never had any problem with the wardens around here. I've been checked exactly once in 20 years of hunting. We used to hunt flintlock with one warden and his deputies years ago. Ok guys if you knew them. I do know alot of guys that were kind of outlaws years ago who have straightened out in their older age, but the wardens still keep a dang good eye on them. I have to say though that I don't believe our local warden to be too bright. examples- last year I got checked for the first time ever. took my license out and handed it to him. he had a confused look and after about 5 minutes asked me why I had two licenses. I had to show him that my second hunting license was my furtakers license. next example-my buddy had some coon sets out near a mutual friends house. mutual friend sees wardens truck parked at bridge and goes to see what problem is. there is a live mink in trap, mink are not in season. warden says he is going to get a club and kill the mink. friend says whoa, Ill get buddy who set trap. buddy shows up, warden starts to write him a fine. buddy takes snare pole out of truck, snares mink, lets it go. warden gets in truck without another word and drives off.

Been checked three times in my life, 50 years of hunting and fishing. Two in one week on Sanibel Island FL and the third on Sanibel a year later. Twice by the same Fed and once by a local State that was a complete A$$ for no reason. Badge heavy goof.

I have lived in North Carolina for over 38 years. I am a retired LEO who has fished - hunted - and trapped my entire adult life. I have been checked by the Game Wardens in NC far more times than stopped while driving. Never been cited by Wildlife or Law Enforcement ... because I always gave respect to earn respect ... and when the Game Wardens had finished their business the conversation would always go to friendly they would answer questions and give some help on where to be and when ... I hate the state wants to cut their budget by 50 % .... Also I will never forget Dean Mayse NCWRC Officer killed in the line of duty by 2 illegal deer hunters in 1980 ... RIP Warden Mayse

I've got a couple of bad guy stories but bottom line is the good guys outnumber the bad guys 100 to one.

Last October I was calling daytime in the California desert and ran into a young warden. He watched me for a while before approaching me and after checking me out from a distance he checked to see if I had a license. I told him I was glad to see him because those non resident licenses cost a lot of money and I was glad to finally show one to somebody. He laughed and we started talking about the town where he was stationed because I once lived there myself. He was also interested in calling in a bobcat and discussed that. We had a friendly discussion that lasted a good hour.

When I was a kid I encountered a couple of wardens that kept me from unintentionally breaking the law. I call them good guys, too.

Met both kinds , the young ones seem to be cocky and full of themselves to the point that its impossible to even carry on a conversation with them . I guess they are still suffering from the " shiny badge syndrome " .
The older warden that just walked up on me while I was fishing was a pretty good guy considering I had my license on me and had not caught anything yet .



SEMPER FI AND DEATH BEFORE DISHONER .............

I know one in WY that is a real (Insert expletive here)!!!!

But for the most part, every other GW in WY seems to be cordial and not predisposed to wanting to handout citations.

I've talked to a couple of people that have a less than favorable opinion of WY wardens. One guy bought a the out-of-state fishing license to fish in WY (he was from CO). The game warden came by to check him and first thing he said was, "What's the matter? Don't they have fish in Colorado?"

The other guy (from CO) had killed a deer and was butchering it in camp. The tag was attached to the antlers. Once again, the GW asked, "What's the matter? Don't they have deer in Colorado?" When the guy cut the head off the carcass and laid in the truck bed, the GW pulled out his ticket book and started to write him a ticket for not having the tag attached to the edible portion of the carcass. After much argument the GW eventually let him off with a warning. Granted for a few minutes the carcass wasn't legally tagged, but the way the GW handled it left a bad taste in my friend's mouth. And a little bit in mine too.

But my contacts with GWs have all been friendly and professional.

Where did this happen at? It may be the same guy.

I have encountered game wardens on several occasions. The most notable of one was while I was dove hunting on family property, and a neighbor (850 yards away) called the police claiming that we shot his house.

The closest officer out there was a game warden, and he responded within about 15 minutes of us firing our first shots of the hunt. When we saw him arrive, we promptly unloaded our shotguns and left them leaning against a tree. I had forgotten that my Glock 19 was still loaded on my hip because of recent problems we had been having with feral dogs being aggressive. The warden checked our hunting licenses, made sure our guns only held the required 2+1, and then jokingly asked if I was hunting with my Glock. It freaked me out that I had forgotten about it and I apologized but he just laughed.

As the warden was handing my father back his shotgun, a police officer arrived and I noticed him start to blade away from me and put his hand on his sidearm. He mentioned something to the warden who said, "Yes, I do see it and no, it isn't a problem."

I have had nothing but good experiences with game wardens, and I do appreciate what they do.


ETA: My experiences have all been with Texas Game Wardens

Growing up in Wyoming I met a few game wardens and most of them I would rather have not met, they all acted like you were doing something wrong. I hated the Wyoming game wardens seemed like I was constantly getting harrassed. The game wardens that I have encountered in Montana so far have all been nice guys.

The few that I have dealt with here in Massachusetts have been jerks to put it nicely. And one of them did not know the law when it came to the caliber of rifle limitation at night. Here its 22-lr rim fire only. 17 hmr,22 wmr, are all illegal at night Tha one warden said that I could use a 17 hmr, and a 204 Ruger because they were smaller than a 22-lr. Good thing I did not follow his advice. And there is one town near me where you can't use a rifle of any caliber at any time, not even a rifled barrel shotgun or rifled barrel blackpowder. It's an Obama town for sure. the same game warden did not even know that.

Mark

I have never had a single problem with a Game Warden. Been stopped over the years to check license and tags etc.. I was always polite and cooperative and so were they. By the way California no longer has "Game Wardens". Now they are "Wildlife Officers" What a bunch of crap!

I have had some good ones and a few arrogant ones. Well we were making a few man drives trying to kill some deer it was 65 degrees outside so I left my jacket that I forgot had my license in the pocket in the truck I also left my gun being that I was doing the walking. we finish he sees me walk across the field I never touched a gun nor did I touch any deer that were killed. he still intended on giving me a ticket for not having my license on me long story short he looked like a a$$ in court when the judge laughed at him and told him I didn't even need license to walk in camo and hoot and harlor like a fool. We have one woman that patrols are area and you always hear how much of a A$$ female officers can be. She was one of nicest ones I have ever met I had killed two nice bucks the first morning of bow season and she intended on helping us go back in and help us retrieve are game and gear. No matter what they are going to do there job its just getting a long of young guys that think they have to prove there self not all are this way but a lot are. sorry it was so long

Last year i got checked every time i went fishing. this year only once by a couple under cover officers. luckily they were nice being that my license had expired by one day and lucky for me i didn't have any lines in the water yet. they were definitely clever driving a old truck with a bed for a dog box one way to get it done i guess.

While I was on the coast I ran into my share of the bunny police. Most are just out to do their jobs but the ones with their sights on moving into a federal bureau were the real a-holes. Those guys had no business with any badge. We had one guy that wrote enough tickets that he was sent on a vacation with his family (here say). He worked hard and was good at his job and no one liked him because of it. All the same my dad hadn't gotten his duck stamps and Angus brought them to our front porch, ON A SATURDAY MORNING, so my dad could hunt with my brothers and I the next day.