Jealous Hunters piss me off!!!!!!

[300rum]

You would like to give them the benefit of the doubt but there are way too many stories and 1st hand accounts of these types of things happening. 

[WDFW-SUX]

Later we ran into him again as we were walking back to my truck this time and he checked us a third time.

  Paranoid?

[demontang]

I use to always catch flak from them tell I started to work my current job and got a hat that I wear hunting from one of are state conferences and now they dont even ask for ID. Now how in the world does that work

[Rhinoron247]

There always is more to a story than meets the eye and the devil in the details.  Something has to provoke these guys into action.  I haven't met to many vigilante wardens not to say they are out there.  I do have to say I respect the job they do and would not want their job.

I hope it all works out for the best for everyone involved.

[luvtohnt]

  I was having a hard time buying into the pupild dialating after death thing so I had to look it up. Wow cool that people are able to determine how long something has been dead. But it does say the pupil will only dialate a given amount so if there was a spotlight it would only dialate slightly not completly. So they can determine if a spotlight was used or not. I am not accusing in any way I am a biology major in college and these things are facinating to me.

Brandon

[FALFire]

Okay, there are a lot of Game Agents that believe they can stop someone, anyone in an area open to hunting without Probable Cause. Some of them are very slow learners, however I discussed this very issue with the State lead instructor on Criminal Law. They are required to follow State laws and the Constitution regarding crimes and traffic related violations, suspicion of a crime that has been committed, in the act of being commited or about to be committed.  That is where "Reasonable Suspicion" comes in.

A police officer has to have Probable Cause to stop someone driving a motor vehicle. They do not need Probable Cause to make a "Social Contact" but social contacts are not usually made while operating a motor vehicle, only for an in person, one on one contact. Say for example, you are on the street and you happened to be walking towards the officer and he/she says "Hey how are you today? Where are you going?, that is defined as a social contact and you are not required to stop and answer that question.  If the officer stops you walking down the sidewalk going the other direction, waves you down and orders you to cross the street to meet with him/her then asks for Identification and begins asking incriminating questions you are technically being detained and should at that point be advised of your rights. Basically your "Freedom of Movement" has just been seized.

A social contact means your Freedom of Movement has not been seized, you can walk away without saying a word or providing ID. If you are stopped and detained for a suspicion of a crime or a traffic offense or defective vehicle equipment, you are required to show ID, otherwise, you could be facing "Failure to Comply or Obstrucing a Public Sevant" charges and from there they can seize all of your properties with you at the time.

If you are arrested inside of your vehicle your vehicle can be seized and lawfully searched, " Search Incident to Arrest".  Game agents are authorized to look into any container that is capable of holding game animals, fish and birds. So don't get bent when they look through your vehicle, they are allowed to do that, even without the arrest thingy. That is about the only thing I'm aware of that is different from standard policing. A City of Tacoma Police Officer cannot stop you in the parking lot to check your bags from Walmart without Probable Cause or Reasonable Suspicion but a State Game agent can check your coolers and containers for birds, game or game fish without either when you are parked in an area open to hunting. It goes deeper than this so do your reading.

If you are arrested outside of your vehicle, the officer can impound the vehicle if it is creating a traffic hazard or leaking oil or fluids into the ground surface which would be an "enviromental hazard" and then they can go through the vehicle to do an inventory of all items. Those items need to be included on the impound form for review at a later date and to add to the validity of the item in the vehicle at the time of impound. Basically, it's a search, it's just not called a search. However, if they find anything unlawful during their "inventory" you can be charged with the crime of possession or depending on whatever they come up with.

Checking you three times with-in one hour is a little unreasonable and you may have a case of officer misconduct if you pressed it. But the most that would happen to the officer is a note from his supervisor telling him to bring back some pizza before the end of shift or he gets to buy the beer later.

Again follow their instructions and don't say a word. If you feel your rights have been violated then by all means contact an attorney that is versed in civil violations and go from there.

Otherwise keep yer piehole shut and smile like a baby.

