Bizarre encounter with Fish and Game today

A dead-end, dirt, town road runs through some property we own. I was doing some work about thirty yards off the road in the woods, and my nine-year-old was by the road. A Fish and Game officer drove up and quizzed him on his name, last name, who he was there with, and a few other things. As I walked towards the truck, the officer turned around very quickly and drove away.

My boy knows not to talk to strangers, but it's a small, friendly town and he saw the uniform and logo on the truck and just did.

I don't like the idea of someone quizzing my kid on my property and then driving away without speaking to me.

That's not cool should have waited till you got there.

G&F is not getting a lot of emergency calls.

Call your local fish and game office and request who it was....that does not sound right at all

Definitely should have waited and talked with you...that would have been the proper and mature thing to do. Just my advice, but you might want to school your children to respectfully point the next officer in your direction for any questions that might need answering. Pedophiles come in all shapes and sizes.

Here is a serious question; Are you sure it really was a Fish and Game officer?

Call the district office and request to speak to the senior officer in charge and ask him who was out there, and who it was. Then have the senior officer ask him why he did that?

Yeah, we talked about that. He understands now that he should have said "I'll get my dad and be right back." He already knew that, but like I said, the uniform threw him off.

If he wasn't, the uniform and truck were outstanding fakes.

Do this. If nothing else the CO needs a lesson in the proper way to deal with kids so he does not get in trouble down the road, or his boss needs to know he might have someone that needs adult supervision for a while longer.

I dunno about your area, but hunting season has been in full swing around here and the En Con guys have been running their respecyive asses off.
They also back us up on calls where they can, so a local here might very well find themselves interacting with an En Con officer relating to a call the deputies are primary responders to.

Depending on your State Laws, if your property is NOT fenced, it is considered "open range", as here in Texas. You own it, but until fenced, people and cattle can transverse it. If fenced, or otherwise posted, I would not think that a Game Warden has any right on your private property, unless of course, he is in pursuit of a law breaker. Hunting season brings out the worst in some people, and here in Texas, I've given the game wardens full use of my land. They know thay are welcome, and I know who they are. I will say that, they also have manners, and would not talk to my son other than to ask him how he is or where is his Daddy.

That being said, and also having been in Law Enforcement, if I saw a Game Warden, or any other Law Enforcement Officer questioning my son, and (AND) then seeing me AND driving off before I could talk to him, THAT would raise my hackles and I'd be on the phone to the Supervisory Game Warden INSTANTLY.

It may have been just a friendly chat OP, but you need to not stand there scratchin your chin on figuring what to do and start making some phone calls. Like other posters have said, imposters abound. You may also want to look at the various web sites that post lost or missing children. That should bring it home to you. Just sayin.

As my grand mother said."there really is a boggey man out there" I would be calling somebody for a heads up.

this. call and find out who this person is. then keep watch for any further attention twords children.

Probably just getting a handle on who owns what, saying "hello" to a young boy, and not wanting to disturb you. No biggie.

Now when they surround your house on three sides while you are shooting, watching, and not leaving, get back to me, I've BTDT too.

Tj

IMO, DNR/Fish-n-Game wardens/agents is the one place where the distrust and enmity dynamic that exists between the police and inner-city/ghetto types plays out in the rural/wild areas.

Hard won experience teaches cops on an inner-city beat that everyone's got an angle, and you're only ever put into contact with the public when someone has done something wrong, and, the people and witnesses, even the victims are often less than honest, and are rarely helpful. And this leads to mutual distrust between the police, and the "good people" as well, who in turn respond with dishonesty and unhelpfulness, making the whole dynamic a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The game wardens have the same dynamic. They're constantly dealing with poaching, illegal trapping, hunting over bait, people with nets or a bunch of gill-lines in the water... whatever, and they're responded to with lies. And worse, unlike the ghetto where there's a good chance the people LEO's encounter might be armed, during certain activities like hunting, there's about a 100% probability they're armed. So it leads to the same cycle of distrust that exists in the ghetto.

