Enforcement Survey

[bigtex]

.  I remember his dad would do things like all night stakeouts, deer decoys--had a robot deer, following fishermen with night vision...

How do you know they still don't?

If it's acceptable to refer to them as "gamies", is it acceptable for the enforcement officers to refer to us sportsmen as "bubbas", or "hunting slobs", or whatever funny moniker they come up with?

 

WDFW Officers are "Officers" not "gamies" or "agents" and most get ticked if you call them a gamie or agent. Game warden is ok, but officer is the best.

I think a lot of people are confused as to what a WDFW Officer does. People assume that every officer who checks their fishing license is a WDFW Officer, well every law enforcement officer in the state can enforce WDFW laws and many agencies are starting to realize that you can catch a lot of people with warrants by doing simply license checks. I talked to a buddy who was fishing the Green River in Auburn this summer, an Auburn PD cop came up checked his license and a guy fishing the same beach, the officer left and a couple minutes later three more officers arrived and arrested the guy on outstanding warrants.

WDFW still do all of the "game warden" duties such as robo deers and night vision goggles. Hell they are even using fake grouse now to see people shooting from their cars.

[grundy53]

.  I remember his dad would do things like all night stakeouts, deer decoys--had a robot deer, following fishermen with night vision...

How do you know they still don't?

If it's acceptable to refer to them as "gamies", is it acceptable for the enforcement officers to refer to us sportsmen as "bubbas", or "hunting slobs", or whatever funny moniker they come up with?

 

WDFW Officers are "Officers" not "gamies" or "agents" and most get ticked if you call them a gamie or agent. Game warden is ok, but officer is the best.

I think a lot of people are confused as to what a WDFW Officer does. People assume that every officer who checks their fishing license is a WDFW Officer, well every law enforcement officer in the state can enforce WDFW laws and many agencies are starting to realize that you can catch a lot of people with warrants by doing simply license checks. I talked to a buddy who was fishing the Green River in Auburn this summer, an Auburn PD cop came up checked his license and a guy fishing the same beach, the officer left and a couple minutes later three more officers arrived and arrested the guy on outstanding warrants.

WDFW still do all of the "game warden" duties such as robo deers and night vision goggles. Hell they are even using fake grouse now to see people shooting from their cars.

Who really gives a $hit what someone calls them? Not everyone is a cop groupy like you.

[bigtex]

.  I remember his dad would do things like all night stakeouts, deer decoys--had a robot deer, following fishermen with night vision...

How do you know they still don't?

If it's acceptable to refer to them as "gamies", is it acceptable for the enforcement officers to refer to us sportsmen as "bubbas", or "hunting slobs", or whatever funny moniker they come up with?

 

WDFW Officers are "Officers" not "gamies" or "agents" and most get ticked if you call them a gamie or agent. Game warden is ok, but officer is the best.

I think a lot of people are confused as to what a WDFW Officer does. People assume that every officer who checks their fishing license is a WDFW Officer, well every law enforcement officer in the state can enforce WDFW laws and many agencies are starting to realize that you can catch a lot of people with warrants by doing simply license checks. I talked to a buddy who was fishing the Green River in Auburn this summer, an Auburn PD cop came up checked his license and a guy fishing the same beach, the officer left and a couple minutes later three more officers arrived and arrested the guy on outstanding warrants.

WDFW still do all of the "game warden" duties such as robo deers and night vision goggles. Hell they are even using fake grouse now to see people shooting from their cars.

Who really gives a $hit what someone calls them? Not everyone is a cop groupy like you.

Well respect means everything, if your in violation of the law simply being courteous and calling them an officer could mean they let you go. I know this for a fact. And I bring years of experience of being called an "agent" when i wasn't one.

[Cougeyes]

Well it appears you have a wealth of knowledge you could provide the rest of us on this topic.  You were some sort of enforcement "officer" correct?  Do you agree or disagree that game warden duties have shifted quite drastically over the years?  Game wardens used to be in the woods all the time, patrolling on foot, horseback, riding on quads etc.. but now in my opinion and the opinion of many other hunters i know they do not spend near the amount of time patrolling areas they should be because their time is being taken up on issues like responding to domestic violence, a skunk or racoon is bothering someone's dog etc.... meth labs.....

[grundy53]

.  I remember his dad would do things like all night stakeouts, deer decoys--had a robot deer, following fishermen with night vision...

How do you know they still don't?

If it's acceptable to refer to them as "gamies", is it acceptable for the enforcement officers to refer to us sportsmen as "bubbas", or "hunting slobs", or whatever funny moniker they come up with?

 

WDFW Officers are "Officers" not "gamies" or "agents" and most get ticked if you call them a gamie or agent. Game warden is ok, but officer is the best.

I think a lot of people are confused as to what a WDFW Officer does. People assume that every officer who checks their fishing license is a WDFW Officer, well every law enforcement officer in the state can enforce WDFW laws and many agencies are starting to realize that you can catch a lot of people with warrants by doing simply license checks. I talked to a buddy who was fishing the Green River in Auburn this summer, an Auburn PD cop came up checked his license and a guy fishing the same beach, the officer left and a couple minutes later three more officers arrived and arrested the guy on outstanding warrants.

WDFW still do all of the "game warden" duties such as robo deers and night vision goggles. Hell they are even using fake grouse now to see people shooting from their cars.

Who really gives a $hit what someone calls them? Not everyone is a cop groupy like you.

Well respect means everything, if your in violation of the law simply being courteous and calling them an officer could mean they let you go. I know this for a fact. And I bring years of experience of being called an "agent" when i wasn't one.

I'm talking about on this forum. When I speak to a game warden or any other officer I'm very respectful and always call them "officer".