Officers after making a traffic stop are allowed to ask all parties inside the vehicle to exit, it's called "Officer Safety" and they can do that. However, if you are driving down the road, any road and your buddy is seated in the passenger seat and not wearing a safety belt, you as a driver can be lawfully stopped but the officer can only ask for the passengers ID, not the operator of the vehicle unless he see's the the driver is not wearing a seat belt upon contact with the passenger. Now the driver is fair game. Keep the seat belt on at all times and make damn sure everyone else is wearing theirs.

Commiting a simple violation you are fair game to all officers but to the Game Agent it pure bliss and they will ruin your day if you give them crap. However you do have lawful recouse if you believe you have been treated.

All anyone needs to do is some reading, it's all available online under Title 9 and 9A of the Revised Code of Washington RCW and you also need to know a little about the Washington Administrative Code WAC.

Happy hunting

[andrew_12gauge]

so those of you that have been hassled by game wardens id like to know exactly how they have hassled you, every game warden i have ever met has been kind, courteous, and sometimes even helpful(alot of them know where the game is and are more than willing to help you out) i even had one game warden in 04 when i had my Desert A tag offer to drive me out in his game department pickup on all the closed roads, i didnt take him up on the offer but it was nice of him. give them a chance to me it seems like they are just doing their jobs trying to manage the wildlife to the best of thier abilities, if someone calls in a lead they have to follow it up plain and simple they arent gonna try and falsify a case, if their is a case it will come about for them. thats all

[andrew_12gauge]

oh and to pend oreielle adventures im sorry that this happened to your friend and im sure that if he is truly innocent this will all be cleared up in a short time

[WonkyWapiti]

Falfire you got most of it right.  However, an officer does not need probable cause to stop a vehicle.  A stop can be made based solely on reasonable suspicion.  Reasonable suspicion is basically defined as a set of facts or circumstances which leads an officer to reasonably believe that a crime has been, is being, or is about to be committed.  Depending on the circumstances an officer could stop someone within a vehicle when a crime has not been committed and conduct a temporary detention to determine if criminal activity is afoot.  However, state game can conduct checks to verify licenses, animals, etc.  I do agree that the three stops made by the game officer was overly excessive especially if the hunters involved had been cooperative to begin with. 

[Ray]

I do agree that the three stops made by the game officer was overly excessive especially if the hunters involved had been cooperative to begin with.

Yeah, nothing to see here. Move along. No harassment or abuse of authoritative powers. Just officer Byrd doing his job.

[FALFire]

Falfire you got most of it right.  However, an officer does not need probable cause to stop a vehicle.  A stop can be made based solely on reasonable suspicion.  Reasonable suspicion is basically defined as a set of facts or circumstances which leads an officer to reasonably believe that a crime has been, is being, or is about to be committed.  Depending on the circumstances an officer could stop someone within a vehicle when a crime has not been committed and conduct a temporary detention to determine if criminal activity is afoot.  However, state game can conduct checks to verify licenses, animals, etc.  I do agree that the three stops made by the game officer was overly excessive especially if the hunters involved had been cooperative to begin with. 

Wonky,

I thought I had put that in there.

"A City of Tacoma Police Officer cannot stop you in the parking lot to check your bags from Walmart without Probable Cause or Reasonable Suspicion"

[ICEMAN]

Falfire and others, nice posts.

My issue is; (I have heard of this, but not seen or experienced it personally...) when a gamie has hunters completely unload their entire canopy or camper of hunting gear onto the ground, the whole camp... in search of a loaded rifle or game. I am going to object to this one, and ask for his PC for the search of this degree. I will follow up, and I will let them know in advance.

[robb92]

This messed up! Can't wait to read where the probable cause is. I know that when I come back home on leave I buy a resident tag, because Washington is my home of residence, and I also buy a resident Maryland and Virginia hunting tags.

[andrew_12gauge]

military is a whole different ball game

[robb92]

I understand that, but even if you move to Washington state and are in the military you have to wait a certian amount of time before you can buy a WA resident license. If this guy moved to OK, and still kept WA as his home of residence then that should not be a problem.