Warden Rant

I will do my best to make my rant as short as possible. A club member called me Saturday and let me know that it looks like we had a deer shot from the paved road sometime Friday night. The club member walked in down a limestone gravel field road that runs through a soybean field to get to a food plot at the base of the mountain all looked normal. Saturday morning no one heard a gunshot while hunting. The member hunted the same area Saturday morning and on the way out finds a massive blood trail and drag marks where someone has shot a deer and drug it out of the field and up the field road to the gate where the blood trail ended.

I called the warden and he explained to me that the deer density was so low in that county that it was just pure luck that someone happened to see a deer from the road and decided to take an opportunity to shoot a deer. He said it would probably not happen again and he could not waste any time on working the area. That’s what he said... he also went on to tell me that the property where this occurred was probably one of the best properties the area if you wanted hunt in that county.

I’m not mad about the situation I just find it sad And shameful that this is the mentality of any wildlife game officer. My hunting license dollars and tax dollars paid to the state along with all of yours should not be squandered this way. It matters not what the deer population of a county is the job assigned is the same for the same pay and same retirement. Why even have a warden in a county that no one cares who does what to what game animal.

I don’t know if the guy has been outside his truck in a few years. The area had a bad EHD outbreak around 2013 that crushed the population. It appears to me that the numbers are looking up. Deer are being seen regularly and I have yet to set foot on the property and not see a deer. I hunted it for the first time this year on Saturday and saw 5 going in blind. There are pics of at least 6 deer that are 4 yr old or older amongst the club members. I don’t know about the warden but I’m my 35 years of bunting I had days a s weeks where I wish I could have seen a deer and that was in high density.

I guess it’s easier to check a fishing license of some old dude sitting on a five gallon bucket fishing around a paved boat ramp.

I’d be calling the state office and let them know what I thought of their sorry ass warden.

That’s absolutely pathetic on the wardens behalf

It's basically after the fact and no way to find the culprits. I feel your pain.

I posted on here a couple of weeks ago about catching one red handed and the deputy told me there was nothing he could do. Warden here in Colbert has always helped anyway he could. I really respect him for that. I just hate the fact that the lawbreakers are always innocent. I put the money, time, and effort in the property and folks think they own it.

Deputies can take down all the suspects info and document it. Then the warden gets it from them. Our warden actually advised us to call the co sheriff first before calling them for just that.

I will say I feel the OP's frustration. We have had several with pics of them on the property, their stands etc. found out their names and the exact house they lived in, and still never had the warden pursue them. To me they were at that time more interested in catching someone sitting over a corn pile than working on poachers.

To busy watching overpasses on interstates probably

That's the saddest part of the story to me. The nearly-extinct deer herd.

Call one of those wardens from North Woods Law. They seem to spend tons of time and money on tracking down someone that would throw a cigarette butt out on the ground. Seriously though, I feel your pain. I got tired of hunting land that was being poached so much that I finally gave up.

Stopping a walking poacher is not easy especially if they know the area. Catching people shooting from the paved road is just a matter doing what they are paid to do which is time in the field. I know it’s a hassle and liability to set up a decoy. I know there is paper work involved to legally allow the state to carry out such an operation and have witnessed landowners giving that permission to the state for this very thing. On the other hand the state laws are in place to protect the public as well as the governing body. Random bullets cutting through the dark of night to an unknown impact point is dangerous to the public. It’s abusing our resources and diluting our sport of hinting that is already under attack by the left.

What I've learned the few years that I've had a lease is the burden of proof is 100% on you. If you don't have good quality, incriminating pictures, nothing will usually be done. A few weeks ago, I had vandalism and poaching and had a picture of 3/4 of the guys truck. But the picture didn't get the tag. Y'all know how many white Tacomas there are on the roads? I've had multiple cases of vandalism, poaching, and theft. Reports have been filed in every case. Nothing has been done. It's always words of advice on how I can catch them. (Last night I received another call from a neighboring lease holder. He had chased 3 trespassers that came off of me onto him late last evening.)

One word of advice: We've all know to try to hide our cameras and mount them high. Don't forget that most good cameras today have fast trigger speeds. I have 2 pictures of the last guy, but the cameras triggered so fast they only caught the front part of the truck. Remember that when aiming the cameras and when setting the time between shots.

The warden probably shot the deer himself.

Sounds like you got to meet Chris champion.

Unfortunately yours isn’t an isolated experience. We had major poaching issues on a lease in Marion Co just a few years ago. They weren’t killing for the meat either. They were just killing. Happened 24hrs a day basically. We called the GW, Sheriff and chased them ourselves. We got no help whatsoever.

I went by myself one day for a quick hunt and sat in a shooting house, truck parked at entry of skidder road. Not 15min in I heard a vehicle slow rolling on the gravel. BOOM! In my direction. I flipped my lid and tore out of there and caught a look at the truck, rifle out the passenger side. It was a vehicle we knew well from all the encounters. I hopped in my truck and they sped off. Called the GW, Sheriff and local PD. Not one bit of help. Basically got told that’s a rough area, that’s where the criminals go and hide from us. Be safe out there.

