speedbird
Life of the Party
IMO I would like to see more ex biologists trained to be cops, less ex cops trained to be biologists
SFR Most Aggressive Wildlife Agent
- Thread starter chrome/22
- Start date
Sorta fishing-related
Dustin Chromers
Legend
In all seriousness I've only ever had one somewhat negative interaction. The rest have been positive.
Look for my main amendment. The death penalty for salmon snagging.
I’ve only had one weird encounter. Fishing an eastern wa lake and saw an enforcement truck pull up to the boat ramp, officer got out and was glassing me. He honked his horn and waved for me to return to the ramp. When I got there he informed me he would be issuing me a ticket for having 3 rods on my boat. I said I was only using one at a time but that I did have a 2 rod Endorsement. He got angry and said I could only have 2 available. Thankfully I had cell service and looked it up and handed it to him to look at. He handed it back and drove off without a word.
I think the only time I was ever checked I was fishing in an Alpine lake with bait. (way before my fly fishing days). He checked everyone in our party. He was polite.
There were a few times, I probably should have been ticketed for my ignorance, but, they were never around.
There were a few times, I probably should have been ticketed for my ignorance, but, they were never around.
The "rod count" event is pretty weird. I haven't ever had a bad encounter with a game warden, even when I was in the wrong.
A hike-in Alpine Lake??? A FS or NP Ranger, right?
I have had more than my share of encounters with wildlife enforcement since retiring in 2005. My goal at the time of retirement my goal was to spend 100 to 150 days a year in the field, either hunting upland birds and waterfowl with my labs (about a 1/3 of my time in the field) various freshwater fisheries (40 to 50% of my time in the field) and the rest in the salt fishing salmon, ling cod, crabs and clams. Until recently I acheved those goals annually. Since retiring out of the nearly 2,000 days in the field I have been checked a total of 44 times by WDFW agents, Oregon state police, USFW agents, NMFS agent, and by National parks. Clearly the agents were profiling me as likely violator. In every case the officers were professional and often asked about the details of my activities and the resources that supported that activity. In every case welcomed those encounters however my major complaint was the lake of enforcement in my various freshwater fisheries. In spite my freshwater fishing accounted for the highest percentage of my outdoor activities only 2 of the enforcement check came while fishing freshwater and both was at my truck. The typical agent does not seem to venture very far from their vehicle.
Curt
Curt
Lol - yeah. Was fishing with another woman at a put-n-take trout lake in the yaks. She wanted to go back to the ramp to use the portapotty, but there was some guy hiding in the bushes scoping us with binocs. WTF??
Eventually her yak approached an angle where she could see a WDFW truck parked way back in the lot, so she landed, and yup - checking us for licenses.
Woulda been pretty funny if we'd called the cops on them for being sus!
Back in the late 1970's I lived in Idaho and drove over to the Seep Lakes to fish them in February.
I was camped at the lake and was fishing out of the canoe when the agent showed up. Checked out my campsite and the Idaho plates on my truck. He glassed me while I was fishing and it was heading towards dusk.
I wasn't going to come in just for him to check my license. I did out wait him and he gave up and left.
I just knew that he was going to show up first thing in the morning. And he did.
He asked to see my non-resident license and it was then I realized that I had misplaced my wallet.
He was overjoyed. I was concerned that I had lost my wallet somewhere in camp.
At that point, I was more concerned about finding my wallet, than the fishing license.
So I told him I wasn't giving up on finding my wallet.....and finally after 45 minutes found it wedged down next to the sleeping bag in the tent.
He was very, very disappointed. I think I ruined his day. I almost asked him what he had against Idahoan's fishing in Washington state. I suspect there was a story there.
I was camped at the lake and was fishing out of the canoe when the agent showed up. Checked out my campsite and the Idaho plates on my truck. He glassed me while I was fishing and it was heading towards dusk.
I wasn't going to come in just for him to check my license. I did out wait him and he gave up and left.
I just knew that he was going to show up first thing in the morning. And he did.
He asked to see my non-resident license and it was then I realized that I had misplaced my wallet.
He was overjoyed. I was concerned that I had lost my wallet somewhere in camp.
At that point, I was more concerned about finding my wallet, than the fishing license.
So I told him I wasn't giving up on finding my wallet.....and finally after 45 minutes found it wedged down next to the sleeping bag in the tent.
He was very, very disappointed. I think I ruined his day. I almost asked him what he had against Idahoan's fishing in Washington state. I suspect there was a story there.
on the positive side...wife and I were fishing the South Fork of the Snake, gal in a raft floats down and rows ashore, has on a uniform shirt, asks to see our licenses. After we showing our out of state licenses we got to chatting, she suggested we relocate to another section of the river she drew in the dirt and wait for the sun to drop below the bluff on the opposite shore and begin pitching brown Caddis flies. So we did, and had a magic session of big cutt's on dries right up to dark.
Least favorite? Fall in the 90's, wife and I working our way back from Canada, parked for the night in a campground alongside a small WA river. Just before dark a ranger truck shows up, a gal in uniform gets out and nods at us and and checks our fee tag, drives off in the truck and than reappears a few minutes later, gets out to tell us she checked our deposit and that we had only paid for a 'non-premium' site and we had to deposit another $5 to stay in our riverside 'premium' site.
Being that we were the only campers in the entire campground we thought she was kidding until she made it clear she wasn't.
Least favorite? Fall in the 90's, wife and I working our way back from Canada, parked for the night in a campground alongside a small WA river. Just before dark a ranger truck shows up, a gal in uniform gets out and nods at us and and checks our fee tag, drives off in the truck and than reappears a few minutes later, gets out to tell us she checked our deposit and that we had only paid for a 'non-premium' site and we had to deposit another $5 to stay in our riverside 'premium' site.
Being that we were the only campers in the entire campground we thought she was kidding until she made it clear she wasn't.
I was gearing up at the WDFW access site at Cle Elum when a WDFW officer drove up and parked behind me. I thought for sure I would be checked, but he just stepped into the woods, relieved himself, and waved as he drove off. The only time I was ever checked anywhere was on a beach on Kodiak Island a few years ago. A lot of people got their coho fishing experience ruined by enforcement that day but I wasn't one of them.