Conversation with Our Game Warden

[Arisaka99]

I was out fishing the other evening when the local Game Warden stopped by. I've never had any interaction with them before, but I'm glad I happened into him. We sat and talked for close to 3 hours before the missus called wondering where I was.

I feel a lot better knowing he's a quality-no nonsense kind of guy, and it was definitely a positive interaction for me!

Not to mention, I got some rubber buckshot out of it...

Cheers,
Chris

[Hickory]

Never had a good experience with Wardens in Ohio.
I never did anything wrong, but, was always treated as I was guilty of something.

[RGrosz]

Never had a good experience with Wardens in Ohio.
I never did anything wrong, but, was always treated as I was guilty of something.

Most of the ones I talked to, seemed to have the attitude that everyone is guilty and they are the only ones that can find out what they are guilty of. Haven't talked to many, but never been sighted by any of them, just got that impression from talking to them.

Rob

[Winger Ed.]

I encountered them a few times here.
The different wardens were all very professional.
However; they don't have much of a sense of humor, and if you're doing something illegal- they aren't your friend.

[Hickory]

One or two word responses to any questions is all they ever get from me.
Never volunteer any information to them, ever.
When I'm treated like a criminal from the get-go I clam up quick.

[RED BEAR]

I don't hunt or fish any more but when i did only had a problem couple times even then wasn't much of a problem i was wrong just thought it was a bit picky. Any other time they were always friendly and professional. Just have to realize they have a job to do.

[Butler Ford]

Had one check my fishing license 3 days in a row. Of course, I grew up with him and I think he did it just to be a butt. My encounters with them have always been positive.

BF

[Walkingwolf]

Some are nice, some are not. Pretty much the same for anybody in a position of authority.

[GhostHawk]

Like everyone else, some you meet will be good, some will be bad.

Has nothing to do with respect or anything else. As I respect them, and the law.

That being said some are looking for a way to bust you. Some look to see if you are legal and safe.

My folks had a cabin on a lake for 25 years. Got to know that game warden pretty well. He'd spend an hour looking through a spotting scope and making notes. Then he would launch his boat, go visit the ones that he wrote notes about.

Others sitting 100 yards away but fishing legal with life vests on never got a visit.

[Hardcast416taylor]

When I hunted antelope last in Wy with an outfitter/guide we had 2 wardens check out our camp. They were professional yet friendly to us and then they left.Robert

[pworley1]

Almost all the ones I have meet on the job have been very courteous and professional. Several times we only had a short conversation and didn't even check my license.

[luvtn]

In the field I have had but one encounter. He DIDNT check our fishing licenses. Just wanted to look in our live well. Nothing in there!
Luvtn

[6bg6ga]

Never seen a game warden

[Hogtamer]

An old buddy went to an older friend's funeral whose son was a game warden. Several other wardens were there and it was overheard that it was the first time any of them had seen my buddy from the front!

[fcvan]

I had a friend contact me at work, we were both lieutenants and I was Internal Affairs. He wanted me to look into making a citizen's complaint against a game warden. He explained that the night before while driving on a back road the GW came up on him from the front and then crossed into his lane almost causing him to run into the ditch. The GW then had his brights on into my friend's face and basically conducted a felony stop to which he complied with commands. The attitude of the GW was poor, demeanor as well, demanding driver's license and hunting license. My buddy handed him the drivers license and the GW demanded the hunting license. 'I don't have one' he replies. Being a deputy sheriff before joining our agency he knew a thing or two and finally asked 'what was your probable cause fore the stop?' GW says 'you are night hunting.' Then the GW then demands to search the vehicle. 'Get a warrant, I'll wait' states my friend. GW says something 'OK smart (you know what), do you have any weapons in your vehicle?' to which my buddy says 'yes, a sidearm which is right next to my wallet and badge.' Opps. Buddy then asks for the GW to identify himself, name and badge number. 'Why' asks the GW. 'Because I am going to file a citizen's complaint for Discourteous Treatment of the Public or Other Employees.

I called Fish and Game and asked about their citizen's complaint procedures as a buddy had a negative interaction the previous evening. Supervising GW says 'I want to speak with him.' I replied, 'I'll transfer your call.'

Another GW I knew personally later let me know the 'rookie' more than just heard about from his boss. GWs work for us, we pay their salaries, you know, the same line most folks would say about me. If you get some dofus who is badge heavy, yes they exist, you still have to be polite but also informed. Most idiots with a badge start back-pedaling when you ask about the citizen's complaint process. You may get an apology, but follow through to correct the problem. There was GW the next county over who gave a lot of folks the blues so much that everyone had stories of his rudeness when entering camps after sundown. That is, until a bunch of my co-workers started hunting his county. Desk duty for 6 months, much better attitude the following season.

Funniest story of late, I guy I know was fishing, wearing a vest with license visible, etc. His vest pockets had beer cans, some empty, some not. 'Can your wife drive you home?' asks the GW. 'Sure, why?' 'Because you're too drunk to fish.'

[tctender]

I was in law enforcement for over 32 years. Most of the ones i have met have been good. There were two times i have had contact over the years while hunting i have had bad contacts. One of them was a very rude older warden that wanted to write me citation for having a loaded pistol in vehicle even though i was an officer also. The other time was on a hunting club i was member of and had a gun in case hog was seen and when i got back to my truck two young wardens was there and wrote me a warning for criminal trespass saying the club president who was also in game management as his regular job did not want any hogs shot even though he had not notified any members of this and had just made up this rule. He was overruled soon after this as the club members were notified by landowner to shoot all the hogs we saw that the club would not be rented anymore to the present president. There are always some bad even though most of them are good and only doing their job.