We found a lot of bucks, heads removed and dumped in the creek right outside our entrance to camp that year as well. The more we fought it, the worse it seemed to get.

I don’t condone shooting back

But holes in truck beds spreads the word quick

Just saying

I’d call his district supervisor and Montgomery. That response is totally unacceptable.

I had a run in with a warden in Auataga county a few weeks ago. I had just dropped a friend off at his house close to the river between Prattville and Autaugavile. It was a lot of turns here and there to get him home. On my way out and a little confused I pulled over on the side of the county rd and GPS’d my address. As I’m pulling off a truck flys up and blocks me, two wardens jump out and ran up to my truck in both sides, lights drawn. They interrogated me. After a couple of heated minutes they realized I was telling the truth and we laughed and went in my way. They said I just happened to pull over next to a field that gets night hunted a lot and thought that’s what I was doing. They were out doing their job and I thanked them for that.
They also asked where I was from and I told them Selma. Then asked do I hear a lot of shots at night. I said yep, every night, but these aren’t poachers or night hunters, just the natives popping shots back and forth. They got a chuckle out of that.

I said yep, every night, but these aren’t poachers or night hunters, just the natives popping shots back and forth. They got a chuckle out of that.

I hear that at night just about every weekend that I am up there

The response was unprofessional but he was truthful just the same. How in the world would you begin to figure out who was responsible?

You could never know, but the correct response from the warden would have been, " thanks for the heads up, I'll patrol the area a little more frequently". Even if he didn't mean it, it would have been better than F off I don't have time to waste on your problem.

You would not be able to figure out who pulled the trigger on that one but this in not an random occurrence. The area is known for road hunting and outlaws. You bust a couple and get in their pocket books real hard. Word gets out n the area and slows down activity for a while then you have to catch a few more and make an example. Take their truck, take their rifle, revoke their hunting license, garnish their wages.

Yeah there is plenty that can be done

Unfortunately, attempts to take trucks, rifle(s), garnish wages, etc., have in the past resulted in judges giving in to pleas of "I'll be unable to work if you do that and support my family."

Plus, confiscating a vehicle is a pain in the butt.

I agree with you - more needs to be done. Penalties don't do much IMO as they stand. Unfortunately, it takes district attorneys and judges being on board with game wardens to not allow this crap to go on.

We have an apparent night rider in our community. There was a Facebook thread on the community page and I mentioned a truck with a loud muffler that fired a shot and hauled ass about 3 in the morning near our house. Our GW messaged me to ask what I could tell him. I appreciated the hell out of him showing an interest.

I spoke with our local GW about some issues I've been having at some of our land. He is extremely interested and on-board in doing anything he can to help. On top of the police report I had to file the other day and the pending discussion with our DA, I plan to prove a strong point.

Poachers, Trespassers, people that vandalize and people that put others in danger while being a plain ole dumbass are sumbitches.....but I can be a bigger sumbitch.

That's about all the details I'll give for now.

Yea, I had some problems behind my dads. They showed up with wireless game cams and set them up. I was pretty sure who it was and they went straight to his house and questioned him. Haven't had any more problems since. I was pretty impressed. They even send me some deer tracks pretty regularly for my dog.

What do you want the cop to do 😆? All you have is a blood trail leading to a road. No vehicle, no deer carcass to extract a bullet....nothing. You just want him to come out for nothing to say...yeup...looks like someone shot somethin. Get real man come on.

Confiscation ain't that hard IF you can get off yer butt and do the paperwork. I took several vehicles while working. from folks that actually KILLED deer at night. The state won't file on a half paid for truck, they don't want to pay it off.

THIS^^^^^^^^ is how a GW is supposed to act. I made a LOT of cases thru investigations that started with very little

And yet the agency this officer works for allows a doe a day in this county because of a few pockets of overpopulation in southwest AL. Areas like this have a self perpetuating destructive cycle because most people won't pass on a doe in a place where that doe is the only deer they have seen all season. Other than large clubs setting their own rules, the only way to get the population up in areas with smaller tracts of land is for the state to enforce it. Florida, for example, has tons of deer, but they only allow doe killing on a few weekends a year. They recognize the common sense that preserving a deer herd requires preserving does.

What county was this?

I want him to do his job and be seen in that area. I want him to bust a couple of the know outlaws in that area and put their face in the newspaper. Most of these road hunters are habitual and it’s not just a one time occurrence. Growing up I know people that road hunted year round and killed deer up into the 3 digit numbers on an annual basis. Knew of Some guys in college that would shine and shoot them on the Natchez Trace and literally have them piled to the top of the truck bed.

This is not some strange idea it’s called law enforcement.

That guy is a tool bag

Yes he is. Pure waste of states resources having him on pay roll

Good to have you back boo boo head