License check. Is this legal?

Glock said:
Are you thinking we need to start a “go fund me UPH for Bob’s bail money” now or wait until we read you name in the Fergus county jail roster?
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Nephew and cousin never hunt together! Cousin only goes when I need to get permission, and need a country hat seed.Thats the only time.These ranchers are all hay seeds.
 
KEOutdoors said:
Minnhunter, you were on a gravel road in Iowa during pheasant season, with dogs/guns/orange in the truck. You were technically in the act of hunting whether you considered yourself to be or not, those ditches on each side are legal to hunt and driving around road hunting is very common and legal in Iowa. He had every right to stop you and check licenses, guns, birds. Dont like our rules, dont hunt in our state. Simple as that. You arent special, you dont get to have special treatment and not be followed/checked on our roads when you are hunting here.
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I started a civil conversation looking for answers but several of you decided to mouth off for whatever reason. For those that didnt, I appreciate the feedback. I'll hunt your state as often as I like. Simple as that.
 
MinnHunter said:
We were in a 3 vehicle caravan driving gravel roads in Iowa from one field to another several miles away. Enroute we pass a co and he turns around and follows us for several miles to our next field where he parks and asks for licenses. He even mentioned pulling us over but he thought we would stop soon. He did not see us hunting or even out of our vehicles. My gut says he was operating outside of the law but I just want to know. ????
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I think that would be the same as a police office pulling someone over for driving normal. You weren't in the act of hunting. You didn't have to show him your license or anything else.
 
MinnHunter said:
I started a civil conversation looking for answers but several of you decided to mouth off for whatever reason. For those that didnt, I appreciate the feedback. I'll hunt your state as often as I like. Simple as that.
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Ive seen you post on several forums bashing police. Its nothing new. You got "civil" responses from those who dont know the pattern, you got smartass real world answers from those of us who knew this was just a way for you to vent about your anti-police/anti-dnr crap
 
MinnHunter said:
We were in a 3 vehicle caravan driving gravel roads in Iowa from one field to another several miles away. Enroute we pass a co and he turns around and follows us for several miles to our next field where he parks and asks for licenses. He even mentioned pulling us over but he thought we would stop soon. He did not see us hunting or even out of our vehicles. My gut says he was operating outside of the law but I just want to know. ????
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Inside or outside the law, I don't know? I wouldn't give it a second thought as it seemed like a pretty minor inconvenience.
 
westksbowhunter said:
I think that would be the same as a police office pulling someone over for driving normal. You weren't in the act of hunting. You didn't have to show him your license or anything else.
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Big difference is the CO didn't pull them over. He followed them till they stopped on there own. Then he checked them. No harm on his part.

If he had pulled them over that is where the waters would get muddy. They pulled up to their next field, how is that not in the act of hunting?
 
My story.. Im on auto renew license with south dakota and have them send me a hard card. Last January, I called GFP to ask if the system was smart enough to recognize that I was going from a standard license to a Senior license. They said it was .. I thought that was pretty cool. A month later, they send me out the hard card . I put it in my billfold. Fast forward to March, I'm fishing at Chamberlain and get checked at the ramp loading to go. Hand CO my card. He looks at it and says. You don't have a license. I go Huh? He said this only has a habitat stamp on it. I'm like WTF. I proceed to tell my story. On a confrontational tone, He tells me I could potentially lose my hunting/fishing privileges for a year.He writes me a ticket for no fishing license. Tells me if I get one online when I get back to house and send him a picture I could disregard ticket. He also tells me that e could see I've had a license for 29 years in a row. I agreed I told him this was the state's fault, not mine. Upgraded the license an hour later, and I sent him picture

I called Pierre on monday.. they wanted to know the officers name, and also apologized for the error..
 
2point said:
Big difference is the CO didn't pull them over. He followed them till they stopped on there own. Then he checked them. No harm on his part.

If he had pulled them over that is where the waters would get muddy. They pulled up to their next field, how is that not in the act of hunting?
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He wanted to and even mentioned it to them. He profiled them because they had on orange.
 
Went on a trip to Canada to fish with my brother and my dad. Got to the border and we were selected to get inspected. Had to pull into a bay and they checked everything. This was my 2nd trip up and their 10th or so. My brother was livid about us losing time and that we were being searched. I ended up pissed because I got tired of hearing him complain about something that we knew was a possibility. If you cross the border, you are subject to search. Period. You don’t get searched every time, but sooner or later you get picked. Same here. If you buy a license and you’re out hunting, and since you can hunt the ditch lines in that state, its possible to get checked. So what’s the big deal? If you had your license and were all legal, its nothing to be concerned about.
 
