Know your local DNR rep/Conservation Officer

[j-bird]

Just a reminder to folks. Take the time and put the phone number of your local wildlife law enforcement agency in your cell phone. In my state the wildlife enforcement folks are dispatched thru our county sheriff's department. Don't call 911 - they REALLY don't like that. You never know when you will need it. You don't have to know them buy name, but a time will come when they may be of assistance to you. So far mine have been very helpful and having a good relationship with them isn't a bad idea either.

This morning was a perfect example. My wife was taking the kids to school this morning and she saw a nice buck trying to drag himself across a field with just his front end. She assumes he was recently hit by a car and obviously it'as only a matter of time. Seeing any animal suffer just isn't cool. She didn't have the CO dispatch number. She called me and we called them. I simply explained what she saw, and gave them a general idea including road numbers of where the deer was. They said they would send an office to "resolve the issue".

Obviously they are not going to capture the animal and try to rehab it. They have the authority to access the property and handle the issue in a much cleaner fashion than if a private citizen tried to do the right thing. Deer season here has been over for a few weeks now, so its best to just let them do their job.

I know lots of folks (not pointing to anyone here) that would rather take a beating than talk to any form of law enforcement. I have found that if I have nothing to hide and am honest and show good intentions they are not the "monsters" some make them out to be.

 

[chummer]

We actually had one stop into our place this year and ask if he could sit in our field a few nights looking for poachers. I now have his number and was very happy he was around to keep the locals honest.

 

[John-W-WI]

I've been trying for years to get to know our local warden. I've called a bunch of times, never gotten anything but voicemail (I didn't leave a message). We have changed wardens in my area 3 or 4 times in <10 years.

I'll keep on trying!

-John

 

[j-bird]

I got to get to know mine real well as I reported a poached deer and there was/is an investigation going on. Not only did I tell him he could use my place I told him where I would sit to catch them in the act if it was up to me. I offered to help in any way I could. I offered to store any equipment or if they wanted to use my shooting houses for observation points. He comes out about once a year now just to touch base - we had an empty house next door used as a meth lab and he and I keep tabs on the place now as well. Nice having a contact like that. Just having them roll thru once in a while seems to make the trouble makers think twice. My being friendly with the CO seemed to curb my poaching issue - I think word got around the high school from my boy and those involved realized their acts where being noticed and that they either changed their ways or moved on. Seems to have reduced issues with other trouble markers in my area as well. Folks seem to have realized it's not all bark!

John - hopefully you can get someone to stick around and have a resource to help when needed - good luck.

 

[dipper]

Ha, wi wardens are 100% enforcement driven. They justify their existence to the man by numbers. Numbers, numbers, numbers! Arrests are numbers, tickets are arrests. The state patrol and many law enforcement agencies are managed the same wAy. Trust me I know, Don't kid yourself.
The wi warden of the year led the state in owi arrests on lake Geneva. He blew everyone out of the water.
I've hunted all over the country, and have met some fine individuals who did not fit the a$$ profile. But I've still met plenty who you just can't feel comfortable around, while not doing a thing wrong.
To each their own

 

[chummer]

The top guy in our region is named Richard Head. You can't make that up. I get checked a few times a year ice fishing, they all seem like great guys. Although I did meet one guy who was a friend of an officer who keeps gps coordinates of any shanty he finds with a lot of fish and then fishes them on his off days. I thought that was BS until he gave me a spot I crushed the perch 3 days in a row.

 

[dipper]

I had a wi assistant attorney general tell me one time, wardens have their own constitutional interpretation.

 

[wiscwhip]

Careful stu, many will tell you they need a warrant and there is no way they can do that, even though I have witnessed it personally multiple times. But yup, I'm the one who's full of it.

 

[JackTerp]

We are on really good terms with the CO's in our area of PA. We have them stop by our camp every year for coffee and chat. We have reported and provide pictures of several poachers. We had a serious case of poaching when we bought the property and they helped us clean it up. I know many are not that helpful, but the ones we have dealt with have been great. We had no "road" hunters on our property now for two years.

I have an acquaintance here in SC that just doesn't seem to understand the idea of bag limits or hunting seasons. He has paid more in fines over the last ten years than I make in a year. Two times he has taken the case to court because they burst in and searched his house without a warrant. Both times he lost. In SC, the DNR does not need a warrant if they have information provided by an anonymous source. So says the judge.

 

[j-bird]

In most cases they spring some sort of "reasonable cause" out and that pretty much covers it. You can make them produce a warrant, I just cooperate because I have nothing to hide. My CO is pretty cool and I contact him with questions and the like every once in a while. I would rather have him on my side than the other way around. Hopefully some of you guys can build or develop a decent history with your Wildlife enforcement folks.

