Outdoor TV and the "warden" shows

[Empty Quiver]

It seems to me that every one of these shows are based on the premise that all outdoorsmen are slobs and poachers trying to game the system to kill innocent animals.


Alaska Troopers started a few seasons ago portraying the troopers as reasonable fellows. Well that must not have sold enough tickets cause now its all drama and ENFORCEMENT. The NATGEO Alaska wardens show is starting to really chap my    with the disappointment evident when a hunter is legal.


My bitch is not with the troopers or wardens. They appear to by and large do their jobs quite fairly. The editors , and producers however do everything in their power to lead one to believe every hunter will be going to the iron bar hotel.


I suppose its business as usual at the networks.

[thumper113]

Don't get me started!

My "favorite" episode was a warden staking out some fisherman all morning then following them back to their hotel on the premise they would go someplace else to catch another limit.

They did their best to ensure it looked like all sportsmen are unethical.

[spruce]

A warden's job, like any other LEO job, consists of hours of boredom punctuated with an occasional exciting (or worse) few minutes.  How many would watch if they showed what the job is REALLY like?
 
It's just TV, made to attract an audience, not necessarily portray the job as it really is.  It's no stretch to think a Hollywood producer or director might have a personal anti-hunting bias!
 
It's like the hunting shows - they don't show hours of sitting and waiting.  Days and days are all condensed into 30 minutes or an hour with the boring parts edited out.

[tom548]

 Spruce:  What you say is true, the problem being the people that are not smart enough to figure this out for them self, and thing that is the way we all are.  I tried to explain how these shows do not portray the real world.  The reply I got from the person, " They call them reality shows for a reason they show how people realy are."

[yellowtail3]

I detest the LE Worship shows like 'cops' and others coming online which make citizenry out to be criminals. I can't watch them, lest i destroy my TV...

[mcwoodduck]

Spruce,
What they are doing is not getting people to watch,  Look at all the hunters here that this show could educate to some of the rules that are not well known and show the enjoyment great outdoors.  Instead they show game wardens that have the power to over ride the 4th amendment  and search to prove you are not guilty. 
This type of TV turns off hunters, and puts us at odds with the wardens as soon as we see them making it look like we are at odds rather than working together to stop poachers and other people that ruin the public lands. 
And after watching a few of the shows one rainy Saturday, I will not watch it anymore.    Too much French style of justice by big government.   

[Old Fart]

I watched it once. it was filmed in Calf. and they spent more time chasing a pot grower than poachers. The GW around here are all pretty good guys. But I live in the heartland so it doesn't count as far as TV goes.

[FPH]

I detest the LE Worship shows like 'cops' and others coming online which make citizenry out to be criminals. I can't watch them, lest i destroy my TV...

I like the show "COPS".  The show highlights the strange off center mind set of some people( want wife to see) and some COPS.  The rest of the LE shows I could care less about.

[spruce]

They're just entertainment programs, and like all "reality" programs they have little to do with the reality of everyday life.  I don't know what demographics they are after, but producers' object is to attract an AUDIENCE, not hunters per se.
Like everything else on TV some of it is entertaining, and some of it is just mindless drivel - that's why the remote was invented!
 
How could they educate people on the game laws when there are 50 states all with widely varying laws, plus each state divided up into counties and/or zones where laws are different, all covering hundreds of game, non-game, and fish species?
 
As far as them violating the 4th amendment there's no way to tell if they did or not.  You're not seeing or hearing everything that happens.  It's all been edited for TV.  We don't know what transpired leading up to a search taking place.  Were there things off camera that lead up to establishing probable cause?  Did the suspect waive his 4th amend. rights by giving permission to search?  Does the producer have a political agenda?
 
 

[BBF]

 
It's like the hunting shows - they don't show hours of sitting and waiting.  Days and days are all condensed into 30 minutes or an hour with the boring parts edited out.

Adding that during those 30 minutes you get about half of that time filled up with advertisements.

[BBF]

McDuck
 
I don't know how this is done in your jurisdiction. Around here( the places I've been) the Game Warden and the Customs people are the only LE's that you have to prove to that you are NOT  guilty.

