Accessing the east side from the west

[trapp01]

I had a friend that needed to clear his name after a picture was posted of his bear in camp with a bag of mineral salt that could be seen in the background. Someone saw it on a forum and called WDFW, accusing him of baiting.

(The salt was there for trail cam bait. Does anyone bait bear with salt???).

My friend was asked if he would take the warden to the kill site days later....He met with the warden, drove the 45 miles to the hunt area, walked through his hunt showing his shooting position, the bears position and the gut pile, which most remained despite the Aug heat.
In the end, my friend was exonerated and the warden shook his hand and congratulated him on a great hunt.

A great takeaway from his experience is If you are posting pictures, be sure that there isn't anything that could be misinterpreted.

I don't think he's ever posted anything since.

I’m for sure not a fan of guilty until proven innocent. The burden of proof should be on the state.

[KFhunter]

I had a friend that needed to clear his name after a picture was posted of his bear in camp with a bag of mineral salt that could be seen in the background. Someone saw it on a forum and called WDFW, accusing him of baiting.

(The salt was there for trail cam bait. Does anyone bait bear with salt???).

My friend was asked if he would take the warden to the kill site days later....He met with the warden, drove the 45 miles to the hunt area, walked through his hunt showing his shooting position, the bears position and the gut pile, which most remained despite the Aug heat.
In the end, my friend was exonerated and the warden shook his hand and congratulated him on a great hunt.

A great takeaway from his experience is If you are posting pictures, be sure that there isn't anything that could be misinterpreted.

I don't think he's ever posted anything since.

I’m for sure not a fan of guilty until proven innocent. The burden of proof should be on the state.

It is

My friend was asked

He didn't have to do that, but I agree that he did, now he's on the list of good guys the officer has made previous contact with. 
Used to be a WDFW officer would come to check me "oh its you, how you doing?"  and I wouldn't even have to pull out a license or anything cause he knew I was legal and honest.  Those days are gone with all the new guys around but building a good rep never hurts.

So I agree taking the time to show the officer what happened. 

[KFhunter]

Got to love the internet police

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Someone on a forum somewhere owes this guy 90 minutes worth of gas, time and effort to clear his name.   

If anyone wants a 2nd opinion on a picture here on the forum they can always contact a moderator for a second look and honest opinion.     

We constantly have to look at things to discuss it and have learned to not always trust our first impressions...man have I learned that lesson being a mod 

[emac]

Yes they do. I is absolutely ridiculous someone would do that.  But shouldn't surprise me, there are people on here that call people out all the time for not wearing hunters orange for pictures or not tagging an animal before pictures.



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[Stein]

I don't mind getting checked or if I was asked to go back.  I haven't had to go back, but I was asked for photos, GPS coordinates, waypoints and corroborating stories from my hunting partners.  We were deer hunting about 2 hours from where I killed my elk, so I think he didn't want to drive 4 hours any more than I did.

I want the wardens finding the bad guys and there isn't any way to know who the bad guys are without asking questions.  If there was a way to only interact with the law breakers, they would already be doing that.

[KFhunter]

Yes they do. I is absolutely ridiculous someone would do that.  But shouldn't surprise me, there are people on here that call people out all the time for not wearing hunters orange for pictures or not tagging an animal before pictures.



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We cracked down on that bigly,  the ethics naziism has ran its course and I think we're at a happy medium (which means no one is 100% happy)

but ya, we've made huge improvements there

[bkaech]

If you are accessing the unit from a trailhead and the trial goes into or onto the boarder of the unit the game warden should know that and it wouldn’t be a problem. Just hunt legally and all is good.

[Grit dog]

I don't mind getting checked or if I was asked to go back.  I haven't had to go back, but I was asked for photos, GPS coordinates, waypoints and corroborating stories from my hunting partners.  We were deer hunting about 2 hours from where I killed my elk, so I think he didn't want to drive 4 hours any more than I did.

I want the wardens finding the bad guys and there isn't any way to know who the bad guys are without asking questions.  If there was a way to only interact with the law breakers, they would already be doing that.

That's how I thought I felt until a few years ago too, but my experience (that I posted on here somewhere a while ago) proved to be far different than the otherwise law abiding professional family man that almost  spends more time buying tags than he actually gets to hunt would expect.
In short, 2 fish cops made it a personal mission of theirs to try to pin their hunch on me that, even if it had been an infraction, the infraction would have been in another state, not WA. And a couple grand later and several trips to court, the court just decided they wanted some money for their efforts......one of, if not the most effed up situation I've found myself in, in my now 46 trips around the sun!
Fwiw, the other state laughed at it and extended their direct phone number if the WA Leo's had any questions. No surprise that they never called. 

[Grit dog]

^ So yes I'd be extremely wary about how anything gets construed by that organization and have some proof that may not be my burden to supply just to save the time, money and hassle later on.

[scoutdog346]

Most game wardens aren't stupid they can tell by just looking at the situation if need be you can bring them back to the kill site in the shooting site and prove to them right then and there.

Hey, y’all! I have a quick question that I can’t seem to get an answer on. I’m looking at accessing an east side elk unit from the west side. I’m just wondering about the legality of such a thing. It seems like it should be fine, but the idea of running into a warden at a west side trailhead with an elk(if I should be so lucky) and a east side tag might raise some awkward conversations. Any info would be much appreciated!

[HoofsandWings]

I guess I do not understand. There are several roads that start on the west side and become the boundary between east and west. I would camp on the east side of the road if you are going to hunt eastern GMU's.
If you look/act suspicious or are looking at your shoes, the LEO may want to investigate more.
Pretty soon drones flying high above and unseen will be able to film you or take photos of your heat signature.