How often do you encounter the law?

gimruis

gimruis

Well-known member
Another thread got me thinking. I've literally never, not once, encountered a game warden or LEO when I've been hunting (big game, waterfowl, turkey, and upland) or fishing for almost 30 years, mostly here in MN. I do occasionally encounter creel surveyors or invasive species surveyors that ask a few questions on a voluntary basis, but I've never once run into an actual LEO.

How often do you encounter one?
 
Once in Canada
In SD, pretty much every year especially during the conservation season.. But I'm there a lot and hunt public often.
In ND 2x in the last ten years or so.
Montana pretty regularly in the 90' and early 2000's Quit Montana around 2005
I got a speeding ticket in Kansas while hunting, does that count?
MN all the time in the 80's and 90's, heck CO Denny Lang and I were on a first name basis. Not once since 2000. I think the DNR here has a different set of priorities like saving wolves, and cross country skiing.

I should mention that I never had a negative experience, except in ND. But I deserved it, I screwed up because I was an idiot. The CO chewed me up and down, searched me bumper to bumper, threatened with electric chair eccetera. But never wrote a ticket. He was a good guy, he got his point across, and taught me a much better lesson than a $50 littering ticket.
 
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In my life, I've probably had ten or so encounters with game wardens. Typically either on the Resident Opener or Traditional Opener for pheasants.
 
I'm 54 and have hunted my entire life in Illinois.. I've been checked twice. Once when I was 10 years old, my dad had dropped me off on a ditch and I was walking the section through to the next road. When I saw my dad and told him I got checked, I told him the game warden wasn't very smart because he tried to put 4 shells in my gun. My told me that's exactly what he was trying to do :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: . (In IL you can only have 3 shells in your shotgun) The second time was last year. Warden had been watching us from afar with a spotting scope. Was very courteous and professional. Never been checked in SD in the 25 years I have been going up there.
 
Here in KS twenty to twenty-five years ago usually got checked once every season. Haven't been checked in fifteen years. Fewer wardens now and they are focused on commercial poachers and volume violators I think.
 
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Only maybe 3 or 4 in 40+ years of hunting and only 1 in the same time while fishing.

Only one encounter stands out from at least 10 years ago. It was after opening weekend. A group of maybe 4 of us were hunting a CRP quarter that was owned by one of our tenants. It was posted, I may have even put the signs up, and we had permission. I had talked to him the day before to confirm permission and ask if he wanted to join us. The quarter had a state highway on one side. We were walking down that side a little after sunrise when a State Trooper pulls over on the highway and motions us over. I went over because I was the one who had talked to the landowner. Because the land was posted, he was checking our permission. I think he was hoping to make contact with the landowner or get contact info for his own purposes. It's not like the landowner called. Anyway, my permission was verbal. I had to dig out my phone, call the landowner (early in the morning), so that this Trooper could be satisfied that had permission. Once he was satisfied on our permission, he checked licenses. Prior to that, I didn't think State Troopers got involved in that stuff. To this day I'm a little surprised that a State Trooper would stop to investigate a possible trespass that no one had reported.

Everyone was polite and calm and no tickets were written. But, I had a young dog at the time and we were doing this on the shoulder of a 65 mph highway in the morning twilight. I keep a leash in my jacket, which helped. It was still a challenge to juggle my phone, the leash with an excited vizsla on the other end, and my shotgun all at the same time. I ended up asking the trooper to hold my (open) gun for a minute or two.
 
In probably 40 trips to SD I have been contacted and checked twice by game wardens. Both were federal and on and around Sand Lake. One was great and one was an asshat. We had stopped on a turn around across from but not on the refuge and were loading up and field cleaning birds as the hotel we were in had no place to do it. We had a 5 man limit and it was getting cold quickly. He whipped in and read us the riot act about cleaning birds on the refuge ( which is not allowed) we were bagging all trash and had little mess to clean up. When I told him we weren’t on the refuge, he muttered something and got in his truck with a couple other guys and sped off. He didn’t even bother to check licenses. Funny thing is if he had counted the birds he would have found 16 instead of fifteen ( I had shot one in the evening before when I got up there) I am sure he would have made a deal out of it.
 
Many times over the years here in TX. Some have been cool, some have been jerks.
Been taking 2-3 trips each season to SD for the past 8 years and have only crossed paths with one game warden. He was very nice and gave us a couple of tips about public spots to try. Didn't even check our licenses. Had just met up with two guys from WI, and I guess he figured we hadn't driven all the way from WI and TX and not bothered to buy licenses.

Been to KS, NM, and ND quite a few times in recent years and never been checked.
 
