Contributors to this thread:
Game wardens i have much respect for them. one of the dangerous job out there. True story, a few years ago we were miles back in wilderness and back at camp getting ready to go bed. My brother yells at me to take my flashlight out of his face. I said i dont have my flashlight on. My brother reaches for his pistol and the office say i wont do that. He flash his badge. Got to talking he was looking for a poacher. When he left us i be dam here comes two more people with a dog following the other officer. We never knew they were there.
I've had nothing but good experiences here in CO.
CA, that's a different story. The worst was a USFW guy.
I have known many Game Wardens over the years in various states and have hunted with several of them. Great people and boy do they have stories about some of there past cases and how they busted people.
Over the years I have run into at least 6 different wardens in the field throughout CO. In each circumstance it has been nothing short of positive. They've earned my respect. Twice I could have been dinged for minor violations but it was obvious they were not out to fill quotas. They could see that they were just ignorant mistakes and I wasn't intentionally violating the reg's.
99% of the wardens I have ran into have been great. It's the ones who try to hide when I can see them plain as day piss me off.
LOL.....we had some real characters back in MO who were highly motivated during duck season......... Good folks but damn they could make you feel guilty for wanting to hunt a damn duck. But then we also had dorkforks who would shoot swans thinking they were snow geese.......... I have yet to encounter one in CO but have run into USFS agents and that was always a positive experience.
I'd rather know a guy who mistook a swan for a snow goose than the guy who shot a pelican....
Got stopped last year as my bull's antlers were visible from the bed of the truck and we were coming out on a road that he was going in on.
While the overall experience was fine it took almost an hour. We had been awake for about 26 hours at that point and had everything in line but had to empty coolers, go over tags, get questioned on the who, where, when, etc. secure firearms (pistols). It took a really long time and added to an already loooong day.
I will share, my buddy had told me to tape the tag to the antlers. The warden mentioned he could and most likely would write a ticket if improperly tagged. He said to have the tag on the quarter with the e.o.s., not the antlers.
10 years ago two friends muzzleloading 65&66 yes old came out of the woods an hour after sunset with there guns unloaded jackets off and there orange vests.The warden was waiting at the truck instead off a summons for not wearing orange they paid the fine at 10,700 ft ! You think he turned that money in.There was no violation you don't need orange an hour after legal shooting time. I told this story before.That being said I hunt with a retired gw back home greatest guy in the world.He once aressted and convicted that long haired guy on Wicked Tuna tv show for a game violation. I guess the History Channel doesn't do background checks!!
I've only ever been checked while fishing, and each experience was positive.
I used to be a Park Ranger so I've seen both sides. Mostly great people, occasional one on a little authority trip.
When my partner and I were coming home from our successful unit 2 hunt, we got pulled over by a State Trooper who checked us out, made some radio calls, then it morphed into a discussion about unit 2 because he had accompanied his dad on a rifle hunt there two years before. Really nice guy.
Then the next day I learned from my game warden buddy that people had been reporting us driving down the canyon with two big bull racks only a few days into September, so the law was watching for us when we exited the canyon. When I told him it was us he started laughing and said, "I shouldve known...!"
"occasional one on a little authority trip" happened to me with a ranger at a boat ramp in Cali. It was a busy holiday weekend. I wanted to unload my windsurfing gear on the shoreline at the boat ramp. She got all huffy and was yelling at me to to get in line with the vehicles launching boats. She was going to ticket me for line cutting. I know it was busy, there were a lot of vehicles in line but wow I was not holding anyone up or in anyone's way, it was a huge, wide ramp. She would not let me speak, just kept repeating herself louder and louder. So I unloaded at top of ramp, she was eyeing me hard, she really wanted me to get in line for a cartop launch.
PECO, maybe if you didn't insist on unloading your windsurfing board at the boat ramp area the problem would have been avoided. Who wants to windsurf by the boats anyway? Sounds like a park ranger and not a game warden though.
I've never had an issue with a game warden. Even in CA when we saw a guy we thought was breaking into our parked truck down the hill and fired a shotgun in the air, and the guy turned out to be the warden, and he was HOT when he came up the hill to discuss it...whoops! Even he turned out to be ok though...
There was not another option except a long hike with all the gear to get to waters edge. Once I'm rigged up I get out away from ramp.
One thing to remember to remember when in the presence of a GW. They are an extension of the local prosecutors office. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and WILL be used against you. Watch what you say and the information that you voluntarily offer. This information comes from a good friend of mine who is a GW. I personally have never had anything so much as a fine or a ticket from the Game and Fish but I have had it explained to me by people in the industry that they are not there to make chit chat. I am not trying to get in between any of the goodwill we have built up with our local GW cause we all know there are good and bad. I just wanted to state that chatting with a GW on the hunting trail is no different than sitting in a police station being questioned by a detective.
Happy Hunting!!
What linehunter said. No doubt they have a tough job but most I've run into the conversation goes more like an interrogation with the attitude of guilty until proven innocent.
Having worked in LE for 30 years ( now retired) officers are lied to on a daily basis, so in essence they learn to never trust anyone. They are under constant scrutiny from the public and their “higher ups”. I’ve had both positive and negative occurrences over the years. Just follow the laws to the best of your ability and you should have no problems.