However, getting the "bad cop" routine from a game warden, it's much more jarring, because the suburban/rural type people out in the woods and on the water are much more likely to view other LEO's and LEA's as "friends" and a helpful resource to solve their problems.

Part of the "problem" (attitude, behavior etc.) of DNR/wardens is just the nature of the beast, I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done about it. The other part of the problem is how this becomes institutionalized in the attitudes of the agency. There should be some pressure back from the chain of command to remind the officers that the majority of people they come in contact with are law-abiding, and they should be treated with an attitude of helpfulness, and assist with compliance, rather than perpetually be on a fishing expedition for violations.

Sounds like he was making sure the kid wasn't there alone, or there with a poacher. He asked questions, and then left when he realized there was nothing to be concerned about.

You are making a mountain out of a mole hill. (unless it was Officer Sandusky)

I dunno about your area, but it seems anymore that half the guys in the woods are the ones who drove 4-6 hours up from NYC or NJ to shoot cows. In other words, they aren't rural folk from around here. In the off season a lot more of the poaching is from locals, but this time of year...all bets are off on the guy in blaze orange being rural.

I'd file an offical report at state level

There may be a perfectly reasonable explanation. Maybe the officer got an urgent call?

Or, maybe the officer has no gift for dealing with the public.

Or, maybe the officer is really a creepy-crawlie a la Sandusky.

I'd make a call here as others have said. If it's nothing, it's nothing. But if it's something, then that officer needs a paper trail.

Okay, a neighbor told me today that a Fish and Game truck was parked on our property this afternoon, and when he walked towards it, it drove away.

Time to get on the phone.

Maybe get the po-po's attention on the subject too . . .





Did your neighbs already know what was going on? If not I'd fill him in so he can just write down the plates next time.

Cant ever be too careful these days.Sad because when I was a kid I walked to school and all over Davie Florida without worry.

Time to make the call, something is attracting this guy to your property.

At this point you need to call. You might even get some useful info about poachers or criminal activity in your area that you didn't know about.

I had a similar problem with federal park rangers, it stopped when I visited their office and was willing to work out any problems they had. Left my phone number so they could 'arrange' a time to talk too...told them if they hassled me again it was on. Some of them get drunk on their power.

Do you ever carry a rifle while out foraging?

It's beginning to sound like you may be the subject of an investigation. All it takes is a concerned citizen's phone call: "Hey, I see this guy going out in the woods with a gun and he comes bag carrying bags of stuff! I think he's poaching!"

You really need to contact the local office and find out what's going on.

Get a trail cam. Maybe he's dumping trapped beavers on your land.

Yes sir, and if it wasn't an actual F&G guy, call local LE to report it. OORRRRRR, just call your local LE and report it anyway as strange behavior.

Good answer!

I would take a walk around your property. Make sure nothing weird is going on (animal carcasses, etc.).

Have you been shooting recently on your property?

Consider that deer season has just ended and wardens are always trolling for poachers.

Yep.



I almost always have a pistol, and often a rifle.

That's what I'm starting to think, too.

I've been following this thread with a little interest, and honestly, if you aren't involved in something shady, I, for the life of me, can not figure out why you haven't made some phone calls by now. Being a former LE for 30 years, your lack of "action" is incomprehensible, especially when children are involved.

Just sayin.

Well, I just have an odd feeling, but nothing I can put my finger on, and nothing I want to cause trouble for a guy over. He might be watching a neighbor, whom I've never met. Yet another neighbor has also seen him around, and that's what he's wondering.

I'm not involved in "anything shady", although, like every single one of us, I break laws I'm not even aware of all the time. We are all unconvicted criminals, which is why I generally avoid contact with law enforcement. They aren't going to give you money.

There are four neighbors I've met out there, and I get along well with all of them. There are several I haven't met, including one old woman who tells everyone I stole her canoe.

There are some boys I caught littering, and I had them pick up their trash, but I don't get the feeling that they've dropped any dimes.

A couple years ago, someone made anonymous phone calls to the state foresters and the Department of Environmental Conservation, saying that I was illegally logging, and violating the Shoreline Protection Act. Both of those came to nothing, I never found out who made the complaints, but nothing like that has happened since. I'm sure it was someone local who resented a newcomer buying the nicest property around. Maybe they've gotten themselves worked up again and started with Fish and Game.

