10-17-2003, 06:33 PM
May as well add in my little tales too.
While a usually get along great with all officers, I have had a few "run-ins" with jerks on the prowl.
I had a friend who's dad had been known to poach now and again. He had not been caught yet when he died. My friend had learned from his dad, and learned not to poach or break any laws knowingly. This did not stop one determined officer (that had chased his dad for years) from harrassing us every time he saw us. He had to have checked us at least 30 times in 3 years. Not just checking licenses and such. He would search the vehicles, go through every bag and box to make sure. On one occasion he was training a new recruit and obviously wanted to strut his stuff. Three of us were duck hunting out by Utah lake. He pulled us over in the van we were in and wanted to check us. We complied and turned him loose. He removed all of our gear from the van and left it for us on the ground. He found that we had nowhere near a limit between us of all legal ducks, that we all had our permits in order, however, in checking for plugs he ran into a little problem with my friends gun. He couldn't close the action on the empty gun to check it. He found the button at the wrong time. His thumb was stuck in the action and was bleeding quite badly by the time he got it out. I can't say that I felt bad for him after the dozens of times he had gone a little overboard with us. Even his new partner chuckled a little when he saw the shredded skin.
I had another give me a hard time while I was teaching my daughter to fish for walleye. I will admit that what I was doing was an infraction, but I felt the officer went a little far. I had helped my daughter set the hook on a couple of fish so she could get the feel for when, and how hard. The officer accused me of fishing with two poles and using her as an excuse. If I had handled her pole alone, I could see the problem, but she and I had ahold of it to set the hook, and then I would let go and she reeled the fish in. When I questioned the officer on his view of the situation, he grabbed my license and wrote WARNING across the front of it in pen and told me I was lucky he didn't take all my gear and arrest me. Nothing more came of it, but I couldn't help but think about the number of times I had cleaned up piles of garbage on the same shore I was fishing. Where was he when those people needed to be reminded of the law?
99% of the time I've ever been checked, the officer is polite, and professional. It's just that other 1% that most people hear about.
I was recently checked on Flaming Gorge. The officers were perfoming a study as well as license and limit checks. They asked if they could measure and weigh the Rainbows and Lake Trout that we had kept, and and if they could get a sample of stomach contents. When they were done, they thanked us for helping them, congratulated us on our catch, and thanked us for keeping the smaller lakers to help the fishery down the road. This is my normal meeting with F & G.
Hell, I like these guys. I'd like to take them home and let them,,,,,,, I'll leave my sister out of this. Just my thoughts. My experience of 99% good and 1% bad, I wish I could say the same about myself.
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While a usually get along great with all officers, I have had a few "run-ins" with jerks on the prowl.
I had a friend who's dad had been known to poach now and again. He had not been caught yet when he died. My friend had learned from his dad, and learned not to poach or break any laws knowingly. This did not stop one determined officer (that had chased his dad for years) from harrassing us every time he saw us. He had to have checked us at least 30 times in 3 years. Not just checking licenses and such. He would search the vehicles, go through every bag and box to make sure. On one occasion he was training a new recruit and obviously wanted to strut his stuff. Three of us were duck hunting out by Utah lake. He pulled us over in the van we were in and wanted to check us. We complied and turned him loose. He removed all of our gear from the van and left it for us on the ground. He found that we had nowhere near a limit between us of all legal ducks, that we all had our permits in order, however, in checking for plugs he ran into a little problem with my friends gun. He couldn't close the action on the empty gun to check it. He found the button at the wrong time. His thumb was stuck in the action and was bleeding quite badly by the time he got it out. I can't say that I felt bad for him after the dozens of times he had gone a little overboard with us. Even his new partner chuckled a little when he saw the shredded skin.
I had another give me a hard time while I was teaching my daughter to fish for walleye. I will admit that what I was doing was an infraction, but I felt the officer went a little far. I had helped my daughter set the hook on a couple of fish so she could get the feel for when, and how hard. The officer accused me of fishing with two poles and using her as an excuse. If I had handled her pole alone, I could see the problem, but she and I had ahold of it to set the hook, and then I would let go and she reeled the fish in. When I questioned the officer on his view of the situation, he grabbed my license and wrote WARNING across the front of it in pen and told me I was lucky he didn't take all my gear and arrest me. Nothing more came of it, but I couldn't help but think about the number of times I had cleaned up piles of garbage on the same shore I was fishing. Where was he when those people needed to be reminded of the law?
99% of the time I've ever been checked, the officer is polite, and professional. It's just that other 1% that most people hear about.
I was recently checked on Flaming Gorge. The officers were perfoming a study as well as license and limit checks. They asked if they could measure and weigh the Rainbows and Lake Trout that we had kept, and and if they could get a sample of stomach contents. When they were done, they thanked us for helping them, congratulated us on our catch, and thanked us for keeping the smaller lakers to help the fishery down the road. This is my normal meeting with F & G.
Hell, I like these guys. I'd like to take them home and let them,,,,,,, I'll leave my sister out of this. Just my thoughts. My experience of 99% good and 1% bad, I wish I could say the same about myself.
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