Unless your dealing with a bad warden who try's to plant illegal stuff on you.Know of a warden that was famous for this.

I hate that its like this with some GWs.

I had a friend of the family long dead now that was dirt floor poor and the biggest poacher I ever heard of. He feed his family on deer . Limits and seasons well were not even guide lines. Once a guy at work asked his son why his dad hit so many deer. His response was you can't shoot them out of season. Yep he would even run them down with that big green 50s Ford 4x4 "Greenie"

The warden's wanted him bad for years and could never catch him or get anything on him although they were so close many times. The stories I heard.

When they finally got him he was actually 100% legal. He was walking out of an area and called a friend to pick him up because his truck was on the next road over(in his 70s at this point and straitened up to around to 90% legal by now) on his way out of the woods he shot a deer on the back side of the field with his 357 ruger single 6 at 30 yards . The deer was a fake deer and his friend mark was sitting at the road awaiting in his truck. The conservative offers pounced.

With threats of charges on the friend he lied and said Jim shot that fake deer from the truck and the rest is history. They finally had there man after years/decades of failure. It was dishonest but I guess the ends justified the means to them. After all it's not like he had not broke every law on the books repeatedly and had it coming.

But seeing this as a young kid I became aware at a young age law enforce is not always honest or infallible. I learned a lot from that old man like how effective a ..22lr is and if you hit deer broadside it will tear up your vehicle but if you hit them running away it pushed them forward and dammage is limited if any.

Yes he broke the law many times just to feed his family. They lived in a 2 room shack heared with a fire place. I don't fault him for it. He was also one good practical joker.

As a young city boy 5-10 his house was the gateway for me to get out to the country. It was our base for hunting ,fishing and 4 wheeler riding before my uncle bought his place in the sticks. After that I only visited occasionally.

I won't break the law and make sure my kids know and understand it as well. But I have a hard time looking down on a poor man feeding his family breaking a game law to do so. Those deer belong to the people so I'm told by one source. By another I read God gave man dominion. Now trophy hunting poachers are a different matter. Nail them to the wall.

It truly was a different time back then.

I was about to start typing furiously...until I read the rest of your sentences...lol

Remain silent and don’t let them in your house. There not your friend. They have no case and there waiting on you to spill the beans on yourself.

Every town in the north has a well known family or two of poachers that never or seldom get caught.
i remember one fellow-his kid was over at the house for supper and we had pork chops and the kid asked where did you get that white moosemeat?

Wilbur,
You do know that most courts sets the fines...right? Not the GW. The GW may be asked for his input in rare cases that the court is unfamiliar with but nowadays there is usually a printed bond list they go by even in small courts.

The judge there must think a lot of you. Does he get to see you a lot with your hat in your hand?

wow this has been beat to death 8 pages, im born and raised in hamilton county where joe is trapping, i now live just north of ft, drum. the run ins i have had with state game wardens are few and far between. any i have had are respectul and always treated me well, the younger ones ask alot of questions trying to learn more about trapping. we have a state game warden here on ft drum plus the govt game wardedns they are the same way they dont go out of their way to bust your chops but if your doing the wrong thing or not with the state regulatins they will give you a ticket, i will hold my comment about joes situation to myself you guys have hammed him enough . only chiming in to say i set my first trap here in ny in 1976 and have never had a bad run in with a sate game warden maybe i was and have been lucky banchee

Sad that you feel this way about your GWs. Sorta like there is always someone out to get ya. That sux! I couldnt enjoy anything in the outdoors if I felt like that.

I'm trying to figure this out. You set untagged traps, got caught, and are upset the Game Warden crawled up your (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) with a microscope ? What did I miss ?

Take to court ask for jury trial. Best advice a police officer gave me recently. He stated, in Wisconsin find a jury of your peers that will convict you against the dnr. Not a bench trial a jury you only need one to dislike the dnr. Odds are pretty good you find one.

... objection your honor lol

... there ain’t many of us good ol boys left in this world....y’all game lawmen need to go a little easier on us from time to time... might need us one day lol

Joe, when the next revolution starts, you can run that human weasel off tarred and feathered just like they did in the first revolution. We supposedly got rid of "kings" at various scales several centuries ago. Too bad the politicians and the bureaucrats have crowned themselves again...

A CO has to follow the same rules as any other LEO. The constitution is the same whether it is a CO or a local PO. The 4th applies equally.

Well..I was about to quit posting on this thread but I read that I learned PF something he didnt know. You're welcome PF. Wildlife belongs to the people.

I wonder how youd feel if that old poacher lived next to you, you didnt know him well, but he knew your property better than you and your kids..and ate more of the deer from your property than your family did.

I know of a trophy hunter that killed big antlered bucks to sell the antlers so he could feed his family.

There is always another angle and that is why the legal way is the only fair way for everyone.

Could be other way around...

I feel that way about all law enforcement. They have all got bigger then they need to be. You can believe in big brother though. I can pull in to the local grocery store on any given night and see a drug deal take place but there is no cops around. That’s right there sitting on the county road by my employer trying to catch one of us going over the speed limit. They can’t get no money out of the drug dealers just the working people. I had my run in with the game warden a few years ago. Tried to get me for hunting turkeys over bait. I didn’t have permission to hunt on the property the bait was on nor was I trespassing I had permission on a different property. I was the on the ridge over and had no idea it was there. They took my gun and everything. Tried to take me to the cleaners. I won without going to court. I kept trying to tell the idiot that I had no idea who put it there nor was I ever on the property. I was guilty before my day. I do nothing illegal or look over my shoulder while I’m doing it.

... now all the poachers need to do is steal game cameras and sell them at the pawn shop to feed the family... less blood on your britches that way... and the deer paparazzi will just buy more... stimulating the economy lol

I figured as much.

I hope you have better experiences with LE in the future.