MinnHunter said:
I started a civil conversation looking for answers but several of you decided to mouth off for whatever reason. For those that didnt, I appreciate the feedback. I'll hunt your state as often as I like. Simple as that.
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Naw man. You were looking for people to agree with you. Plain and simple. If anyone told you that youre wrong, you argued.
 
COs have more authority than other law enforcement while protecting our precious hunting and fishing resources... I have been checked on open water more than 10 times for license, fish count, life jacket count. What's the problem with showing your paperwork? I have been checked on hard water at least 5 times with COs while on Lake of the Woods, Red Lake etc. I am always happy to speak with them, ask dumb questions and show off my one fish and the dog. The OP's post feels like "I can't breathe???" and he met Chauvin in Iowa?
 
Its in the book... When you buy a hunting a license and go hunting in Iowa, you agree to being checked by a CO. I don't necessarily agree with the rules, but am willing to play by them in order to participate. I would say the CO told you he had thought about doing a traffic type stop but decided against it, as a way to let you know that he did not suspect any wrong doing on your groups part. I wasn't there, but I have stopped many times in several states, including Minnesota, sounds live pretty standard operating procedure in you instance. I would love to know what county you were hunting in. It may sway my feelings. Some, but few, of the COs I have met here in Iowa can be a bit less friendly.
 
Now I wonder if I'm driving through iowa towing a boat if the warden will pull me over and ask to see my fishing license.
 
Bob Peters said:
Now I wonder if I'm driving through iowa towing a boat if the warden will pull me over and ask to see my fishing license.
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No but they may well check that your live wells are dry and inspect your trailer for invasive species. Now if they find fish they are going to ask for a license. In S.Dak they set up nautical inspection stations.

The wildlife that our COs are guarding can't speak for themselves and I am damn glad to have someone looking out for them.
 
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Ok I'm sticking my neck out here to be harrased and have to leave to board. I'm a retired Illinois CPO. Every state is different but with Illinois and with the USFWS and numerous other states, hunting and fishing checks are "inspections" not stops, like a traffic stop where probable cause has to be established before the stop. Mearly seeing a hunter is the ability to conduct an inspection. If COs didnt have inspection rights they would only be able to stop and check if a violation of the law was observed. It would be near impossible to find illegal ammo, illegal weapons or just to see if the person has a license. The same would apply while driving down the road in an area of hunting locations which in IA you can hunt the ditches. so due to the face CO do inspections its not a search and the same requirements are not applied. the courts have upheld this with numerous cases. Most officers use alot of discretion regarding this.
 
Versdog said:
Ok I'm sticking my neck out here to be harrased and have to leave to board. I'm a retired Illinois CPO. Every state is different but with Illinois and with the USFWS and numerous other states, hunting and fishing checks are "inspections" not stops, like a traffic stop where probable cause has to be established before the stop. Mearly seeing a hunter is the ability to conduct an inspection. If COs didnt have inspection rights they would only be able to stop and check if a violation of the law was observed. It would be near impossible to find illegal ammo, illegal weapons or just to see if the person has a license. The same would apply while driving down the road in an area of hunting locations which in IA you can hunt the ditches. so due to the face CO do inspections its not a search and the same requirements are not applied. the courts have upheld this with numerous cases. Most officers use alot of discretion regarding this.
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Thanks for your service to our sport
 
Never miss an opportunity to make friends with leo. Particularly a game warden while out hunting. In se Colorado I was drawing a blank. Saw a co changing a tire on side of the road, I pulled over and helped. You bet I asked where I should look for birds and he pointed me right to them. Nother time I ran into a lady co at a gas station. She was so beautiful I forgot about birds and just asked her out for a date. She giggled and declined. So I says how bout telling me where the birds are? She put me right on them. Hunting season is short. Have fun
 
Bob Peters said:
Now I wonder if I'm driving through iowa towing a boat if the warden will pull me over and ask to see my fishing license.
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I would say no. As someone said the invasive species issue is a hole other ball of wax and as I said every state is different. WI use a civil process which changes the level of evidence needed but only high fines and forfeture are what is at risk, no jail time. Another thing is people traveling from out west with deer and elk heads in plain view. These are open to stops on the interstate for a number of reasons. To check valid tagging and any state violations, once a state violation crosses a state line it becomes a federal violation called the Lacey act. Another reason these could be stopped in IL is CWD prevention & enforcement concerns.
 
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