Any weird experiences with game wardens?

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Anyone ever had any just act like douches for no reason?

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Yes. I've had both. Two were just unreasonably rude. Both while fishing. I get people have bad days at work.

I’ve described a curious case that lasted for over a year with a friend of mine out of Galax Va.

It involved me for just a moment but everyone is pissed at this game warden.

Will search for it.




ETA


I cannot find it but I will try to summarize it like this;


In 2013, we went to my friend’s cabin in Galax. We paddle down the new river without lifejackets, and we’re fishing without licenses. At the end of our float trip, we saw a Chevy Tahoe, unmarked skid, right beside the trucks that we had staged at the end of our takeout. it was a game warden and he was very very cool at the beginning. Said he would have to write tickets.

He said hey guys, I’d like to see your fishing licenses and your lifejackets. We said we didn’t have any of that. We admitted it. He looked at my friend, who was the land owner of the spot we launched from, and said hey, you’re my neighbor Jon.

Jon answered yes that’s right I am. He said I remember you because you would not let my son play paintball war with you and your friends back in college. Jon said yes your son was really young and we didn’t want to hurt them plus we did not have an extra gun or facemask.

He said “yeah remember that I also remember shooting some great bucks on your land at one time. “

Jon said yes I remember all that as well.

Game warden says man my boss is going to be so happy with me after I write these eight tickets. Guys remember this will affect your out-of-state driver license if you don’t pay these Virginia wildlife tickets off.


A year later, Jon tells me that he has a man that watches his land and allows him to hunt on it.

He only lets him hunt if he is doing things by the book. The game warden often drops in on John’s land to see this new hunter and says that he is not allowed to Bait for corn. The land caretaker says it’s not. Hannah is dropping the corn in for six more months. Every time the caretaker is stopped on the property and the game board says I’m gonna get you for putting corn on the ground. The caretaker says do whatever you have to do, but it’s not me and leave me the frick alone.

The game warden sits in his truck for 20 minutes and comes out with a book full of tickets for 20 different violations. It goes to court and Jon is asked to appear as a witness as well since he is the landowner. The judge looks at Jon and says Jon, this is an awful lot of tickets for what started out as the game warden seeing that your caretaker was baiting. Jon agrees that it has a longer history than just would’ve appears to be alleged baiting. The judge then asks the story of why this happens. Jon states that the game warden is angry because his son was not allowed to play paintball war and subsequently wrote eight tickets which he was allowed to do but it’s still a fact. The judge then looks at the game warden and asks, is this all true? The game warden says yes it is. The judge then tells the land caretaker he is allowed to go to Jon, thank you for your time. All charges dropped for caretaker.


Because the game warden overzealous and possibly jealous and tells him and the DA to please join him for a chat after court. I personally loved hearing about this, and I’m glad that he was reprimanded for his childish behavior because his son could not play paintball war with us.

100% agree re: Open Fields Doctrine.

If they have probable cause a violation is occurring on private land, they need to get a search warrant like other LEOs, especially considering most violations are misdemeanors.

Read what I wrote…PRIVATE land.

Why is it trespassing when a neighbor snoops around on your PRIVATE land yet its A OK for govt agent to?

When the Constitution was written and Bill of Rights spelled out the 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable searches/seizures, it was based on an agrarian society that put great focus on property rights and protections on such property.

It wasn’t until the interpretation by the USC in Hester vs US in 1924 that OFD became a “thing”.

In 1967, in Katz vs US, USC made a 2 prong test to limit it.

OFD was based on areas public could easily see, not deep in the woods on YOUR property.

I spent 26 years as a LEO and never used info obtained by OFD observations as a stand alone for warrant PC, nor did I ever cross locked gates nor tromp through private property without a s/w.

That was my call and has always sat well in my conscience.

Our office group [8] had an opening weekend squirrel hunt in Mississippi in 1982, back woods cabin, bourbon and barbecue . Saturday two squirrels shot but the fellowship was great. Sunday morning at daybreak , hunters dispersed, Mississippi green jeans collects us all for illegally hunting on Sunday and requires that we go to a local judges house to pay our dues. 150 bucks apiece fines paid in cash only with supermarket receipts . As we are leaving the judge gives up two suggestions. 1. You should go to church on Sunday rather than hunting. 2 We should be careful about leaving angry, as there is a county mounty a mile down the road looking for eratic drivers.

Yes, a few years back, tried to take our ducks from the blind even though we were all legal. Buddies dad was a prong above him in the office and he made the call and we left with the ducks. No clue what happened after or why he did that.

Now if I see a parked fourwheeler hidden or hear walking behind my blinds I just yell "If you are LEO please just reveal yourself so we can get it over with, my glasses are currently foggy and I would hate for an accident to happen."

Actually had two occasions where they popped out from behind some trees but were cool about it, just checked stamps and licenses, etc.

My local green jeans won 3 golds and silver in 84. Might not be weird, but it sure af ain't normal super nice, like probably too nice for the occupation.

They’ve ruined dove hunting in south MS, it’s like their Super Bowl, even if nothing is on social media. Had one sifting the dirt in our completely legal field and interrogating us for an hour, no violations found.

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While the State correctly articulates the open-fields doctrine, which holds that a person has no reasonable expectation of privacy in open lands or fields, the doctrine is inapplicable here. See, e.g., Hudspeth v. State, 349 Ark. 315, 322–23, 78 S.W.3d 99, 104 (2002). The open-fields doctrine applies to searches outside a property-owner's home or curtilage, on land visible to others, where the owner has no expectation of privacy. Id., 78 S.W.3d at 104. It does not stand for the much broader proposition that an officer may detain and search a person simply because he happens to be standing in an open field.

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Great case citation…even meth heads have Constitutional rights and shows the slippery slope of allowing game wardens investigatory/enforcement authority not possessed by any other LEO.

Was coming into Venice from offshore and had one stop me right at the entrance to red pass. Pretty much forced me to stop (came at me head on) at the absolute shallowest part that’s maybe 1.5ft deep. Not normally a problem coming in on step but when you stop in a 35ft boat you need a litttttle more depth than that lol. Luckily was able to trim up and putt Around til it got a little deeper after they checked boat.

Thing that throws me off is pretty much everyone around there knows that it’s shallow there, I’d assume especially green jeans. Then he was a prick about the whole situation. He had a younger guy with him that was cool and pretty much gave off the “sorry he is being a dick vibe” but the whole thing rubbed me the wrong way. Plenty of better places to pull someone over than right at the entrance of a shallow pass.

Wish they would focus more on the thousands of “duck hunters” that flood the area with their pimped out gator tails, 1000000 lumen LED bars/accent lights and a death wish.

Other than that I have no issues with them