Interactions with 2 Wildlife Officers Recently

Wrangler95

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Joined
Nov 28, 2002
Messages
26,256
Location
Middle Tn
Bill was in my first LE training class when I came down to Nashville and took over the officer training. He was a great officer and an even better person!
Sure was,he did a great job here in Clay county,hated when he retired!!
 

backyardtndeer

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Joined
Jul 29, 2015
Messages
21,426
Location
West Tennessee
Had several encounters with our game warden over the years, genuinely good guy. The one before him was ok, only talked to him s few times. Haven't met the new one yet.
My daughter has had her lifetime license since right after she was born.
A few years ago, several of us went squirrel hunting. I had ask my daughter if she had her license, she said yes. I guess because we were already there, and she had forgotten it, she didn't want to mess things up...so she lied about having it.
After the hunt, we were back at the vehicles. We were backed into a logging road into the property. This property is at the end of a small dead end road (pig path). Only on rare occasions do you ever see another vehicle back there. The guys we were with were parked between us and the road.
As we were loading our stuff into the vehicle, I hear a vehicle coming down the road...very slowly. There is a curve just above where we are parked, so you can't see anything. In just a minute, I see the front of a dark green truck easing around the curve...it's the GW.
I make the comment...we about to get checked. Daughter, who is with me behind the CRV, with the back hatch open, suddenly gets very concerned. It looks like she's about to cry. I say to her..."you don't have your license...do you?". She says no.
By this time the GW is already checking those with us. I walk around our vehicle, and start talking to the GW. Daughter is hiding behind car about to chit herself. GW asks...who is that hiding behind the car? I tell her what's going on, figuring she's about to throw the book at daughter. She has her license...she just forgot it. She tells me to have her come over to us...and I did. I'm thinking we about to get our butts chewed out...and cited. Instead...she asks the daughter...do you have your phone with you? Dumb question...what teenage girl doesn't... 😂. Daughter says yes, so the GW helps her load the app on her phone and pull it up electronically. Never even fussed about it. Was just being helpful.
Ironically...daughter has never forgotten her license again... 😂
Great story. My oldest daughter wanted to be a game warden and even went to UT Knoxville with intentions of pursuing that goal, she was in their wildlife management program. She decided that she didn't really want that life after her first couple semesters. That said, I could have seen her doing the same with your daughter.
 

mike52

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Joined
Jun 24, 2020
Messages
474
Location
Mt Juliet Tn
Jim Hooper was a class act in Wilson county. Would wright his mother a ticket if she was in the wrong, but if wrong your wrong. Got promoted to lieutenant some years ago and has retired.
 

sallee-bo

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Joined
Nov 26, 2012
Messages
2,136
Location
palmersville tn
Haven't had many encounters but the couple I have were good. A few years ago I was back at camp after the morning hunt and I hear somebody pull in. It was the game warden along with the guy that was taking his place. A members dad was in a golf cart that had stopped down the road and they were letting me know. They offered to bring him to camp but he told them he'd wait for his son. Well we chatted a few minutes and they left so I was getting my stuff together to go see what was wrong with the golf cart when he came pulling in. He didn't have an orange hat on and I asked if they had said anything to him and he said "yeah they told me to make sure I put one on". 😂
True story. Back in '75 my cousin and I were going deer hunting on my family property in Weakley county. There was a hunting club across the road from us and when I pulled up to our gate the GW (I believe his name was Ellis) was talking to 4 or 5 of the hunting club members. Well, my cousin didn't have an orange cap and as we started to open the gate the GW stopped us. Said my cousin couldn't hunt without orange on his head. I opened my trunk and got a fluorescent orange frisbee, punched two holes in it and tied it to my cousin's head. The GW just shook his head and laughed. Of course as soon as we got out of sight he took it off. Put it back on when we came out.
 

rifle02

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Joined
Dec 12, 2018
Messages
1,439
Location
Sale Creek
True story. Back in '75 my cousin and I were going deer hunting on my family property in Weakley county. There was a hunting club across the road from us and when I pulled up to our gate the GW (I believe his name was Ellis) was talking to 4 or 5 of the hunting club members. Well, my cousin didn't have an orange cap and as we started to open the gate the GW stopped us. Said my cousin couldn't hunt without orange on his head. I opened my trunk and got a fluorescent orange frisbee, punched two holes in it and tied it to my cousin's head. The GW just shook his head and laughed. Of course as soon as we got out of sight he took it off. Put it back on when we came out.
It's what they say.. truth is Stranger Than fiction!
 

redblood

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Joined
Jan 22, 2006
Messages
26,300
Location
Lewisburg
Me and my son got checked at lake .showed him our fish. He asked if we were licensed. I told him yes, he didnt even check. He was nice. Said he was glad i was taking a kid fishing. He was more interested in the boat and the active target setup
 

Planking

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Joined
Sep 18, 2013
Messages
6,797
Location
Tennessee
Ive been checked 18 times if my memory serves me right. Always been a pleasure even when i was given a ticket. I know its out of the officer's hands but TWRA has made a real mess out of our community by allowing road hunting at night with thermals year around. It's a nightmare i wouldn't wish on anyone.
 

