WDFW - Abuse Of Power or Unequal Discretion

[SHANE(WA)]

*censored* bag, likes to watch young girls pee also, whack job.He set up on hill behind us and watched us walleye fish the columbia river, well my 2 cousins were with us, 10 and 13 at the time, well they were going to the bathroom up on the hill behind us, well lets see where was Timmy? watching it all. Or how about there was 10 of us up bearhunting one year, we all headed out early one morning to hunt, my cousin stayed at camp, wasnt feeling to good.About 8 am he hears something in camp, grabs his pistol thinking its a bear in camp, NOPE, its Timmy Hood, going thru our coolers and whatever else he could find, cousin said u shoulda saw the look on his face when he saw him, backtracking, uh uh uh uh well well uh, ^&*( face. He also got a earful when he came across a ridge to check us at 1 hr left of light while we were bear hunting, screwed the whole hunt up that night, sorry they have no right to come in the field and mess with MY time off work while I am up hunting, u wanna check me at my rig thats fine, be there waiting, do not come out and screw up someones hunt.

Weatherman, well the story is a family had a pet deer years ago mother was hit in front of their house, fawn stayed around, the family just took care of it.Well somebody called and turned them in, weatherman shows up.Deer is in a coop, the father says it sleeps in here at night, it goes in here everynight, we dont make it.So he goes in there and tries to get it to go out, deer wont leave, pulls out his pistol and shoots it dead in front od a little girl, i know where this house is to this day, kelly hill. This is one shady individual, harassing many hunters in his day, I have heard it all from my dad about this guy.

[yelp]

I know that some agents don't use the courtesy we would like them to use at times.  I have seen rude behavior from officers before and it almost hurts them.  There are other ways of getting information or evidence.  They have some rights but the law has grey areas in regards to privacy IMO.

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=77.15.094

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=77.15.085

 Hunters/Fishers will always be subject to these laws no matter how innocent we are. That being said there is no excuse for abuses outside of the rights officers have. IMO  being professional, courteous and honest can get you more, but I am not an officer just a hunter.   

[SHANE(WA)]

What's funny is I have had nothing but pleasurable and helpful experiences outta state, MT and ID it's always here, friends of mine say the same thing

[bearpaw]

Re: Don Weatherman
I know Don pretty darn well and think that perhaps you have the wrong picture of him. I have heard about his colorful youth, but he turned a new leaf many many years ago, and it's that history that makes him so good at busting violators. I will admit that the first time we met in the field many years ago, he thought I was a poacher and I thought he was a jerk, but after that initial contact we talked it out, and over time became friends. I have heard many people say how well he handles himself and how well he presents himself and that he is better than most other agents they have met. I wouldn't be much of a person if I didn't speak up in his strong support. I think he is an excellent agent. Perhaps you have gotten sideways with him over something in the past. I would suggest that you try talking to him if you think he treats you unfairly in the future. From past experience I can tell you that if you treat him decent he will treat you decent as well.

Re: Tim Hood
I have also spent quite a bit of time with Tim and respect him as well. He has always treated myself and other hunters with me, with respect. I will admit, I don't think he trusted anyone as being completely straight, but that mentallity is what is taught to enforcement so they don't miss violations, so I never held it against him. Perhaps you think he was looking at the girls, or perhaps he did look their way to see what they were doing, (it's not uncommon for poachers to sneak fish to their vehicle and then fish for more fish) I don't know, but I have never heard anything like that about him before and would have to think that you are mistaken.

It's common for all the agents to sit back with spotters and binos and watch people for violations, that's how they find them. I can't say that I agree with everything every agent has done. Don busted one of my friends for something a few years back and made a bigger deal out of it than I thought was right. I even questioned him about it. But the bottom line is that Don sited my friend within the law and he pursued it in what he thought was the proper way.

I'm really sorry you've had a bad expereince and hope the future is better for you. 

[bearpaw]

shane....I should have followed up by saying that if you honestly feel they were unethical or unfair, I will give you the legislators contact info so you can report it or you can write up your complaint and I will deliver it to the legislators for you.

After all, I was asked to collect info, not to make decisions on specific complaints.
Regards, Dale

[PA BEN]

The only complaint I have personally is when I was bow hunting up Summet Valley. I was about 100 yds up the hill from the road in a tree stand when Now retired officer and a helper, set up next to the road in the ditch to catch this group of guy's road hunting for deer, guy's were riding in the back of a pickup shooting deer form the pickup with there bows. BTW, I called the game dept. on these guys.  Will they didn't know I was above them and they kept talking, mean while a nice 4 point was making his way down the trail pass my tree stand. With all the talking going on the buck spooked off. I walked down the hill and said to them, I appreciate the job your doing, but could you keep quite. They were very sorry.

[yelp]

If all the WDFW has to worry about is being quiet than I guess we have it pretty good?  As far as an abuse..unless he knew you what tree you were in at the time and knew you were in it..then that sucks PA BEN.

[PA BEN]

They didn't know I was there. I thanked them for the good job, but keep it quite next time. You don't know if someone hunting near by.

[Gobble]

I have nothing but respect for what they do. I have a family member who is a gamie and if you knew all the crap they have to deal with you would understand why they sometimes get cranky. I have had a couple issues while fishing with a over zealous warden while fishing the Satsop. He came in and made everyone stop fishing and did a license check and barb check. He was quite the jerk but he was doing all of us a favor by busting the poachers (he did bust a couple) He could have been a little nicer I guess but he was only doing his job. 

[bearpaw]

It's definitely not an easy job dealing with some people who automatically hate you due to the uniform you wear. But wardens have positive things in their jobs too. I have been glad to see this isn't just a big bashing thread because I was worried about that. It was only meant to probe for real problems and there doesn't seem to ne a widespread problem. It seems like more people are unhappy with upper level management than with the enforcement officers.

[Broken nock]

Have a friend that arrowed his deer (doe) took it to Edgar's meat on the south hill. Got a nock on the door a few days later and received a citation for poaching. Because the date on his tag that was cut was was still visible. Warden said that he might try to use the tag again. my friend  tried to say that the tag was no good because it was notched. Officer was rude, and he still got his ticket. My friend went down to Edgar's meat, and asked him if he gave his tag to the Warden. The owner of Edgar's told him that the officer is in there every couple of days and rifles through the tags during hunting season. Called the Region 1 office to file a complaint and the boss man said. you can't file a complaint against the officer just take the ticket it's no big thing it's kinda like a speeding ticket. My friend then tried to complain to Olympia about both of them now. Nothing. Went to court on the date he was suppose to, and his name wasn't called. Judge asked him his name, and the prosecuting attorney said that the state dropped the charges.

A coworker of mine who lives in Idaho was hunting the Idaho side of liberty lake behind the ORV park. Driving down the road and sees a sign saying Washington State Line 2 miles ahead. He pulls over not even a hundred yards past the sign. Him and his boy get out load their rifles and start walking up the road back towards the sign. A Washington warden comes ripping up the road in his P.U. and stops them. Mysteriously they were in Washington not Idaho Even though the sign said two miles to the state line. Writes them up for hunting without a licence, carring a loaded weapon during deer season, and a couple of other things. Mike made as many calls as he could to try to get it taken care of to no avail. Goes to court same thing as Glenn charges dropped.

If they keep this crap up because no one at the top can control their officers, someone will. And that will make the rest of us honest hunters pay for it. I mean if you really think about it are these Game Enforcement Officers really tree-huggin hippie sierra club greenpeace p.e.t.a. supporters taking out their aggressions on the honest hunters hurting these fuzzy little animals.