That's the arrogance you will find in a great majority of them, Artie.
BKB
That's the arrogance you will find in a great majority of them, Artie.
BKB
Arty that is by in large the type of experience I have when dealing with GW's and one of many reasons I dislike them. I've only ever had one ticket in my life, but have been checked countless times. I always get the vibe that they think I'm guilty, bugs the heck out of me. I'm generally a pretty nice guy, but around GW's, I'm downright cold to them. I don't want to talk to them and they can't leave fast enough.
Well the worst thing is that it turned both my boys off to them.
They both commented on their own that they didn't seem very nice.
That'll probably (unfortunately) stick with them their whole lives
that's exactly right, Artie.
BKB
Interesting subject ... and VERY interesting that so many here seem to have the same opinion. All these years I thought it was just me.
Judging from this small slice of outdoors types ... I'd say the fish cop industry may be overdue for a bit of an image make-over.
We have a brand-new one (possibly his first job). First time I met him I had found an eagle that was sick or injured. Showed up at my place (New Year's morning) and I thought he was a bit "cool" (and not in the "good" way). On the other hand, I'm a bit gregarious and I didn't have a hangover.Second time - he thought I was road-hunting deer. I saw him in the rearview mirrors pull in a drive and just sit. After I got out of the truck, crossed the ditch and fence he drove by slowly but didn't stop. Couple hours later I was standing in the ditch talking to an adjacent landowner (both wearing orange). He blasted up, slammed on the brakes (you could just tell he thought he "had" us
).. So a couple months later I wanted to keep some coon hides and had to call him for a permit.. Good heavens it was like old home week.. could hardly get rid of him. I think he'll be alright with a bit of "seasoning".
If you turn a dog loose to hunt – you’d better to be ready to deal with what he trees.
For many years I hunted in a WMA that had gated roads with checkpoints for all traffic. They weighed, measured, and gutted all the deer killed checking for parasites. Most of the biologist were pretty cool but without exception, all the GW's were major pricks. It shows not just in the wardens in the field but in the regulations that are just one step above entrapment.
For instance: This is not in the manual, you have to go deep into their website to find it.
If the wind or any natural occurrence causes any standing grain to fall, then you can hunt it for ducks/geese. If you tramp it down or use any mechanical devise to knock it over then it's baiting.
If you're turkey hunting on your own property and the neighboring landowner has his property baited within, (not exactly sure of the distance but I think it's 1/2 mile) of where you're hunting, then you're guilty of hunting over a baited area
there are a hundred other ridiculous laws that are nearly impossible to keep up with and change every year.
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones"
Albert Einstein
Worse than you think white oak.. There is *no* set distance on "baiting" and it is "up to the officer's discretion".. Talk about potential problems..
If you turn a dog loose to hunt – you’d better to be ready to deal with what he trees.
My last experience was a good one. He was polite and friendly. Definitely an exception to every other encounter I've had in my life.
I get stopped on the river at least once a year. They can be dicks at times but they're trying to keep a lot of idiots from killing themselves. Within the first 60 seconds it is EASY for them to know if they're dealing with a responsible outdoorsman or not but the treatment doesn't change. That's what tweaks me.
If we all threw our problems in a pile, and you saw everyone else's problems-- you'd take yours back.
Much like what the rest of you have experienced reflect what I have seen to, for instance:
1) Was once out with the family doing a bit of fishing on a reservoir near my hometown and since it was getting close to sundown we had wrapped things up and proceeded to tool along the shoreline looking at the lakeside homes while making out way back to the dock. It was somewhere between 15-30 minutes before sundown at the time. All of a sudden my lab starts growling, something I have heard her do less then a handful of times in the nearly 8 years we've had her, I turn around and here is a boat with two guys dressed in dark clothing coming up on us. I popped the boat into neutral and turned around to see what the hell was up as their demeanor had me, and the rest of my family to include the dog, on edge. As the got closer I saw they were GW's. Not sure if they were pissed that they had to be out patrolling rather then lighting firecrackers or what, but they were in a pissy mood. When I asked if I could help them one of them asked where my boat lights were. Told him in the gunwale why? He proceeded to tell me that it was illegal to not have the lights on after dark so I told him I was aware of that and that as near as I could tell it wouldn't be dark for a while yet. That didn't make him happy so then I got to show him my fishing license and he kindly checked out my live well just to make sure it was operating properly.
2) A couple of summers ago one of the old bridges across the Missouri River here in town was removed and subsequently replaced. A effort was made to keep a small portion of the river open so boating traffic could be maintained during the construction of the new bridge but a no-wake zone was enacted in the area immediately adjacent to the bridge. Now our family tends to avoid the in-town boating area just because of all the congestion and knotheads you tend to find there and instead choose to recreate further from town. Anyway after a day of fun on the sandbars north of town we decided to just take a drive through town to see the chaos. As we are tooling we come upon the no-wake area. No big deal because the boat is only just in gear plus we are behind two other boats doing the same thing so we are hardly more then drifting with the current. We just get past the bridge when my daughter asks why does that boat have flashing lights on it? I took a look and noticed that they seemed to be focused in my direction and given I was practically drifting and following two other boats I looked behind me to see what had happened. When I turned around it was obvious I was the focus of their attention so I headed in their direction. I was promptly told to put my boat in neutral which I did. The lady GW then tried to pull alongside my boat but was having trouble so I asked if I should just pull up to them? Apparently that was not the right thing to say. Long story short they issued me a ticket for making a wake in a no-wake zone. As before these folks were very abrupt and not very friendly at all.