[redriverhunter]

never had any interactions with the game warden till I moved to Texas. I have seen two or three time while hunting or fishing. Once the game warden came up on me and asked to see my license, I told him I have my chl and have a firearm on my person, his reply leave it where it is and we will have no problems.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Not a complicated story, but some info is needed to understand how it worked. My friend and I were LEOS in Calif. and were deer hunting. We were near a very small town called Sheep Ranch. Late Fall, dusty roads. My friend was driving and I was in the passenger seat with my rifle between my knees, loaded magazine, empty chamber. My friend's rifle was in the rack over the rear window of the pick up.

In Calif. at that time (around 1985-- don't know about today) if you were on a public roadway but weren't within city limits your rifle could be loaded, but nothing in the chamber. Inside the city limits it couldn't be loaded at all. We were traveling down the road with a definite goal in mind, breakfast; but if we happened to see a deer off to the side of the road we'd stop, I'd jump out and take a shot.

Well, it was a long, straight stretch of road and pretty soon we see this cloud of dust boiling up. When it was maybe 200 ft. away we see that it's a dark green sedan, and see a red hand operated spotlight. We stop, the dust settles, and the game warden drives up almost driver's window to driver's window. He says, "Hi, boys-- show me your guns." So I lift mine up to eye level and my buddy gets his out of the rack. The warden says, "Now--open your actions." So I threw my bolt and my buddy dropped his lever. The warden said, "O.K., boys, have a nice day." Off he goes.

My friend, about 15 years my junior, asks, "What was that all about?" I told him that if one of our rifles would have ejected a cartridge we'd have been in deep do-do, but as it was we were cool. My friend observed that something is lacking in the enforcement tactics of an officer who suspects two obviously armed guys he doesn't know from Adam may have loaded weapons, and approaches them within spitting distance. A very good point I thought.

Second, and only other contact, the same friend and I were hunting near the south end of Goose Lake, a big, shallow lake that straddles Calif. and Oregon border. We were there for a week, and had set up a nice cabin tent with cots. We were kicking back outside the tent when a fellow pulls up in a pickup truck, gets out, approaches and says that he is looking for a missing hunter. He had a haircut and nice clean clothes. I asked him what the hunter's name was, and he didn't know, said the people who were out looking for him hadn't told him. So I asked him what the guy looked like, and pretty soon realized he was describing me. He kept slowly circling around through our campsite, always keeping us in front of him. Finally it became apparent that he wanted to see inside the tent, and he actually bent over to the side so he could see inside better, as the flap was halfway down. So I said to him that the missing guy wasn't in our tent, and couldn't believe it when he came back with, "Well, maybe he crawled in there while you were away hunting today and you aren't aware of it." My friend, who had now caught on, said, "If we see him, Officer, we'll call the Fish & Game Office and report it." The guy returned to his truck and slammed the door and drove away. He was probably a good guy, but good guys make poor liars. Too bad he was a day early, the next day he could have validated my friend's tag for one of the nicest 4-point bucks I've ever seen that was hanging in plain sight from a tree near the camp with the properly filled out tag attached to the antlers.

[Dapaki]

We have conservation officers (CO) around here, no game wardens but as Gramps told me back in the mid 70's, game wardens were a real pain, just lookin for a reason to haul you in! Gramps was fishing and maxing out his daily catch every day for weeks and the GW became suspicious.

He drove up to Gramps cabin and said, "Hugo, I want to go fishin with you today." Gramps, always one to be kind to everybody said, "Fine, I'll meet you in the boat." Gramps drops his tackle box into the boat and shoves off, gets behind the oars and pulls hard to get speed.

The GW says, "Hugo, where is your fihsin pole?" Gramps, replies, "I got it all in the tackle box." Curious but not wanting to be rude, the GW rides along until they get to a hidden bay off the main lake.

Gramps puts the tackle box on his lap, opens it and withdraws two sticks of dynamite, pulls the strike anywhere match from behind his ear, with well practiced ease, strikes it against the boat seat, lights both fuses, hands one stick to the GW and drops his lit stick into the lake.

The GW stares at him with wide eyes and sputters, "Huu-hgo, this is illegal, anybody caught fishin with TNT goes to jail!"

Gramps just cocks his head a bit while a wry smile spreads over his face and replies, "You gonna jabber all day or you gonna fish?"

This story was told to me and my sisters while were sitting around a bonfire on the shore of Crow Wing Lake off of Sleepy Hollow Road outside of Brainerd Minnesota in the summer of 1975, Gramps neighbor, Gene sat down and listened, at the end of the story, Gramps turned to Gene and asked, "Aint that so?" Gene said, "Every last word." Lifted his Hamms beer can to his mouth with his two remaining fingers, the thumb and pointer.

Happy Fathers Day all, may God bless every one of you!

[Loudenboomer]

My friend's 4 year old grandson was trying to fish off the dock with his Snoopy rod. The little guy could reel just fine but grampa sometimes helped him cast. After only a few minutes of this our local game warden comes roaring up to the dock. Demands to see licenses. Grampa tries to explain he hasn't bought his license yet and he's just giving his grandson a little help. A hefty ticket was issued. Grampa shouldn't touch a rod without a license but to many of these guys are badge heavy and give the rest a bad name.