never ran into or saw the GW again and don't know what became of him, but anyone with a smidgen of common sense could see we were NOT trying to hunt deer (out of season, at night, on a public road, with bow fishing gear). Utter BS......! I've never been cited for a game violation in my life. I follow the rules. But that doesn't necessarily mean you won't run into a jerk now and then.

as stated MANY TIMES here - of course there are bad LEO's and bad GW's as you stated - there are the same in any profession on earth! So you run across a "bad GW" and all of a sudden they are ALL bad? (as others (not you) seem to think. Geez!

Yep. It's one thing to appreciate some of what law enforcement does....but, if somes think giving up their rights to appease governmental over-reach of authority in order to "protect that which is for the benefit of everyone" is ok, then yeah, you're probably a boot-licker.

FWIW, to me, respect is earned. I consider it precious, so I do not give it away freely. I can be cordial, but I don't give blindly give out "respect" to folks until they've earned it. That's just me.

I’ve met a [censored] ton more dirty hunters than dirty game wardens.

Definitely not all bad. Since LEO come from a cross section of society....we can expect that 'some' will not represent their profession very well at times. Hopefully those get weeded out quickly. It is intellectually dishonest (IMO) to label ALL of any branch of Law Enforcement as 'bad' based on the actions of a few. On that we are of one accord.

Having said that.....one bad experience does have a way of sticking with you. It is not unlike 'trust'. Hard to establish, easily lost.

I understand - how many "bad experiences' have all of us had with various companies, restaurants, hotels, and on and on??? Just because one went bad does not condemn all of the others - I fully understand where our country and world is now but it is very disappointing to see so many "hunters" be anti-GW - back in the day every hunter I knew totally respected game laws and GW's - if they screwed up and got a ticket they accepted the fact that THEY screwed up - obviously that has gone away

Y’all comparing bad apples in other professions to law enforcement is stupid.

The waiter at the diner didn’t take an oath to uphold the constitution. Like it or not - if you chose the career of law enforcement you are held to a higher standard. A waiter getting your order wrong is a minor inconvenience. A LEO operating outside of the purview of the constitution has life long implications that not only could affect your freedom but your ability to provide for your family.

LEOs can and should be held to much higher scrutiny.

Say it louder for the folks in the back!

Man there are some messed up people showing themselves on this forum - think I will take a sabbatical for awhile - been on here for years but never seen this type of attitudes -


are you serious?? Of course LEO's are held to a higher standard - tell me about the last time YOU road out with an LEO and saw for yourself what they deal with???

Of course you have not but I challenge you to call your local law enforcement and ask to do a ride out - they will let you do it - then come back on here and tell me how horrible LEO's are - but my guess is that guys like you like to wear out anyone who "does you wrong" - man I have been on this forum for years but think I will take a sabbatical -

OMG I never condemned them all, I started by saying major majority were good experiences, try reading and comprehending the whole thing I wrote. I said dad was in the wrong, he was not trying to get away with anything! The negative comments about that GW were due to his unnecessary long rant lecture, not the ticket. And as far as me, as I said dad met me at the gate and I put my unloaded rifle in the SUV and opened the gate, had not even looked at the buck yet when the GW pulled up. I wouldn't have double checked dad anyway because he is always very strict about the laws. We have hunted and fished for many years without a problem, served lunch and supper to a few GW. Never any problem with any LEO's. When we bought the property road hunters and poachers were bad and we worked with the GW to get them caught. Could not trust the sheriff at the time cuz his son was one of the road hunters, he finally got caught with 13 doe in the bed of his truck the night before opening day...in a 1 doe permit only county. Anyway you do not know us at all mr high and mighty and you damn sure don't need to accuse us as commonly breaking the laws.
And BYE

Pop a midol and take a break from the mental gymnastics. Please show me exactly where I posted anything anti leo? I am very pro non corrupt leo - I have great relationships with all of our local game wardens. Sorry the truth hurt your feelings but you can support law enforcement while calling out the BS.

The next time a game warden doesn't tag the rifle or confiscate the deer and he/she lectures your group, I suggest telling them to STFU.

LOL, no problem. We have had many good experiences with GW since that one, he didn't last long.

Agreed 100%. I support their job, and have had good interactions with the ones in my county. Have texted and talked to them many times. I just disagree with what the law allows as far as what they have the ability to do.

If the local PD randomly pulled folks over just to check and see if they were breaking any laws that would get folks pretty irritated pretty quickly.

FWIW, I've never had a bad interaction with any LEO or GW, never gotten a game violation, and never been arrested either, so I don't have any sort of grudge against them. Have had them for dinner in our deer camp before as well.

I suggest a cage fight, I’ll referee

Bootlickers Verses The World

Bad examples abound as did I relay in one of my previous posts. Taking a bad example and broad brush applying lt to the "whole" just seems absurd here. So would be calling a guy like me a "boot licker". Calling out names typically begins when someone realizes they are starting to have "difficulty" with their arguement.

Could not agree more with Cochise that all LEO have a higher standard to adhere to - no doubt about that.

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I recall a few years ago a member on here, don't remember who, that was working on his tractor in the field and a gw rolled up demanding to see his hunting license.