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U.S. Forest Service Land - No hunting beyond this point signs from land, no signs from water

I know some gamewarden's and USFS rangers locally, and they are super nice and friendly, helpful and willing to get you information that you need. The problem is that they are never the ones I run into. I always run into the guy who hates his job and everyone he comes in contact with.
 
Nutterbuster said:
The Feds here in Alabama for sure like hikers better than hunters. But anybody who can write you a game ticket is probably state.

I'll throw this out there too. If you have confrontational folks working an area they're probably that way because they deal with a-holes all day. Might be some of my cousins up there poaching that property and riling folks up. Lock your doors and don't leave anything shiny in view on the seat.
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I think this is more of a contributing factor then anything else. They deal with a bunch of low life hunters who poach, hunt posted areas, break in to vehicles, litter, leave carcasses by the gates etc. and they meet me and so they just assume I am one of those people doing the bad stuff. I haven't had many interactions with LEOs but the ones I have had made me feel like I did something illegal when I didn't do anything wrong at all.

I had a crappy experience last year hunting a wildlife refuge when I found a pile of corn and decided to report it. I called it in just to see what they would say. The officer called me back and accused me hunting illegally and asking me all these accusatory questions. He then told me that its a waste of time reporting baiting and that he didn't know a warden in the state that would waste their time on it. No good deed goes unpunished kind of thing. That was the first time I ever called to report anything, and likely the last. It seems like our state just doesn't have the bandwidth to enforce the laws, they have no problem creating more laws to be enforced though.
 
I hate feeling like I am going to get busted for doing something illegal that I wasn't aware that was illegal. I always read the regs to know the laws and boundaries and everything but you never know when youre gonna miss something and get a ticket because you were doing something you didn't know was illegal or not permitted. I guess that is kind of the original point of this thread. My unlucky self would be hunting a water access piece of land that just so happened to be posted on the road access side and I would get busted for it because I was breaking the rules on accident. In this case I know about it now so I will avoid getting in that situation and don't have an excuse.
 
gcr0003 said:
I think this is more of a contributing factor then anything else. They deal with a bunch of low life hunters who poach, hunt posted areas, break in to vehicles, litter, leave carcasses by the gates etc. and they meet me and so they just assume I am one of those people doing the bad stuff. I haven't had many interactions with LEOs but the ones I have had made me feel like I did something illegal when I didn't do anything wrong at all.

I had a crappy experience last year hunting a wildlife refuge when I found a pile of corn and decided to report it. I called it in just to see what they would say. The officer called me back and accused me hunting illegally and asking me all these accusatory questions. He then told me that its a waste of time reporting baiting and that he didn't know a warden in the state that would waste their time on it. No good deed goes unpunished kind of thing. That was the first time I ever called to report anything, and likely the last. It seems like our state just doesn't have the bandwidth to enforce the laws, they have no problem creating more laws to be enforced though.
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Wow. The times I've reported bait I've always gotten more positive responses. One guy straight up came out immediately to have a look around and I noticed increased presence by enforcement there all season.

It's a mixed bag. I've had a few treat me like a criminal just because I had a gun and "could" be poaching and I've had a few give me a lift when my truck broke down.

Nicest group by far is DCNR field technicians. The guys who plant plots and work roads and just do the grunt work. Those guys tend to be the most useful to get to know in my book because 1 they actually spend time in the field and 2 if you talk to them enough eventually the warden will stop by and they're likely friendly with him so you get to the "in" crowd status through affiliation with them.

You gotta get better at politickin man
 
I'm not the 1 who made the call but my friend was able to ask a fwc officer about the sovereign land law and the officer said 100% we would be in violation....but my friend asked if they would ask someone higher up the food chain and after a couple week wait we learned that our original questions correct answer was we would be within the law....so not every officer is totally up to date on these gray area laws.
 
I’m honestly surprised there aren’t more instances of violence between fish and game enforcement, land management, and the public. They’re encountering people who are armed, generally more introverted, in mostly remote areas, while theyre armed, and on edge because they’re encountering armed, antisocial people in remote areas who might be breaking the law.

everyone can be polite. And on their best behavior, and doing their job, and not breaking the law. Still shocking more people don’t end up dead.

I’ve never understood why catching people in the act of doing illegal stuff like that with guns is any different from catching them with cameras, and arresting them in a less dangerous situation. Maybe it cost too much.

that said, I guess this is optimism! Good job for everyone playing nice most of the time!

I’ve never had a bad experience with LEO.
 
Well I guess successfully derailed my own thread. I think we talked about USFS boundaries and signage enough though.
 
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