 

[wildfire]

Contacted local CO, 5 borrowed another's license, 2 forgot to register deer. Not to nice neighbors got theirs Nothing would probably been done, but trespassing signs (no trespassing without permission) are 6 on a quarter mile led me to call. Do not tell someone what you have done, you could shoot yourself in the foot. YEA!!!'m

 

[wildfire]

November, in Mn. They can check where they want, my dad could tell if was still alive.

 

[swat1018]

CO's operate mainly on the "Open Field Doctrine." As the name implies, it only goes so far.....

 

[dipper]

There is specific wording having to do with any area of a dwelling where a reasonable expectation of privacy exists i.e. locked shed, garage, home, freezer. If your meatpole is outside he can walk right up and check tags. Anything else requires a search warrant. I will find the exact verbage.

It's called curtilage
Oh-saw u got it.
That blows they did that to u guys. I'm all for catching the law breakers, but not treating everyone like they are a criminal. That's the mentality w the wi dnr. If you hunt or fish, you are breaking some law, they just gotta find what it is.

 

[dipper]

Read my link, curtilage. Cartilage is in your knee.

Thanks smartie spell checker changed it on me and I didn't catch it.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Wisconsin wardens can walk around a property/buildings without a warrant. Even with a tip or probable cause they cannot go into houses,freezers, sheds without a warrant. Meatpole is in a locked shed behind an electric gate. The lack of trust of wardens is exactly the #1 reason why Dmap in Wisconsin will never take off. Anyone want the Dnr invited in for trailcam checks whenever they wish? We had a trainee warden get kicked out of the head wardens truck(who is the GB water warden, 55 miles out of his hood) on the gun opener and was told to check 10 hunters as he picked him up 1.5 miles away thru my cedar swamp. He asked my guys how many trailcams we had, how many treestands we had. WTF? Opening day of gun? Cathy Steppe got a seething letter. The new warden is on speed dial but he wont get an invite for cookies and milk. If you hunt/fish more than 3 days You probably broke a game law.

What a Jack O** DO you have a law limiting amount off trail cams??? I assume not. I hope they told him none of his dang business!!

 

[West Branch]

This case from last year is relevant to the warrant discussion. Even though the people let the CO check the freezer they did not want him too and a judge overturned it. They were only charged with fishing with an extra line.
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/03/21/regional/judge-rejects-seizure-of-walleyes-without-warrant

According to court documents, a conservation officer observed Richard and Linda Southworth, of Isle, fishing with an extra line in July. He then asked if he could look inside their home to see if they had more fish in the freezer. They were charged with possessing a gross over-limit of 52 walleye. The judge ruled that Richard Southworth did not voluntarily consent to the search but instead merely submitted to the officer's authority.

 

[dipper]

Those wardens should be responsible for them fish. Shotty work.

 

[bueller]

I will tell you that it's not very hard to convince the average turd to let you search their home, car, etc..., even when they know they are dirty. Others, not so easy.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

we had a very uptight young WCO that was in our county for a couple of years. He would write up his own mother if given the chance. he was not very well liked in the area. he seemed to purposely look so hard for something that he eventually found something to write someone up. I never personally had any contact with him that resulted in anything more than small talk. I do know several other people that had some problems with him. He was called to an employee of mine's property because there was a deer carcass in the creek behind their house which is visible from a bridge just down stream of their home. When my employee got home from work and picking up her daughter from cheerleading practice they were surprised to see the WCO's vehicle in their driveway. as they were getting out of the car he came walking up to them from behind their house. he told them he was called because someone had seen the deer carcass on the creek bank behind their house from the bridge. the deer was in the advanced stages of decomp...bones and hide mostly. it was late winter and there was no stink to be had and they had in fact not even noticed the carcass was there. he asked them if they had any knowledge of the carcass and they told him no. he said that there is no way that it had washed down stream or anything like that because the creek was frozen. they still insisted they had no idea it was there or how it got there. he then asked them if they hunted, which the husband, wife and daughter all do. he asked if any of them had killed a deer during that season. they had each taken one deer. he then asked them to provide their back tags so he could verifiy that they had indeed tagged the deer they had killed. they gave him the tags and he found that they didn't the appropriate carcass tags had been used. he then wrote down there CID numbers and left. He probably went back and ran their CID numbers to see if they reported their deer. A few days later they recieved a summons for the daughter for failure to report a big game animal. he wrote up a 14 yr old girl because she had not sent in a harvest report card on the doe she killed! Both parents had sent the report cards in for their deer, and apparently they forgot to do so for the daughter! He really just could have just come back and asked them what the deal was and then given them a warning or a friendly reminder that it is legally required to send in the report card!

Eventually, the local magistrate began seeing more and more appeals of the WCO's collars.....and the magistrate began to see the frivilous charges...so she began throwing out the charges and siding with the defendants when they were clearly not serious purposful violations.