Wildlife Officer Encounters

My first boat was a 14' Fisher Marine Stick Steer with a 40 HP Mercury that I bought back in the early 70s. Now before you get started I didn't know much about boats at that time or about overpowering them. But come to find out that boat was packing more than it should. I loved how it would get up and go when I wanted it to. But not what I really want to talk about.
One lake in NC that my dad always loved to fish and always took me and my brothers to, I'm the oldest of 4 boys, is Lake James. In those days Lake James had an abundance of White Bass and after the spawn, beginning around Memorial Day, they would start chasing shad and schooling, feeding on top, in huge numbers.
So one year not long after I bought this boat, I asked my dad if he wanted to go to this lake and fish foe some white bass. Of course he said yes. So off we go.
While we were there the fish were schooling and cooperating and we were having a really great time. Then the Game Warden pulls up and we chat. Then he checks everything, license, pfd, etc. Then he starts to pull away and stops and says. "where are the numbers for your boat?" I said, On the boat" and looked down and they were gone. He said something else about I was supposed to have them on the boat. And I told him they were on the boat when I put it in the water. he pulled out his ticket book and asked for my registration. I started to reach for it and looked in the water and said look there goes 2 of them floating away. He put his book up and began to tell me the proper way to put letters on an aluminum boat. Close Call. Of course my dad had a good laugh.

Wow talk about the luck of the waters directional flow helping you. I got a good chuckle too. Thanks!

You got lucky….lol. Good story. Thanks for sharing

Was beating the bank one day in a bayou in the Atchafalaya spillway. Not really catching much. Game warden pulls up and proceded to start checking things. In the meantime we drifted to the middle of the bayou to 18 ft deep. While he is doing his thing, I had line still in the water and hooked a nice crappie(sacaulet). What.... after all was checked and he said his goodbyes my buddy and I caught a nice mess of 30 or so in the deep water. Thanks Mr. Green Jeans as some of us call them down in south Louisiana. This was a long time ago. Did not even have a fish finder then.

Another One: Also back in the mid 70s. There was a period of time that lasted a couple of years where a particular officer of the wild game and I got to know each other quite well. It seemed like every time i ventured into the outdoors whether afield or afloat this particular warden seemed to magically appear. It did not matter how often he checked my credentials (license) he had to see them each time. Now get this, we lived in the same town and were on first name basis and on friendly terms. One time in the early stages of our encounters I was standing under a bridge bank fishing with my three brothers. brother in law, and father in law. He checks my license and then starts checking a couple of others. In the meantime I move to the other side of the bridge around the point. In a few minutes he comes around to that side and wants to check me again. It got to be a joke with my crowd so much so that they sometimes would say, we drew straws to see who will go with you. They didn't want to get checked.
Another instance: On Thanksgiving week we decided to go Deer Hunting next to Mt. Mitchell. After we set up camp i made the remark that at least I wouldn't have to worry about so and so checking me all the time this week. Well that was on Monday and along about Thursday at lunch time we were back in camp and I look up and here comes the warden truck with 2 guys in it. You guessed it, my guy was on the passenger side with a grin from ear to ear. We both basically said at the same time: "Fancy meeting you here." Two things happened after tis, 1: This was the end of the constant checks. 2: He and I became good friends and fished and hunted together some. He's gone now and for a fact I miss him, he was a really good guy.

I rarely encounter the law , but some a few times , one instance was 2 lady officers , one of them is on lone star law if you follow that show , her name is payway ….the spelling is likely wrong and she no longer patrols the dfw are , she is down by the coast now ….
So I limit out on my lunch break on winter stocked trout , there is a herd of people jerking em out , as I walk up the river levee there she stands with a much older rather crusty looking lady in uniform as well.
She is super sweet and asks how I did and say got a limit and she asks to see them. Yep 5 in the bucket , may I see your license please…..here we go yawl …it was late December, I took a buck in November and tagged it and of course that tag was off my license , well in Texas you have to fill out the tag and the license as well and somehow I forgot to fill out the back of my license……
So she says you got a deer this year and I say yep .
She said well ….you didn’t fill out the back of your license! I was in the oh no mode and said ma’am I promise it was legit and I am not sure how it didn’t get filled out , but to be very sure I didn’t break any game laws in the pursuit of the deer and even showed her a picture of the buck with the tag on it’s rack .
Well at that point miss crusty pants go bananas….write him a TICKET….write him a ticket !
I was like great just great . Gunna get a ticket for something really stupid …..
Well miss payway was very cool about it and said tell you what , go to your truck and fill out the back of your license and I will just give you a written warning ….
I was in the yes ma’am mode for sure , of course miss crusty pants was in the looking at me like I needed a really good whipping for sure !
Long story short I met her yet again 2 days later at another trout stocking venue and she walked up and said may I see your license ? I was kinda in the what mode ….
Said you just wrote me a warning the other day , do you remember ? She said not really and still wanted to see my license ….:Rofl