[deadwoodbuck]

done...good survey...i would like to see more rural private land/owners held accountable for their excesses

[JLS]

Except when you're posting on the internet?  Respect is also how you treat folks when they are not around.

[runamuk]

got er did

[grundy53]

Except when you're posting on the internet?  Respect is also how you treat folks when they are not around.

And there you have it. Im respectful because I don't want them to make up some b.s.. respect is a 2 way street. I would actually respect them if they treated me with respect. I have rarely been treated with respect by Leo's even though I always am respectful to them. They just act like I'm there to serve them. It's their job to serve the public not the other way around. There are a few good ones and I truly respect those gentlemen/women

[bigtex]

Well it appears you have a wealth of knowledge you could provide the rest of us on this topic.  You were some sort of enforcement "officer" correct?  Do you agree or disagree that game warden duties have shifted quite drastically over the years?  Game wardens used to be in the woods all the time, patrolling on foot, horseback, riding on quads etc.. but now in my opinion and the opinion of many other hunters i know they do not spend near the amount of time patrolling areas they should be because their time is being taken up on issues like responding to domestic violence, a skunk or racoon is bothering someone's dog etc.... meth labs.....

Obviously the role of a WDFW Officer has changed over the years. Back under the old game and wildlife departments an officer was a mixture of a biologist and an enforcement officer. During hunting seasons they were doing the typical enforcement missions. During the offseason they were still in the woods doing biological surveys and when they were doing this they could run into poachers. Once the fisheries and wildlife departments merged they became a solely enforcement position. And this trend from a biologist/enforcement position to an exclusively enforcement position is being seen across the country.

There was a staffing survey done in 2008 and part of it included officer’s feedbacks and many of them included what people on here think. They want to do more high country patrols, be in the woods more, more anti-poaching patrols and less nuisance wildlife. They think that they should just stick to bear, cougar, and moose problems and let a non-commissioned person deal with raccoons, deer, and elk problems. But the problem is that there is no money to hire non-commissioned personnel to deal with nuisance wildlife, so they are stuck with it.

A lot of what an officer is being driven by $ since WDFW is always getting killed in the budget. WDFW enforcement is getting a $200k grant per year to do boating enforcement, it use to be that a WDFW Officer would just check for lifejackets, now it’s everything. They get a grant to patrol sno-parks. They get a grant to help with pulling marijuana plants.

With responding to domestics and other crimes, in some of the more rural counties a WDFW Officer may be the only officer on-duty, in some counties there are no 24/7 coverage by the sheriff or WSP, so the WDFW Officer is forced to respond. Because how would it look if the only officer on duty didn’t respond to a domestic and someone ended up dying?

I think a lot of people on here think that WDFW Officers are choosing to work non-WDFW stuff, but in reality they are somewhat being forced to do so. The state legislature every year is coming up with new laws and is constantly assigning WDFW to enforce them and not providing them with extra manpower to do so. WDFW now has to regulate the pet store market, aquatic invasive species, meat lockers, cold storage facilities and so on. So when extra funding opportunities such as boating enforcement, sno-parks and marijuana comes up they have to jump on it just to secure extra $.

Officers want to do the “traditional” duties, but staffing is a big problem and the administration is forcing the coverage issue on their officers. They want officers to be able to respond to violation complaints because they are constantly receiving complaints of “I reported a violation but nobody responded or called me back, WDFW is useless”. If the only two officers in the county are on a horse patrol in a wilderness area, how are they going to respond to a poaching call 90 miles away on the other side of the county?

I don’t think the blame should be on the officers, or even WDFW, but rather the legislature, they are requiring officers to do more and more but with less people and less $.

[woodywsu]

We should change this topic to "just ask bigtex, he's right, you're wrong".

Bigtex, how do you feel about our WDFW officers various job responsibilities? Do you think they should be less involved with various things such as traffic patrol and drug busts? I feel that they are completely understaffed for their responsibilites.

[runamuk]

ummm cant we just simplify this and call people in authority or hell anytime it isn't a personal relationship......"sir" or "ma'am" has worked for me and I am pretty sure it isn't my princess of yar standing that has kept me out  of trouble  

[woodywsu]

Aww, I see. Legislature is requiring them to sit in downtown Kittitas on Sunday of opening day elk season.   

[bigtex]

We should change this topic to "just ask bigtex, he's right, you're wrong".

Bigtex, how do you feel about our WDFW officers various job responsibilities? Do you think they should be less involved with various things such as traffic patrol and drug busts? I feel that they are completely understaffed for their responsibilites.

Well rite now they are limited by agency policy as to how much traffic they work, the agency only wants them dealing with dangerous drivers. And I think most people wouldnt have a problem with a WDFW Officer stopping a DUI driver.

As far as drug busts, it depends. I think if they “run into” somebody using drugs then they should deal with it. But they shouldn’t be searching for it. I think the same goes for marijuana grows, if they get a complaint or stumble upon it, then they should deal with it. Unfortunately our public lands (WDFW, USFS, BLM, and DNR) in this state are being overwhelmed by illegal activities, especially drugs and drinking problems (underage parties, etc) and a lot of times these activities have a direct connection with reckless shooting, off road violations, litter, etc. So to simply say that WDFW should just do hunting and fishing is problematic because then they couldn’t deal with the problems on their own land.

They are definitely understaffed for their responsibility, and the facts/studies back that up.

[bigtex]

Aww, I see. Legislature is requiring them to sit in downtown Kittitas on Sunday of opening day elk season.   

Once again, I am pretty sure the officer you saw in Kittitas was a Kittitas County Deputy, they drive nearly the same pickups as WDFW. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference.