We had a warden speak on the gun club the first of the month. Okla is trying to pass a law keeping wardens off private property.Basically, if someone is trespassing on your property or hunting without your permission, if this law is passed, a warden will not be able to come on your property to arrest him. The land owner will have to detain the trespasser and keep them at the gate until a warden can get there and arrest him. What are your thoughts on this???

Does that also mean a warden can't enter the property to investigate a possible wildlife law violation? So if that passes some unscrupulous property owners will do whatever the heck they want with no fear of the game warden? Sounds like the Sheriff's Department is going to get busier and I promise you the deputies would rather be investigating stolen property, drug cases, child endangerment, ect. along with answering their regular call load than doing the game wardens job along with all their own.

Haven't heard about this. Who is pushing it and who do we need to contact?

Sorry, I didn't catch who is behind it. A warden out of Wagoner County was telling us about it.

GC, the way the warden talked, he said if it passed, he can't step foot on private land. There may be exceptions. Sounded like a guy could come on private property without permission and it would be up to the owner to run him off or hold him till the law arrived. It sounds like it will give the landowner a free rein also.

I hunt legal so game wardens aren't a problem to me. Also sounds like if they can't go on private land,there will be a lot of wardens setting on their behinds doing nothing.

Without more information it sounds like they might be trying to get rid of the "open fields doctrine". That garbage basically say game wardens don't need a search warrant. And as you can imagine in some areas it has been badly abused.

the michigan DNR was neutered a few years ago with very similar regulations. They're not allowed to enter private property without a warrant or very obvious probably cause, no different than any other law enforcement officer.

before that they could violate search and seizure rules pretty much at will.... for example ... come on your property just to check your tags if they saw you hunting - "show me your papers" - etc. Now they actually have to have a report of a crime and get a warrant like the rest of the police.

Open Fields doctrine.....applies to all law enforcement officers equally.

Sounds like there is something coming that the warden didn't like and may be overselling.

I like the idea of a law that keeps the warden off your land, without cause or invitation..

Unfortunately for some, the federal courts, up to an including the Supreme Court, has ruled time and time again that entry onto ones property does not constitute a violation of the Constitution, as long as that entry is contained within what is commonly held as an "open field."

Oklahoma has some screwed up laws. I had a problem with frikken city quail hunters crossing my fence whenever they pleased. I was told that if I did catch them they'd pay a $75 trespassing fine and that's it. Why pay for a lease, just hunt wherever you please, paying the fines is much cheaper.

Yeah, go ahead and hunt without permission. See where that gets you.

http://www.oklahomahuntclub.com/private-property-without-permission-oklahoma/

http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=446520

Just looked it up, I guess they changed that law and upped the penalties this past spring, that's great.
And for the record, by my comment I wasn't implying that I would trespass/hunt without permission. Two years ago I had an experience where a buddy called and told me birdhunters were all over my lease while I was working 150 miles away. Worst thing about it, the lease was less than a mile from a WMA headquarters so I thought it would be safe from this kind of crap. Arrogant frikken city hunters

A lot of us in MI never heard of this. The sheriff and MSP like to take a fish cop along cause they can go where the sheriff cant.

Fourth Amendment applies to all...

I’m throwing the BS flag on that one.