Good story. At least she was a little laid back. I remember when I was younger and fishing bass tournaments with my dad it was near sunset but everyone was at the one ramp waiting to get out. Couple of game wardens came up and started writing tickets for everyone since none of us had lights on our boats. We were all waiting at ramp to get out….lol. Well the ticket went to me since my dad had gone to get the truck. He paid it though.

Another story that happened this year. I was checked by a warden while fishing in my kayak. When he asked for my license i couldn’t find anything other than an expired one. I was freaking out because I knew I had renewed it. He called in my information and checked and I had renewed it but didn’t have it on me at the time. Told him I renewed online and wasn’t sure I received a new one in mail. He wrote me a ticket but really just to prove I had license incase another warden asked. After he left I remembered I had copies and receipts on my phone since it was online. I could have shown him that….lol. Which reminds me, I just renewed them again. I need to print them out.

Another One: Fishing a Bass Club Tourney on Lake Wiley one time as a non- boater. We were in the back of a creek beating a bank tucked in a cut in early spring. I hear a boat coming and look, tell my partner it's the man. My partner says not to worry everything is in order. The boat keeps going on to the very back of the creek checking every boat he comes to. After a while here he comes back and slides in next to us. There are two officers in the boat and one is a female trainee. The older one sits ack and lets the trainee handle the check. She covers everything and is about to leave and then asks to see the fire extinguisher. My partner says no problem and says it's in the front left compartment how about getting it out. I look and it's not there. He commences to tear the boat apart looking foe it, not on the boat. Says to the officer that there are 2 in the truck and he will go get one, she says sorry it has to be on the boat. He is pretty hot by then and says, go ahead and write the ticket. the fine can't be more than $10 dollars. I'm thinking we are sitting in Mecklenburg County so I say to him, ask her how much is the cost of court. She tells him it's over 100.00 dollars and he about has a heart attack. We were less than an 1/8th of a mile from the truck.

This was a long time ago when I lived in New England. Me and my buddy were Ice Fishing on Spectacle Pond in Acton Massachusetts, and a pickup parks at what would be the boat launch in the summer. A fellow gets out and gears up and starts walking towards us. I tell George, that's a warden. He asks how did I know. I explain while the fellow is properly outfitted, wicker basket with tip-ups sticking out. He is carrying a styrofoam minnow bucket and it is swinging as he walks. I say, If there was water and minnows in that bucket it would be held straight down. Sure enough he approaches, reaches into his breast pocket on his jacket and produces a badge. Asks for our licenses, which we show and he proceeds on his way to another group farther down the pond. It good to pay attention.

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Originally Posted by Clint

This was a long time ago when I lived in New England. Me and my buddy were Ice Fishing on Spectacle Pond in Acton Massachusetts, and a pickup parks at what would be the boat launch in the summer. A fellow gets out and gears up and starts walking towards us. I tell George, that's a warden. He asks how did I know. I explain while the fellow is properly outfitted, wicker basket with tip-ups sticking out. He is carrying a styrofoam minnow bucket and it is swinging as he walks. I say, If there was water and minnows in that bucket it would be held straight down. Sure enough he approaches, reaches into his breast pocket on his jacket and produces a badge. Asks for our licenses, which we show and he proceeds on his way to another group farther down the pond. It good to pay attention.

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when I lived in Pennsylvania game wardens were that way , lots of times just looking like regular hunters or other fisher people
a fella came up to us in the woods one day and started talking to us about what we got and were after ....
he looked just like the rest of the game lands hunter peeps we saw on public lands ...
about 55 years ago ....he identified as a game warden much to our surprise ....
me and my dad got a warning about him using me to flush game like a dog , I was below the age to hunt there at that time ....
told us that was a no no ......

