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Your County Wildlife Officer

The Cheatham WMA guy... little man syndrome, a real prick, some of the the other fellows that work with him are pretty cool and will actually have a cordial conversation with you.
The TWRA Commission... worthless as tits on a boar hog. I mean they are right there with Nancy Pelosi. They don't listen to suggestions.
 
Apparently it wasn't. I spent 37 years on call 24/7/365. I never said I didn't talk to people or answer my phone. One year I had almost as many incident numbers at dispatch than one of the other Regions total. There are times when you would like some peace and quiet. Not to mention the toll in takes on your family. In 2010 I was reprimanded for gettin out and answering calls by my Captain. I was involved in a car wreck and very banged up and could barely hobble around. I told lots of people that I would rather take ten bad calls as to miss one good one. Information calls were the worst. When the conversation starts "the guide says this, is that right." And the same person constantly asks, it gets old.
Oh btw the home calls and the contacts in public was on my own time not TWRA.
Best I can figure I gave TWRA about 10 years of free time.


So I guess it wasnt the job for me.
 
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I kind of have to agree with budro2 to a degree. When you accept the job you accept a responsibility to the citizens of your jurisdiction. You need to be accessible. That said, I think it's bad etiquette to call a warden's home or when he's off duty. Call the sherif for an emergency and if he needs assistance from a wildlife officer it's him that will call. Sensibility from both sides would go a long way.
 
Ski said:
I think it's bad etiquette to call a warden's home or when he's off duty.
Click to expand...
Yet, YOU criticize him for not answering SOME of those calls?

Wildlife officers are typical "off-duty" when they are at home.
It's just that they remain "on call" 24/7/365.
That does not mean any member of the public should be calling them at home.
You call the TWRA numbers or 911 or the Sherriff's Department.

Think about this.
When you need a sheriff deputy,
do you call a deputy at home or call 911?

When you need a fireman,
do you call a fireman at home,
or call 911?

None of us function long without sleep.
 
PickettSFHunter said:
What about when your "wildlife officer" actually works another job instead of his TWRA job and everyone knows it? What about when he tells people that he doesn't care anymore because you can't change the culture? Neither he nor his family can go to town without getting harassed so I get it. Our judge actually does do a good job with poachers but you just can't change the culture, you can at least make poachers worry about getting caught. I agree with our warden on the culture but don't agree that you should just retire in place and work another job while drawing that state paycheck also. If he isn't willing to work, then we need another warden, plain and simple. What worries me most of all is, where is the supervisor? Is there no supervisory level person actually making sure this guy is working his state job and not another job?
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I agree that the state wildlife officer should be doing what he's being paid to do by the state and be replaced if they refuse to do so. I don't know nor have ever seen any numbers to the effect, but would be willing to bet that the majority of our state's wildlife officers are just the opposite and are doing a good job with little or no positive recognition. Consider also that while out in the field doing their jobs, most everyone they have contact with are armed with some kind of weapon (mostly firearms) and a lot of this contact is during the dark of night, which is extremely dangerous for our officers. Another consideration for our officers is the fact they (like all law enforcement) are not being paid near enough for the work and dangers involved so therefore some need to work part time jobs or serve with the National Guard and/or reserves in order to make ends meet. Some of the money sent to other countries, that don't even want our help, should be spent here at home for funding for state agencies, etc.,etc. Maybe that way the state could pay our officers a little more and add enough officers that most counties would have more than 1 or 2 wildlife officers to cover the entire county !!
 
Ski said:
I kind of have to agree with budro2 to a degree. When you accept the job you accept a responsibility to the citizens of your jurisdiction. You need to be accessible. That said, I think it's bad etiquette to call a warden's home or when he's off duty. Call the sherif for an emergency and if he needs assistance from a wildlife officer it's him that will call. Sensibility from both sides would go a long.
Click to expand...
TheLBLman said:
Yet, YOU criticize him for not answering SOME of those calls?

Wildlife officers are typical "off-duty" when they are at home.
It's just that they remain "on call" 24/7/365.
That does not mean any member of the public should be calling them at home.
You call the TWRA numbers or 911 or the Sherriff's Department.

Think about this.
When you need a sheriff deputy,
do you call a deputy at home or call 911?

When you need a fireman,
do you call a fireman at home,
or call 911?

None of us function long without sleep.
Click to expand...
Thank you!!!
 
Lot of respect for what the TWRA officers do, and they have always been professional and even pleasant with all my interactions with them. Been checked numerous times, only got a warning once (well actually not me, but I took a date skiing back in the day and I stopped at a spot to fish. She had never fished, but I gave her a pole to try... never crossed my mind to get her a license, and of course, the boating officer pulled up on us fishing for a water safety check, then license check... then it hit me :) oops. The officer must have known she wasn't the repeat offender type, and let her off with just a warning. We were both embarrassed, and she gave me heck for the next couple dates).

I don't have a problem with officers being on my land (I have no knowledge they have done so), but I would have a problem with them messing with trail cameras (I have a couple cams that if not shut down properly, the SD card will become corrupted and possible ruined). But I would think the officers would WANT to be caught on camera... that would send as strong a message to the hunter as anything!

