I realize that... I guess that makes this sound stupid

With technicalities and judges these days I was curious if it would stick. I guess blatant violations are one thing..... Yeah, never mind.

Was just thinking of the case where a GW garaged 3 boys with too many doves... I forget all the details but I was curious what kind of support or leeway GW's would get over LEO's when it came to technical cases and vice versa for GW's on traffic or DUI stops or chain of custody type stuff. Just thinking out loud?

Jawbone, I used to write speeding tickets, and DUI arrests all the time in Jefferson Co. My dog was drug certified(in Selma) and we made all kinds of drug cases.

The Shelby Co Asst DA threw out several of my drug cases w/o consulting me. When I asked why she said I had no probable cause to make the stop. I told her all were made in a WMA and I needed no probable cause to make any stop and search. She was unaware of any such law till I showed her.

I arrested a guy for animal cruelty one time in Bham. He kept a coon in a small rolling cage w/o any bedding, food, or water for the week I watched the cage. When I found the guy I arrested him illegal possession of a coon, and animal cruelty. My Capt had a hissy fit and told me to dismiss the cruelty charges....I told his idiot ass to go talk to my Judge about it. Cahill prolly would of put the Capt in jail. Judge Cahill hammered the guy on the animal cruelty charge, threatening to put his ass under the bench and kick his ass. Cahill was a hunter and fisherman and a damn good judge.

Nighthunter, I handled all my DUI, drug cases start to finish w/o any outside help. I carried all drug samples to the forensics lab and kept them in my custody till court, never had any problems with defense lawyers.

A LOT of GWs don't make cases of that type because they don't know how, what to do, how to do it, etc. It ain't rocket science, but ya have to know what you are doing.

I know I'm jacking my own thread, but in my personal experience, I have encountered some GW's that dont seem to know any more about game laws than I do.

Specifically, one instance comes to mind. At one time on Lake G, a 12" spot was legal. It is now 15". I caught a GW out at a gas station in Scottsboro one day. I asked him if the legal size limit was 12 or 15". He said he would need the book to make sure. I pulled one out of the truck seat and handed it to him. He had the deer in the headlights look. He didnt know where to find it in the book and just told me he didnt know.

I also had one accuse me of raking up acorns to bait deer. One of the club members called Jacksonville and they just laughed. Said we were just making that up because no GW would be dumb enough to make that statement. Hummm.

I was curious, you just don't hear much of that anymore. I wondered if there was a reason. Maybe you need to go back to work

Fred can correct me, but it is my understanding that raking acorn from one place, i.e. a city park, and transporting them to your area to hunt would be baiting.

The GW from Jacksonville told us any natural food source was not baiting. He said you could pile up acorns or apples knee high and there was nothing they could do. It was the same reason you can hunt over trophy rock. He said it was just a rock laying on the ground. 1 grain of corn on the other hand...

Take this for what it worth. I didnt talk to the man personally, just a club member who called them to ask.

That's not true. You can't bring in apples or acorns or anything else that didn't grow there naturally. They let you hunt over salt and trophy rock but it is still technically illegal they just have decided not to enforce it.

I'd say a LOT of GWs can't answer SOME law/reg questions without looking it up in the book. It is amazing the amount of "stuff" that a GW has to know to accurately enforce ALL Game and Fish laws and regs. Especially if they work an area that dosen't have some aspects of outdoor use. I used to read the reg/law books on a weekly basis, even after years of enforcing laws. Sometimes a single word makes all the difference in what a law/reg actually says, as opposed to what you think it says.

funny note, after decades of a Jan 31 closing of skwerl season they changed it to Feb closing. A guy called me one day asking if he could hunt skwerls in Feb...I told him hail no, it closed Jan 31...LOL. I thought about it for a minute and called him back....

hunting over apples would be illegal if they were brought there. Hunting by an apple tree dropping apples would be legal.

acorns?? the law dosen't address acorns as such. I'd say by the intent of the law it would be illegal to hunt over brought in acorns, BUT I wouldn't of written that ticket according to the wording of the law.

side note, 20 years ago we had a fella hunting over a standing corn field, legal. He bought a load of ear corn and was "supplementing' the corn in the field. A GW slipped in one night and marked EVERY ear of corn in the barn. A case was made after marked ears of corn were found IN the field while hunting ....

WOW! NoW thats dedication to ones job. I once heard a story about a GW on here, that waded up Big Wills creek in freezing weather, climbed a guys ladderstand and busted him for hunting over corn! The place that i heard it was, i would guess that the GW had to get up at 3 am or so, and wade down the creek, 1/2 mile or so to have gotten this guy! Like i said thats GW is dedicated!