active light duty....sitting behind a desk and cruising the net

Law enforcement officers are definitely watching this site. I had a long visit, about 2 hrs, at my house in 2014 with a federal wildlife investigator and a regional officer.

In 2013-2014 I was on a beaver quest. I had trapped all of my private properties with the exception of a couple because they are full of otter and I wanted to avoid them. I had called our local conservation officer in January and asked him some questions about some public property to make sure it was fine if I trapped it and made sure I didn’t have to check in before starting, whether needed permits, etc. He gave me the green light. Now I’ve only met this officer one time and he seemed like a great guy. But I know of several people, my friends included, that have had some pretty negative experiences with him.

March of 2014 I get a call from an unknown number, so like always I didn’t answer it. The officer that ended up coming to the house had left a message and asked if I was available to talk. I was busy working so I was going to call him back when I finished the job. A couple hours later they call again. I answer and he asks if they can meet at my house to talk. I agree and ask when works for them. He says we’re actually in your driveway now. I’m trying to figure out what I could have possibly done or what has happened. I run home and that’s when the questions begin. They introduce themselves and said that officer so and so said you had been doing some trapping and they’d like to “interview” me. I thought that was strange since I hadn’t talked to him in 2 months. It started out as an interview, but It wasn’t an interview. It was an investigation. . They were both very professional and very very thorough. I was asked the same questions multiple times throughout the conversation. This wasn’t their first rodeo and were very tricky on how they asked questions. If I was bluffing or making up a story, they would have easily figured it out. After answering the same questions 5 times I still didn’t think they fully believed me so I had them get their iPad and I showed them the properties I trapped and exactly where the cats and otters came from. I even gave them the landowners contact to call as well but they didn’t feel the need to at that point.

I didn’t have anything to hide and answered every question without hesitation. Here’s how they confirmed I was truthful with them. They had print outs of my past posts and pictures from trapperman. My harvest logs that I turned in to the state as well as how many of each species I caught,sold, tanned, etc. They showed me these towards the end of the conversation.

I had been trapping 2 states and posted several pictures from those trapping trips. The primary concern for the visit was bobcat and otter. At the time, my home state didn’t have a season for either species so that was red flag number 1 for them. I also had 2 resident trapping licenses, red flag number 2. I had my license from my home state and also was a full time college student in another state which allowed me to have a resident license there too.

After all that, just be careful what you post. If you don’t have anything to hide then post away. If there’s any chance that something is suspicious, they definitely have the right to come investigate. Anything you put on social media can be used just as an anonymous tip of illegal activity. In my instance, they had 2 good reasons to investigate the situation and they did a darn good job of it.

I think, unless there's an active investigation and a focus on a particular bad character, trolling around sites like this looking for legitimate leads would be a waste of an officer's time. I don't know what it's like elsewhere but our COs are swamped with work, can't imagine any one of them having the time to peruse these types of sites looking for work.

I hope this does not steer this topic in a different direction but I have a question about reasonable suspicion and probable cause as far as obtaining a search warrant is concerned. Say, for example that I am coming off the lake with a limit of fish and am checked by a conservation officer. I am within the law but he asks if he can check my freezer at home to see if I have any there. I do not give him permission to search my freezer without a warrant. Does this give him reasonable suspicion that I have an overlimit or probable cause to obtain a warrant. Don't get the idea that I am in violation and I have never been in this situation...just curious as to how this would work.

Can't speak for MN but that wouldn't come any where near the threshold required to meet here to constitute reasonable grounds.

No....your refusal to let him into your home is not RS and definitely IS NOT ENOUGH PC to satisfy any judge I know.

When a GW is sitting in his truck at a boat ramp, conducting night hunting surveillance, or daytime surveillance there is a lot of time to flip the computer open and take a look.

GWs multi-task.


...not behind a desk.

..from the seat of his patrol truck...on a Panasonic Toughbook with a wireless internet connection.

. . . and can "wear" many Hats. I knew one that was a GW, Fed, SP, and CustA all at the same time! It was a Special Div.

Theres has been a misconception that wardens can look where they want when they want. No warrant nothin just go and look. Ive heard this for years. Dont be fooled.

I didn't read any of the replies so sorry if this has been said but I bet very few look on any social media to try and find violations, but rather are turned on to violations by internet weasels who can't mind their own business. "Bob said on facebook he shot an elephant and three mice. I know the limit is 2 mice!!! , get him!"

I've warned several posters on here via PM that what they posted was illegal, might want to delete your post?

It all boils down to "if you follow the law and have nothing to hide,you dont have anything to worry about"-post away fellow trappers.
You need to know the law 100%,if in doubt,get clarification in writing from the authorities.

Someone posted that poachers are the biggest braggers.True for the ones that get caught.
There are people who poach for food-not bragging rights or trophys.They mostly have been maybe caught once or twice but learned from those experiences to hone their craft.They are likely the most secretive people you are ever likely to meet.

True story, not only dum to post on face book, don't put in the local paper ether. A guy that worked for the county road dept. was doing some work on a bridge. He looked down and saw a big flathead in shallow water along a sandbar. He went down and grabbed it, then had a write up and picture of the fish in the paper. Well he got a ticket for hand fishing, which is illegal in this state, plus he got fired for goofing off on the job. You can't fix stupid.

DWC it depends on the state. With the exception of your house, in WI they can do pretty much anything.

Do you know 100% of the laws?

Yes, the ones that I am subjected to in trapping hunting tanning and fur dealing-with clarifications in writing.
I am not familiar with all the laws that dont apply to what I do-like slot limits for fish on lakes I dont fish etc.

Yeah I'm aware that there are subsistence poachers, this thread is about wardens using social media to catch poachers. I would think that the people posting pics of a poached kills isn't poaching to feed himself/family.

DWC- Wasn't there a recent news story that Gov. Kristi had her administration reviewing South Dakota's "open fields" doctrine that allows COs to come search your property because they see (or claim they see) something from the road?

Maybe Swamp Wolf has more skeptical judges down in his parts of GA, but I suspect that most wildlife officers can get judges to sign off on most search warrant appliactions. And most of those search warrants are probably totally justified, but I bet some are fishing expeditions based on what an officer wants to believe. I have a friend that spent 6 months on this county's grand jury. They seldom denied the district attorney from getting indictments for whatever (this was way more than just wildlife crimes). A few times he told me the GJ stood up and pushed back on the DAs, but not very often.

Nobody knows 100% of the laws here, Not even the wildlife troopers. I once had to call their boss to have him tell them to stop writing tickets for something that was legal. I have often had to tell the troopers the law and then they would go and check to see. They have also corrected me. The laws are so complex and convoluted and changing all the time. nobody can know them all, well except the legend.