My only complaint (this has never happened to me) would be the heresay reports of an officer checking a hunter on private property while in the stand. That terrifies me from a safety standpoint... officer pushes a deer toward the hunter while walking in, hunter shoots the deer, and the officer is in the line of fire unbeknownst to the hunter.
 
TheLBLman said:
Yet, YOU criticize him for not answering SOME of those calls?

Wildlife officers are typical "off-duty" when they are at home.
It's just that they remain "on call" 24/7/365.
That does not mean any member of the public should be calling them at home.
You call the TWRA numbers or 911 or the Sherriff's Department.

Think about this.
When you need a sheriff deputy,
do you call a deputy at home or call 911?

When you need a fireman,
do you call a fireman at home,
or call 911?

None of us function long without sleep.
Click to expand...
To add to LBLman's post
How many of you would call your doctor at home and ask his wife medical questions if he wasn't home? Or stop her in public and ask her questions?

How would you react if a stranger followed you home or pulled in your driveway to ask questions?

You're at a sporting event to watch your kids play and you have numerous people come by to tell stories or ask questions.

After cell phones I "watched" numerous things my kids did with my wife giving me play by play over the phone while I was working.
Most of you don't have a clue.
 
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Just want to add one more thing so easy for us to overlook.

In those counties with only a single wildlife officer,
let's say the are "on duty" 12 hours a day, 24/7/365.

That would leave half the time in a month when they SHOULD be "off duty"?

Just saying, when these county wildlife officers work 84 hours weekly "on duty",
there is still 84 hours weekly they should be "off duty".

ALL of this time, they are "on call".
SOME of this time they have to get some sleep.

It is logistically impossible for one of these guys to take even most of the calls that get directed to them. And never mind, they SHOULD be able to have a life outside their work.

Being human, no surprise a small percentage of them may tire of this profession before they can retire or get terminated for unacceptable work. But most are just doing this job the best they can, as long as they can.
 
TheLBLman said:
Yet, YOU criticize him for not answering SOME of those calls?
Click to expand...

Where exactly do you see me criticizing him? I quite clearly pointed out that calling him at home or off hours was bad form, and that in case of emergency one should contact the sherif. If a warden is necessary then the sherif will call. You're preaching to the choir.
 
budro2 said:
Didn't want to take calls , referred them to the 800 number , and didn't want to discuss issues when you met people in person .
Yes, I know it gets old but that what the job was about.
Click to expand...
Ski said:
I kind of have to agree with budro2 to a degree. When you accept the job you accept a responsibility to the citizens of your jurisdiction. You need to be accessible. That said, I think it's bad etiquette to call a warden's home or when he's off duty. Call the sherif for an emergency and if he needs assistance from a wildlife officer it's him that will call. Sensibility from both sides would go a long way.
Click to expand...

Perhaps we're closer to being on the same page than I'd originally assumed.
But all I heard was "bad etiquette", rather than generally don't do it.
My bad.
 
TheLBLman said:
Perhaps we're closer to being on the same page than I'd originally assumed.
But all I heard was "bad etiquette", rather than generally don't do it.
My bad.
Click to expand...

Bad etiquette exactly means don't do it. I don't disagree with you on a personal level. I'd normally never nag a warden at home or his off time because I respect a man's human right to uninterrupted privacy.

However, where I agreed with the other poster was in the notion that perhaps being a warden isn't the job for somebody who values privacy. While you and I may be cognizant that a warden is a human being, others view them as a resource to be accessed at their disposal. And they're technically correct. A warden, even though "active" during work hours is a 24/7/365 position. Nowhere in his/her oath was business hours listed, yet the hand was still raised. That's why I said sensibility from both sides would go a long way. People should be courteous in understanding wardens are human, and the warden should be understanding of the position/responsibility he/she assumed.
 
Trust me, I am an equal opportunity TWRA basher. One sad agency now.

The game wardens, all I have met have been great, they are overworked, underpaid and understaffed. That is where the TWRA should be spending money instead of building and maintaining duck blinds.
 
Every warden I've met or been checked by in my 45 years of hunting has been great and overly helpful, except one. He would show up at your set up during prime shooting time and check every gun, shell, license, stamp, and any where a duck could possibly be hid. I kind of understood because there were a lot of outlaw duck hunters on the river. I just thought his timing could've been a little better and he could've been a little more pleasant. But that's the slim minority. Every other one has been top notch.
 
I get along with all the officers I've had to deal with. But with that being said they are outdoorsman like we are and like to hunt. But don't you think for one second some maybe not all of them will try to get a piece of ground out from under you for themselves or their friends. Especially if you've had good luck on it. I've had this done and seen others that lost property to hunt for the same reason. Other then that I really have no complaints with them.
 
I respect the profession, and for the most part, 99% of the ones that I have met, even some that wrote me up. But, I have run into one that just went a little to far, and has a not so good reputation with folks that have spoken to me about him, but, it's all water under the bridge for me and haven't had any bad interactions with any of them since then.
 

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