I guess what I am really trying to say is that in nearly all of my encounters with GW's I get the feeling they think I MUST be guilty of something and by gosh they are going to find out what that is. Don't get me wrong, I can understand them being more then a bit nervous especially when dealing with hunters who they know are armed but wow, these folks all seem to have lost their sense of humor somewhere along the way.
Bwana, are you crazy???!!!!....NEVER ask a woman, if she needs help driving!!!
Southern Gentleman
Bwana sounds like all those guys proudly checked the box I described earlier in regards to their job description.
Barry.. I'm a little surprised with your experiences. A hunerd years ago I made a trip to OK City to hunt quail. We ended up hunting with 3 Game Rangers on three separate days. One even came along the second day. These were all young fellas and when we'd stop at a restaurant they all seemed to have good interaction with the locals. They were even telling about putting on a chili supper for area sportsmen. They had just gotten a robot deer in their area and they were having a ball with it. I still have a blaze Oklahoma State Game Rangers hat around here somewhere. Anyway, thought maybe the "western' boys were a bit better to deal with.
If you turn a dog loose to hunt – you’d better to be ready to deal with what he trees.
There's good ones and bad ones, like somebody said. I grew up in the southeastern part of the state (make that the Redneck part) and our wardens there had many miles of area to cover and poaching when I was growing up was a family tradition in many families. I'm not justifying it, it's just the way it was in the 60's and 70's. My family was one of them that was that way. Many of my cousins of my generation are still that way. The Clubb family, who had two generations of game wardens, were well known to me and my hunting buddies and we were to them. the elder Clubb, Claudie was his name, owned the world record for a flathead catfish for many years and may still own it. It was well known in the county by just about everyone that Claudie caught that fish in a gill net and claimed it was caught on a rod and reel. It was also well known that Claudie gill netted illegally on that lake just about his whole life. Some story to be well known for if you're a warden. One of my cousin and I's favorite deer hunting tactics was to drive to the top of Walker Mountain on the Ark/Okla border, cut the engine and coast down the mountain road with the engine off and the Razorback game on the radio. Claudie like to stalk us and would come charging out from some logging side road with lights flashing and we'd both just act like nothing was up and most times he'd pretend he didn't see those 30.06 bullets roll out of the floorboard when we'd get out of the truck. It was cat and mouse and at the time we were both too stupid and foolish to think it was anything but fun. Claudie and one of his partners barricaded my car front and back while I was jump shooting ducks on a game preserve one time. I had to wait hidden in the woods until way after dark when they finally gave up and left. I was 16. So that's the adversarial relationship I grew up around with wardens and probably is a big part of the reason I think about them the way I do. I didn't repsect those hypocrites then and I don't respect them now. I'll respect the uniform and say yessir and no sir when I encounter them, but I'll spit when I'm done shaking hands and that's just because I ain't met a good one yet.
BKB
Had one GW get snotty with me once because I was not wearing the required orange hat the state requires when deer hunting. My wife and I had just gotten back to the vehicle from a long walk through a fair amount of snow & I was pretty lathered up so I took my hat off in an effort to cool down. We grabbed a pop and a sandwich in an attempt to refuel a bit. While eating our snack I noticed some gents pushing some cover nearby. I told the missus to get out with her gun in case a doe ran our way. Sure enough one did but she missed.
She had no more then got done shooting when up pulled Mr. GW. He gets out of his vehicle and immediately puffs up his chest asking me why I was hunting without a hat and if I knew he could write me up for it? I told I was aware of the law but given I had a sandwich in one hand and a pop in the other and given the fact my gun was still sitting in the pickup 30 yards away that I did not feel I was hunting at that time so I thought I would be alright. He was about to lay into me when a friend of the family pulled up and asked me how our hunt was going. The GW knew our friend and it was obvious the friend knew me...it was just like someone flipped a switch. The GW went from Mr. High and Mighty to Gee, aren't you guys some swell folks. What an ass.
Posthole, the poaching tradition runs deep in many areas apparently.
That was a lonnng standing "tradition" where I grew up.
Mainly the day before season started, anyone who camped out during the 10 day season (like we did) arrived a day early, shot a couple of young does, and that was breakfast, lunch , and dinner for the whole group.
Oh - there's that... And then there's sneaking on to Fort Knox property to kill a Monster. Aaaaaand I mean MONSTER buck.
But I know very little if anything about that.
I remember Cliffie talking about a monster buck one time on some sort of federal property. Was that Fort Knox?
BKB
I don't know a Cliffie. I know a guy that goes by arty though!
Cliffie was an original Goodhunter from Pennsylvania. We haven't heard from him in years. Not sure why.
BKB
Cliff Claven, no? I remember him.
I keep up with Cliff a little through work. He's got a cool gig blogging for Cool Green Science. I think he's just too Big Time for us smalls.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Raoul Duke
I have not had many interactions with the GWs in Georgia. The ones I have encountered have been ok folks. Wife and I were on a big lake many years ago and got checked by them. We got a ticket for no fire extinguisher ...which I honestly didn't know was a requirement.
Got checked several different times while on the river trout fishing. Always very professional.
Had one encounter while deer hunting. I was sitting on the side of the logging road watching the small valley below. GW truck pulls up, checks my licence and then drives down the road to our camp to check everyone else when they came out of the woods. I'd walked on back to camp and was there.... Very professional with everyone.
These encounters were all well over 10 years ago. I have been fortunate enough not to run into them for many years now. Maybe because I hunt and fish on private property....or maybe not.
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