[dukkillr]

My "favorite" episode was a warden staking out some fisherman all morning then following them back to their hotel on the premise they would go someplace else to catch another limit.

I've been checked a whole lot of times in my life.  Never gotten a ticket until a fish pig pulled us over on a Sunday afternoon at the lake.  5 youngerish people out on the water skiing and tubing must be drunk or high right?  Except I don't drink, or do drugs, and I don't hang out with people who do.  He tore the boat apart.  Counted life jackets, checked papers, etc...  He pulled me off of it.  Ran me for warrants.  Everything square.  30 minutes later he needed to justify his time expenditure so he declared that I had run across the lake with someone in the boat standing (which was true, we ran across the channel with a guy holding the tubes down so they wouldn't blow out).  He'd seen my KS drivers license and he knew it was 2 hours each way for me to show up and fight the ticket.  He knew he needed to show production.  He probably even knew that he'd created a significant distrust of wardens in 5 people, but hey, he got 90$ out of me.  It would be difficult for me to have less respect for someone.
 
I had another bad experience with a warden, and once again it was because he had spent hours laying in the weeds (in the rain) and needed something to show for his time.  Even with his best effort to make something up he was unable to claim something that would stick, but he sure tried.
 
When I was a little kid my dad successfully beat a federal waterfowl ticket for party shooting.  Guess the story?  Right, pig had been sitting in the weeds all morning, teal were everywhere, and he assumed they'd shoot to many.  When they didn't he declared that from hundreds of yards away he could tell which of 4 guys standing next to each other killed what birds.  If you've ever duck hunted before you know how absurd that claim is, but he had to show something for his time, or at least he had to try...
 
The sad thing is, nobody should like wardens more than an avid hunter.  I'd love to be rid of road hunters, trespassers, slobs, etc...  But the cure is as bad as the disease... 
 
 

[wtxbadger]

I have met some really good dedicated game wardens here in west Texas over the years and never had a problem with any of them. They were polite and courteous while doing their duty and after they verified everyone was legal with licenses etc. some of them stuck around to talk for a bit. That seems to have changed with the younger generation of wardens I have met. When dove hunting with my wife and son a few years back there was someone driving around on the county road shooting dove from the power lines which of course is illegal and I think the wardens were trying to catch them. A senior warden and his trainee fresh from the academy saw us on a stock tank and decided to check us out. Our car was parked quite a ways down a dirt road from where we hunting and I heard the wardens truck pull into our lease and stop. The senior warden walked down the the dirt road towards us and at first I assumed he was alone and we were keeping our eyes open for dove flying by for the chance to bag one before he reached us. The brush where we were hunting is fairly thick and luckily I spotted the trainee sneaking up on us from the brush. Thank goodness I spotted him, otherwise he might have been peppered by pellets if a dove had flown between us. The senior warden was extremely polite and the trainee was very rude and abrupt while we gave them our licenses and showed them the birds we had bagged so far. Once we had satisfied both that we were legal I tried to point out to the trainee that what he had done by sneaking up on us was dangerous and he might have been injured he flew off the handle and accused me of trying to threaten him and if it were not for the senior warden things might have gotten a lot worse and possibly ended up with me being arrested for threatening him. i have heard quite a few fellow hunters make similar comments about the attitude change of our younger game wardens and how it seems like they are actually trying to provoke and belittle hunters in the field instead of performing the job they were hired to do. Maybe this is how they are being trained at the academy.

wtxbadger

[goodshot]

     Remember when it was "to protect and serve"?   Now it is "them against you"  Folks, i don't think some people can handle authority just as some cannot drink.
     I recall when Iowa required an MMPI for law enforcement, the law was written in a way that they were not required to
go by it in hiring, just take it.   We all know people with low self esteem who seek out the badge, gun, and fast car.
     Power can corrupt, so many forget that their abuse of the small amount of authority they have sought and acquired will be held to their account on judgement day.
     

[mcwoodduck]

They're just entertainment programs, and like all "reality" programs they have little to do with the reality of everyday life.  I don't know what demographics they are after, but producers' object is to attract an AUDIENCE, not hunters per se.
Like everything else on TV some of it is entertaining, and some of it is just mindless drivel - that's why the remote was invented!
 