Parked my red Ford Ranger on State land and went squirrel hunting. Back at truck I decide to cross the road and hunt the State land on that side. Barely in the woods when a ghillie suited fella jumps up from the ground and asked me how the bird hunting was going. Silly thing to do to an armed fella I thought. He pulls back his ghillie and displays his badge, pistols, and what looked like 2 boxes of ammo stuck in his belt! I explained I was squirrel hunting. He was angry because he had staked out my truck looking for a young, tall, skinny guy who was stealing treestands. I didn't fit the description and he missed the chance to write two tickets while he was laying on the ground! I sure hope he picked up ticks!

I have a similar Lake James/fire extinguisher story:
Back in 2001 when the Kenner was new, I had talked my Pastor into going fishing with me on Lake James in early April for White Bass at the Linville flats. Early that morning we had caught about a dozen when the warden showed up to chat and check us out. Since everything was almost new (6 months old +-?), I had no worries and made small talk/jokes with both of them as he went through all the regulars. One of the last things he asks for was the extinguisher and I opened one of the compartments, take it out, and hand it to him. I see a frown come over his face as he says this isn't any good..... Of course my response was why not? He turns the gauge towards me and shows me it's on "0". Then a frown came to MY face.... I explained it came with the boat as original equipment and if I'd known it was bad I'd have already replaced it (it's kinda bad giving excuses in front of your Pastor, but there I was). He gave me a short lecture on doing a safety inspection each time you launch since you never know when you'll need the safety gear and wrote me a warning citation.

My takeaway from the experience is: Never take your Pastor fishing. It brings out the Devil!!!


Chris

how about this one ....
when I was around 20 , I loved to walk a long ways down to a big spillway and ketch channel cats . I knew there was a bite window and if you wanted a few to take home, it better be VERY early or right at dark .
I tight lined them with 2 rods and you best watch the rods like a hawk , they bit hard and fast and if you didn't set the hook exactly on the bite you just donated your chicken liver to them .
Well this here location was difficult to get to , the cliffs on each side of the spillway were way too steep to go up and down , so you had to walk about a quarter mile down stream to get down to the water level and then back up the river to where they were.
It's about 8:30 am and the bite is good , I got 6 on the stringer and know it's about to quit ....
I am totally zoned out on my rods and then here comes a voice from on high ....
he askes if I am ketchn fish ....I say yep and never look away from my rods ....
he asks how many I got and point down the bank at my stringer and say ...that many without looking away or up ....
I am still tranced out on my rod tips and he says ....I AM A GAME WARDEN !
at that point I turned around and looked up to where the voice was coming from AND sure enough from on high there is mister green jeans ....
he says COME UP HERE and let me see your license !
well silly me was in the are you kidding me mode . the bank is straight up .....
at this point it gets dicey and he proceeds to put his hand on his PISTOL !
I was like WOW , am about to get shot it seems for not much of a reason ...so I let brains take over and said tell ya what sir ....
I will wrap it in a rock and throw it up to ya ...he looks not happy at all ....
2 tosses later , he goes on his way and the fish were done biting ....
sure made me mad , but it seems not near as mad as he was at me for not complying with his take a hike request....

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

Good story. At least she was a little laid back. I remember when I was younger and fishing bass tournaments with my dad it was near sunset but everyone was at the one ramp waiting to get out. Couple of game wardens came up and started writing tickets for everyone since none of us had lights on our boats. We were all waiting at ramp to get out….lol. Well the ticket went to me since my dad had gone to get the truck. He paid it though.

Another story that happened this year. I was checked by a warden while fishing in my kayak. When he asked for my license i couldn’t find anything other than an expired one. I was freaking out because I knew I had renewed it. He called in my information and checked and I had renewed it but didn’t have it on me at the time. Told him I renewed online and wasn’t sure I received a new one in mail. He wrote me a ticket but really just to prove I had license incase another warden asked. After he left I remembered I had copies and receipts on my phone since it was online. I could have shown him that….lol. Which reminds me, I just renewed them again. I need to print them out.

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Check for a hunting & fishing app for your states game & fish dept. I have license for several states and all have apps that have your license information stored on your phone. Easiest way to go, I still try to carry my card's but not neccessary.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

