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its the states wildlife that the laws are written for...i'd think thats the reason they have a little more power to go onto private property...just as aep has rights to dig up my lawn or the other utilitiy companies do...if its non emerg.they will let me know in advance but if its an emerg...theyre busting down fences if they have to...:D
The more I think about it, That's actually not a terrible comparison. Its not dead on but eh...

And for the record I'm all for more Game Wardens, because I'll be applying the next time they have openings in my area :)
 
Watching the show Northwoods Law last night about the heavy handed Maine game wardens, I noticed that every one they were trying to "bust", none of the suspects were read their Miranda rights or in any way informed they had the right to get counsel. I realize they are probably using actors but they were certainly demanding confessions on violations that could result in Jail time.

I believe we have some attorneys on this forum, some Law Enforcement and probably wildlife Officers at least reading. Is a hunter entitled to a lawyer before he tells a wildlife officer anything? Illegal immigrants have the right to keep quiet.

I have been stopped twice this week by cops for not having my dog on a leash!
Ok so I read everything here and thank the officer for his reply. However! So, we hunt Ohio and other places and hunt duck and goose in NC. My brother and I go out hunting ducks and happen to be in a cove on a lake near some homes. Birds come in and we shoot and the locals get pissed because they like the ducks and start yelling at us. When someone says something nicely no problem, but cursing and yelling when we are legally shooting is bs, over water, in a boat, engine off, forward motion stopped, sitting there. That is bs. So some more ducks come in and we shoot and the homeowner goes irate and calls conservation. We feel it isn't worth the hassle and we lack to move. That's what happened.

Fast forward to conservation offficers. We are flying up the lake, it is big and my boat does about 55 mph and we are heading back to our dock. We pass another dock not to far from the cove we were in and were about 1500 yards away heading perpendicular to the boat ramp. Apparently officers were there trying to signal us to come in but we really didn't see it or pay attention as we were talking and looking ahead. So they put in a boat and come after us. We see the boat coming behind us with lights and stop the boat and shut the motor to see what's up and then the bull**** starts.

I guess they were pissed we made them come out to us. 2 officers. They ask for license, ok np. They ask to see guns for max 3 shells again np. They check ammo for non toxic, again np. Standard. And they check hip, we got it all. Next they check for boat safety nonsense, fire extinguisher, throw pillow, flare, life jackets, all ok. Again nothing wrong except they are annoyed we are in a ski boat hunting and that nothing is wrong and that we made them get us. Whatever. But here is where it gets fd up.

One officer comes on my boat, uninvited, and tells us to follow their boat back to the dock way back where they claimed they called us over??? I asked the officer if I was under arrest and he asked me why I would ask that, my answer was because you are standing in my boat and he said no, we just want to ask some questions? That is bs. So we don't have much choice, we follow them back and there are 7 officers including the two with us waiting at the dock. Wtf? They tell us to get off the boat and when we do, it wasn't warm and I didn't have shoes on, they say get your shoes??? Again wtf. So I ask again? Why? Am I being arrested? They say no, we just have questions... they split my brother and I up and the bs starts in ernest. They ask how many ducks I shot, it was 4 which was max and they ask are u sure.i say yes, same in questioning my brother and we are getting pissed. 15 mins already. Then they tag team us with stupid questions, where did you shoot exactly on the lake, I said a few places and they said tell us exactly where? That is bs. So we gave general areas. Next they ask how we shot, I said look we follow the rules, we make sure the boat is off and forward motion is stopped, then we wait. So they say we're you moving at all? I said I guess sideways as the wind was blowing us slowly into a cove. They say, wind doesn't blow u in a cove only out of it?? Seriously? So I say really, then why don't we go there in the boat and sit there and see which way it blows us? That officer walks away.

Another comes over and starts asking me bs questions. Do u think it is ethical to hunt in a ski boat? I say why not? He says do u think it is ethical, I say yes because they can see me better. He leaves. Another comes over.

Where is your cameo? I saw why, is it the law to have to wear camo? He says no but do you think it is ethical to hunt without camp? I say I don't know, is it illegal? No answer, he walks away.

Next one, asks me if I think it is ethical to shoot a deer in the water? Wtf? We aren't deer hunting so I say no, it is illegal. And he says would u shoot one if it stepped on land right after swimming to shore. I say sure if it is on land and not in the water why not. He says you don't have a problem with that? No, what is the difference of that or sitting in a tree stand waiting for one to walk in. And then more stupid questions. 40 mins now.

Finally, they walk us back to the boat and say they don't think it's right for us to have maxed out in one day, seriously? Then one officer says people hunt all season and don't max out and I say so what, maybe they sleep. His response was we know you were in that cove hunting where the local yelled at us and he is retiring soon but if we go back in that cove again, they will pull us out again and do this all over again. Then we were let go. No tickets, no violations, nothing.

So, based on all the above this completely pissed us off and clearly was off the charts bull****. I even complained to their leutenant when I met him on a youth hunt with my sons and he blew off the incident because he said he was there, not with us but up top where we didn't see him.

Now I typically like law enforcement and have friends who are police but this left a very bad taste in my mouth for conservation officers. I spoke with a lawyer and he said next time ask if I am being detained and if the answer is no, say you are leaving. But this begs the question from this thread, if I say and do that do I risk arrest for not answering questions? I don't mind checks for the law but ethic questions? Who gives a rats ass what an officer thinks is ethical? Ethics is an opinion, not the law and I don't see an officers place in doing what they did saying bs ethics crap. My ethics may be different than theirs, we didn't break any laws so who are these conservation officers to bust our balls like that? Their job is the law, nothing more, did we break it or not and not threatening us to stay out of a cove because their buddy lives there and doesn't like us there.

And I wish I could say this is isolated but once in PA deer hunting on land with permission a local ******* didn't like us hunting there and called conservation on us there too. They pulled us out of our tree stands to walk with them back to the truck which we did and again no violations but when my friend put his rifle on the tire of the truck, the officer said if that is loaded I am giving u a citation for hunting from a vehicle. Seriously? U pulled us out of our tree stands to follow u here and u pull that ****? The gun was unloaded so no citations but that again was bs. I will never hunt in PA again over that. Let them lose my out of state money.

So, based on the above, what can I do? Can I refuse to follow them back to the dock with the boat? I think not. The officer didn't have a search warrant, so why was he on my boat uninvited? Why did I have to answer their questions? Law doesn't say I have to know exactly where on the lake I hunted? Wtf?
 
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