Disappointed with our Wildlife Enforcement Program

[Hurricane]

Wanted to talk about an incident that happened to me last year. I had permission to hunt private property near the town of Randle. At this time I was the only one that had permission. Opening weekend of Muzzy season I am watching a herd of elk with a legal bull. They were feeding in my direction. They were about 200 yards from me. As they got to about 100 yards a shot rang out and the elk scattered. I leave my spot and see 2 people standing on the driveway. I confronted them to tell them they are trespassing and I leave to call it in. They leave. There was no local warden on duty so I talked with a local sheriff and He took the info and started the report. The next morning I am back on the property hunting and the Dad of these 2 trespassers shows up and is driving around the property interfering with my hunt and harassing me. I called this in and nothing. This is where I got pissed and disappointed with the enforcement. I got a call back and could not get anyone to come out. They forwarded this on to the local Game Warden. I took time out of work and met the warden down there and it turns out he is friends with this family, small town, and did nothing but make excuses for all their actions. He did everything He could to justify not bringing any charges. There is supposed to be an oath that these so called officers are supposed to uphold and this guy did not Honor it. I lost a lot of respect for the enforcement division. These trespassers/ poachers and their Dad are the owners of Ash Construction in Randle. Thanks Rant over. 

[JDHasty]

If it happened just as you state it did file a formal complaint w/wdfw and the local Sheriff department.  That is the best way to deal with this type of abuse.   

[WAPatriot]

Nothing worse than a trespasser during hunting season. What you described should be a shootable offense. Did they kill the bull? Who tagged it you or the kids.

[ghosthunter]

Where is the property owner in this?

You may have permission to hunt the property, but unless the property owner complains you are just another Joe.

Unless you have some legal paper that states you can run off trespassers??

[piledup]

"It's good to know people in high positions." 

I feel you.

[OutHouse]

Man that is such *censored*. I have my gripes with them too. Last archery season some hunter near me shot a doe and only removed the limbs and did a bad job at that. He left most of the meat for waste. I call the wardens, sheriff's etc... and they just kept coming up with excuses about why they didn't want to investigate the case. Complete nonsense.

[popeshawnpaul]

You need to get the owner to pursue the case.  It is questionable whether you have standing to pursue the trespass charge.  It does not need to be WDFW so pursue it with the county.  Once a report is written, contact the county prosecutor.  If they refuse to file the charges, you can petition the court to have charges filed.  It's awkward in procedure because it forces the prosecutor to pursue charges on a case they didn't feel was worthy of even filing.  Three is a procedure for it if you are that motivated.