how about this one ....
when I was around 20 , I loved to walk a long ways down to a big spillway and ketch channel cats . I knew there was a bite window and if you wanted a few to take home, it better be VERY early or right at dark .
I tight lined them with 2 rods and you best watch the rods like a hawk , they bit hard and fast and if you didn't set the hook exactly on the bite you just donated your chicken liver to them .
Well this here location was difficult to get to , the cliffs on each side of the spillway were way too steep to go up and down , so you had to walk about a quarter mile down stream to get down to the water level and then back up the river to where they were.
It's about 8:30 am and the bite is good , I got 6 on the stringer and know it's about to quit ....
I am totally zoned out on my rods and then here comes a voice from on high ....
he askes if I am ketchn fish ....I say yep and never look away from my rods ....
he asks how many I got and point down the bank at my stringer and say ...that many without looking away or up ....
I am still tranced out on my rod tips and he says ....I AM A GAME WARDEN !
at that point I turned around and looked up to where the voice was coming from AND sure enough from on high there is mister green jeans ....
he says COME UP HERE and let me see your license !
well silly me was in the are you kidding me mode . the bank is straight up .....
at this point it gets dicey and he proceeds to put his hand on his PISTOL !
I was like WOW , am about to get shot it seems for not much of a reason ...so I let brains take over and said tell ya what sir ....
I will wrap it in a rock and throw it up to ya ...he looks not happy at all ....
2 tosses later , he goes on his way and the fish were done biting ....
sure made me mad , but it seems not near as mad as he was at me for not complying with his take a hike request....

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They seem to bother the good ones.

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Originally Posted by darcie1

They seem to bother the good ones.

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it is rare for me to get sideways with any law enforcement people , dad taught me to never cross one , he had a degree in psychology and made it really clear that most law enforcement folks have something to prove and you best not ever challenge their authority .

Never really had an issue with them, but there is this older warden who patrols the 3 boat launches on 2 local hp restricted lakes. I've only seen him in on foot and not on the water in a patrol boat. He rolls into the parking lot of a launch and hangs out for 30 minutes or so and checks people as they are getting out. He is fairly nice but it bothers me that he checks people for fishing licenses who aren't actively fishing or even in the water still. I've seen him ask kayakers before who didnt even have rods. Just rubbed me the wrong way as it gave me the impression he didn't even know the rules or some gullible people would get tickets when they either did nothing wrong or at minimum weren't busted in the act. He asked me for fishing license once as I got out to which I replied that I wasn't fishing even though I did have rods in the boat. Truth is, I wasn't fishing - I had just done some work on my outboard and was out doing a test run. Maybe I technically wasnt supposed to even have rods in the boat, but either way I wasn't in the water and had already pulled the boat out when he rolled up. Not about to get a retroactive ticket for something I was assumed to have done! He didn't argue it to me though, just said OK and then went to the next boat out of the water already and strapping down to go home.

We once got to a boat ramp and 2 lake sheriffs were there , we have them on some lakes in Texas and they are EXACTLY like a game warden and will tell you flat out when they approach that they are doing a parks and wildlife check .
So my bud says let's have them check us from stem to stern to make sure we are totally legal ! :yikes
I was in the dude , they typically check for life jackets and a fishing license and go on their way AND I am late getting home already , couldn't we just opt for the quick check please .....he says nope no dice
So he says when we roll up on the trailer hey fellas why don't you give us a thorough check on everything .... :banghead
I was in the WOW mode and then it began , they said it will only take a second and 30 minutes later they were done ....
Good news is we were totally compliant on EVERYTHING and my wife was only half mad at me ....just saying :Rofl

You got lucky... they did not know your are tha outlaw ketchn whales!!

If it was me, I would put ya in handcuffs until you spilled the beans on all your fishing spots!

Many years ago, after my divorce I had bought a jon boat to fish out of, the bass boat was sold before the divorce. It seems every time I was out fishing, I'd get checked by the water patrol and game wardens. At that time in Kentucky they patrolled the lakes together. One day I was in the back of a large bay and I saw them coming directly towards me, bypassing a half dozen bass boats. They eased up beside me with the game warden grabbing the gunnel of my boat. He started asking the usual questions, license, registration, the normal stuff. After he finished I asked him why he was singling out guys fishing out of jon boats? That kinda ruffled his feathers, LOL, so he asked where my throwable flotation was? I replied that it was in the storage, then I pulled it out to show him. He said it's supposed to be out in the boat! I was standing and looked all around the boat and asked him who was going to toss it to me if I fell in? He shoved and told me to have a good day. They left without checking another boat in the bay.

I have the same kind of "luck" when out fishing a tourney. Boats everywhere and they pick me to check out.

I remember over 40 years ago plus a few . I took a coworker back home to Crappie fish with my dad. We trolled minnows on cane poles . Warden pulls up to check us . We were in a 14' flatbottom boat . Think we had about 6 poles out each . Warden laughed, said it looked like a Porcupine.:Rofl