I've been checked many times. The last was just last week while fishing. I forgot my wallet and the warden just laughed!! He was a nice guy. Got an open container ticket from one in Iowa once. He was a nice guy also. It could have been much worse. We limited out early and decided to cruise around and check some places and have a couple beers. Next thing you know it was about 6!! I was chased a couple times when I was a kid. It's pretty hard to catch a 16-year-old duck poacher on foot!! When I got my license, he would check me once a week or so. I'm not too bright, but I decided it might be a good idea to give up my lawlessness. At least that part;)
 
Once in ND, never in SD or Nebraska and multiple times in MT, sometimes 3 or more times in the same year. I believe I didn't get checked at home in AK this year usually get checked multiple times while fishing even boarded in rough water while out in the salt.
 
In S.D. been checked 1 time. Been stopped in the field 2 other times. 1 C.O. had a silver lab and wanted to check out my Weims. Another time a fricking park ranger was out looking for a place to go hunting. He was literally checking out public areas because his city park was under renovation.
 
gimruis said:
I've literally never, not once, encountered a game warden or LEO when I've been hunting (big game, waterfowl, turkey, and upland) or fishing for almost 30 years, mostly here in MN.
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gimruis said:
How often do you encounter one?
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Holy smokes never! I can't count the number of times I've been checked. Fishing it has been many times. I do fish at red wing on the river, and that quadruples your odds of running into the law because you've got two states with both sheriffs and wardens. I got dinged there once because it was early feb. and I didn't have my boat tabs up to date. Pheasant hunting I was checked twice in Iowa (I've only been hunting about 5 years). The first time was near the big refuge in Kossuth county, and it was mister green jeans(federal wardens). I spotted them a mile away, we were walking back to the parking spot and here was a truck 200 yards down the road, parked in the shade of the only tree around. Once we got close they slowly rolled up. The second time was around Okoboji and a truck was creeping and watching me as I finished a public spot. Kind of unnerving because I figured it was a warden, this time a state one. I felt like I was under a microscope. Nice guy, he liked the dog and gave her some pets. On pheasant opener in MN we got checked 5 years ago. The guy again was a fed, really nice, seemed like he didn't know much about hunting. We were down south of mapleton, and here he worked out of an office in St. Paul! I try to keep up to snuff on hunting regs and have never gotten a ticket. I knew a couple guys that got one for tresspassing in ND once, they missed a sign. Got a ticket and lost all hunting privileges across most of the US for a year. Whew!!!!
 
3 Times in Montana, once in South Dakota, twice in Saskatchewan, once in New Zealand, once in Mexico, once in idaho. In canada,Canada, cousin shot a hen as he's known for, and the guy didn't check his vest.That was a nail bitter!!
 
I have been checked twice fishing, one of those by binoculars. My buddy held up his license and the warden yells no that’s last years. So he dug around for the right one.
Once deer hunting and I had left my tags and pack in the truck , it was a sheriff snd he gave us a ride back to the truck.
We use to get checked almost every year duck hunting on teal opener. After that we’d see him and he’d stop and maybe count ducks or age birds. One year we took a friend with us who never hunts and he took a shot at a hen mallard during teal season. A fed was sitting up on the road, he walked out and flushed the hen and made sure it wasn’t hit and then waited for us at our truck. That was a little tense.
Got checked pheasant hunting back to back years on the same property. The second time was by the sheriff. Kind of ticked me off a little bit . He chose to do it on the highway instead of at our truck at the other end of the field. Trying to keep two dogs laying down while guys where milling around for twenty minutes, was a pain in the ass.
 
Not very often, once in NE in college, once duck hunting 40 years ago in Iowa, and a couple time deer hunting Iowa. I don't I have ever seen them pheasant hunting, but I am almost always hunting private ground, miles away from any public ground or popular wooded areas where deer hunting happens. I think they are watching the public stuff and concentrate more on deer and waterfowl infractions....beside following Bob when he leaves his home! I am pretty clean now that I know the party hunting in Iowa is a no-no. Not too much to mess-up on while pheasant hunting here...have a valid license and habitat stamp, don't trespass, wear some orange, stay in your harvest limit (no hens) and you should be good. Add non-tox shells, only if on government owned ground, this would be the one most likely to get flagged, I am guessing. I think I have a box of 10 steel shell shot shells, just in case, in my duffle.
 
I do not often carry my license on my person anymore. Tennessee has cell phone app that has a barcode for the TWRA officers to scan. Has anyone run into issues by only carrying their phone and the app provided by whatever state you are hunting?
 
TennesseeTraveler said:
Has anyone run into issues by only carrying their phone and the app provided by whatever state you are hunting?
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It depends on what the license is for. If its a small game/upland license or an angling license, then its fine. If its a big game or turkey license that has a physical site tag, you need it on your person.
 
gimruis said:
Another thread got me thinking. I've literally never, not once, encountered a game warden or LEO when I've been hunting (big game, waterfowl, turkey, and upland) or fishing for almost 30 years, mostly here in MN. I do occasionally encounter creel surveyors or invasive species surveyors that ask a few questions on a voluntary basis, but I've never once run into an actual LEO.

How often do you encounter one?
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Once in 26 years pheasant hunting in SD but several times hunting or fishing in Georgia.
 
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