At the tail end of deer season, I found a gut pile and drag marks on my property. I followed them back, found the spray pattern of blood on the snow, and it looks like the shot was made from the road. That might be another thing.

Okay, I finally just got off my ass and made a phone call. By coincidence got the guy who's been out there. I told him I was the landowner, and asked if there was anything going on I should know about. He said there was something going on, but that he "didn't want to spread the word on it" and not to be worried. He talked to my boy because he thought he was alone out there.

Now I'm really curious.

in to find out the answer as well.

so he talked to a child he thought was alone in a remote area and doesnt anyone else to know about it? get on the phone NOW to the state police and make a report. this is as suspicious as hell.

Sounds to me it has to do with a poaching problem.

A reminder- get your hunting/fishing/trapping license for 2012 now. That way when you see a $%## coyote in the back 40 and give him some hot lead you will not be in violation of game laws.

Or you whack a porcupine before your dog gets another face full of quills, etc.

I have not had any trouble with wardens in New Hampshire but I have run into a few over the years. They are attracted by sounds of gunfire and the fines they levy can be shocking.

I don't know if you do any trapping but it never hurts to read up on the trapping laws. They are pretty extensive as I recall.

There have been a number of poaching rings in New Hampshire. The most lucrative that I remember involved Black Bear gall bladders. I think they may be considered an aphrodisiac in some Asian traditional medicines.

In, waiting to see what happens.

That seems like the most likely thing to me too. But I know my property pretty well, and I'm fairly observant in the woods. So I wonder what he's seeing that I'm missing. I have game cameras up out there from time to time. I've had some stolen, but have never gotten any pics of anything suspicious.



Good idea. Just did it.



As I posted above, a game warden might be the nicest guy in the world, but nothing good can come from an encounter with him. The very best you can hope for is that the status quo remains. When I was a kid living in Arizona I saved up to go goose hunting with some friends in California. Thought I'd done all the research and crossed all my "T's" with what were pretty confusing regulations. But a game warden checked me and I'd neglected to sign across the face of the duck stamp. He chewed me out pretty good and threatened to arrest me. Ruined the hunt for me and scared me so bad I'm kinda surprised my first goose hunt wasn't the last time t ever went hunting again. I guess I'm still a little bit phobic.

If he is watching your property common courtesy says he should let you know what is going on.

Unless your kid is running around in a loin cloth (your kid, not you) he should have asked to talk to you!

You should be curious... something funky is going on!

He may have sophisticated surv cams there.

The cops or game wardens don't give a shit about letting you know if they are watching the property unless they want something from you and they aren't going to care if you don't like them talking to your child if he's standing by himself on a dirt road.

So many unanswered questions, tagged for future updates.

http://www.libnot.com/2008/01/05/fake-texas-dot-truck-used-in-drug-transport/

Who knows, it has happened before

I work with abused kids, and the first thing that comes to mind is whether he is a protector or predator. I slant that direction because it is in my face everyday. There are great cops, but there are a few (and I emphasize a few) that are sick folks.

He had the resposibility to ID himself to you unless you were suspected in some poaching. Once the child is ID'd, if you are being investigated, and they don't even know who's property it is, they are still negligent. Something is not right. Sorry, doesn't feel right to me.

Interesting - OST to see how it plays out.

sounds like he's been tipped off to some activity and he isn't sure you're not involved. He won't be telling you much of anything if that's the case.

Maybe he's looking for the canoe?

That's a good point. Maybe he is checking to see if that wood fired canoe is registered.

Sounds like one of your neighbors saw the deer get poached and called it in. He's out there hanging around in case the poacher returns, which they often do.

I think you're right. Another neighbor asked the game warden why he was hanging around, and was told that someone had poached a doe. Apparently Fish and Game know who did it. He said the warden expressed disappointment that he hadn't taken the meat to his house, because then they could have done more about it. I'm still a little perturbed that they're sniffing around my property without informing me, even after I asked about it.

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