RobbyW

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Joined
Sep 19, 2011
Messages
2,316
Location
Henry County TN
Checked once in Arkansas and it wasn't good. Evening Dove hunt and was hunting a field a friend killed a limit on that morning and was checked by the same warden that morning. I was out there with my son, daughter and nephew. I didn't even have a gun loaded but the boys did. I think he thought we were the guys he checked earlier and had an open and shut case with them already killing the limit. He drove right down the middle of the field stopped and was disappointed and was trying to get me to tell him where the others that were there that morning were hunting. He checked plugs but over all was an @$$. My brother owned the field and wasn't too happy that he drove through the middle of his bean field to get to the dove field.
 

mike243

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Joined
Sep 6, 2006
Messages
18,864
Location
east tn
I remember the very first time I was checked, its been 50 years now, me and stepdad were rabbit hunting down near Doyle town in a light rain, tennis shoes that were soaked and feet frozen, must've been in the upper 30's. the dogs were making a big loop and were pretty far and I was hugging a tree trying to stop shaking I was so cold. All of a sudden a man stepped out in front of me, game warden lol , I was shooting a single shot 20g, he checked every shell I had and didn't find no slugs, don't reckon he ever caught up with the SF , man I hated being so poor we couldn't afford a pair of boots to hunt in, those $2,00 tennis shoes were tough though. I don't know how they afforded it but for my 12th birthday I got the new shotgun license a box of shells and a beagle dog, best rabbit dog I ever had, I have had a lot of birthdays since but that was the best ever. The gw was dedicated being out in that mess trying to protect deer, back then there wasn't a lot of them around White county, we got it a lot better than those days so feel blessed with what has been accomplished with our turkeys and deer, I know they have tried to help quail but that a bird that can't learn from us, not sure pheasant could make it here but would like to hunt them.
 
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Joe2Kool

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Joined
Oct 13, 2002
Messages
854
Location
Knoxville, TN USA
I was recently checked on the North Cumberland. They were basically looking for people on ATV's without permits. They were kinda nosey looking in the back of the truck, but overall nice.

Although I did have one "check" that could have gone badly for me, but thankfully the GW was accommodating. It was on an Oak Ridge hunt. I killed a deer and took it to the checking station. Gave them my permit, pointed to the spot on the map, and looked in my wallet for my hunting license. It wasn't there! My heart sank to my feet.

As I was fumbling through my wallet, I realized what had happened. The evening before, I had killed a deer on private property and taken it to Adam's Meat Processing, just a few miles from the OR checking station. This was before the tele-check phone app, so I handed them my license to check in the deer. While they were checking it in, I got to talking to some of the other guys there. And walked away, leaving my license on the counter.

I told the GW at the OR checking station what had happened. He said if I waited until it was slow, he would radio in and confirm my license was valid. Meanwhile, I called Adam's. Sure enough, they had it, and stuck on their board.

So, technically, the GW would have given me a ticket for "hunting without a license", but I was grateful he was accommodating.
 

rifle02

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Joined
Dec 12, 2018
Messages
1,439
Location
Sale Creek
Once in Georgia on a managed hunt I was driving back to the campsite after the morning hunt.
The dirt road was winding and narrow so it took some care to meet an oncoming vehicle. The only vehicle that I met was the green pickup truck. The warden waved at me to stop and in a friendly manner asked how I'd done. I told him the truth that I'd not seen a thing, etc. As we were chatting and our windows were even with each other, I noticed he kept looking intently at my hands, weird I thought. Later my friends told me that that guy looks for traces of blood on your hands and especially under your fingernails! Pretty sneaky!
 

DayDay

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2-Step Enabled
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
1,542
Location
Bartlett, TN
A few years ago, two wildlife officers were waiting at the parking lot when I walked out of the woods after dark at Wolf River WMA. I had my climbing stand on my back and my bow with arrows in the quiver. They may have been hanging out just in case I might have been lost. They were parked behind my vehicle so I'm guessing they had already run my vehicle plate and knew my hunting license status.

After we talked a little bit, one asked me if I had a hunting license. When I said I had a lifetime license and started to get it out of my pocket, the guy told me it was okay and I didn't have to get it out. They were very nice.
 

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