How could they educate people on the game laws when there are 50 states all with widely varying laws, plus each state divided up into counties and/or zones where laws are different, all covering hundreds of game, non-game, and fish species?
 
As far as them violating the 4th amendment there's no way to tell if they did or not.  You're not seeing or hearing everything that happens.  It's all been edited for TV.  We don't know what transpired leading up to a search taking place.  Were there things off camera that lead up to establishing probable cause?  Did the suspect waive his 4th amend. rights by giving permission to search?  Does the producer have a political agenda?

My guess is they could attract hunters as an audience by making it more real and less bully with a badge.  And last I checked there were about 5 Million hunters, makes a pretty good ratings number. 
Yes they can show game laws and what they are looking for when they are out in the field.  Catching poachers is good and I applaud them for that.  The one that gets me is the one where they saw a bunch of Illegals shooting a decoy at night.  Gee Illegals with firearms - Felony.  Illegals Hunting from road - Illegals Driving  with out a license.  Illegals hunting with out a hunting license and we never see them in handcuffs.  Makes me think that there are two laws, those for citizens and those for illegals.  And thye have a few different shows and htey can talk about the laws the people have broken in their state. 
We see Game wardens violate the 4th amendment all the time on the shows when they make a search of the hunters, make a search of the vehicles, and they search the buildings with out a warrant.  Either they can ask to search you, arrest you, or have probable cause to request a warrent by a judge.  We see people ask "don't you need a warrant" and they answer NO and start searching and it seems the more you question them the harder they search and the more of a mess they make. 
We had a few in CA that were annoying and when they say us they wanted us to stop hunting and RUN to them.  and about tore apart my friends truck looking for extra quail when we all had just started hunting an hour earlier and non of us had ourt limits let alone a limit between the 5 of us.  We were polite but since we did not snap too like a bunch of cadets they were annoyed that they had to wait.  Other  CA wardens were cool;
The Az young guy that checked us last time were were Javilina hunting was really cool and we had to talk him into checking our licenses after we told him we did not have a Javilina yet.  He was so cool we invited him and his dog for dinner if they were in the area.     
 
 

[mcwoodduck]

McDuck
 
I don't know how this is done in your jurisdiction. Around here( the places I've been) the Game Warden and the Customs people are the only LE's that you have to prove to that you are NOT  guilty.

Yea what happend to probable cause and a warrant.  If you really think I did something wrong then Arrest me and inventory everything I have and if I am noit guilty or in possession of anything illegal then be ready for a false arrest charge. 
I wonder if that was the officers two choices, to either arrest or not and if they arrests and are wrong are they willing to lose their job over it?

[jhm]

     ALL those shows are SCRIPTED here is how that goes bad guy you shoot in the air and I good guy will turn on lights and sirens, jump out of squad car and tell you (wait we have a commercial of something you need to buy ) you are under arrest!! to be continued next week, until them dont forget to stock up on all the important items you saw on this weeks special of us against YOU take care now.  or something like that  Jim

[mechanic]

The bad thing about some of these shows is that young LEO watch them and apparently are influenced.  I had one tell me recently that "he" was not going to allow me to go coyote hunting on some public land.  It was too hard not to know I was poaching he said.  This as I stood there with a 22 mag and a FoxPro. 
 
I asked him how "he" assumed the authority to do that, he said he was the law.  He was a bit perplexed when I walked on in and ignored him.
 
Ben

[goodshot]

       I wonder if his big sister used to beat him up.
       Proud to know you.

[lakota]

I am not a big fan of L.E.O.s of any feather. I have encountered waaaaay too many jack booted thugs among their ranks. I have yet to have any contact with a game warden. I did have one butch female watercraft officer tell me I had exactly 5 minutes to get off the lake or be arrested because I wasnt wearing my lifejacket. Mind you I was over a mile from the put in and I was in a canoeand my state only requires a life jacket be present for every adult on board. I just moved away from the life jacket commandos and their fancy boat and continued my fishing.  After reading these stories I feel fortunate that my state can only afford one warden per county.
 
...I will say something positive-the state troopers here I have been around have always been polite and professional, It always seems to be the suburban gestapo departments and the local Sheriff who hire the ass hats.