Thanks fred. That does help a little. You are dead on there. If the GW has observered and knows there is reason to believe otherwise that makes a difference. So I take it you arent a fan of Wild Justice? lol . I thought the problem was the killing and just taking the paws or something, but regardless .. werent they poaching nonetheless?

I do know first hand how tv exaggerates things.. . for instance, Gas Pumps dont usually blow up when ran over, You cant see in a burning room ... you cant walk through a fire filled room and come out unharmed, even in fire gear. And For Pete Sake .. WE DONT RESCUE CATS!! How many cat skeletons do you see in trees?????

I don't personally know Chris but I have hunted on Perdido WMA many times and never had an issue. I'm sorry to hear that and it will definitely cause me to be sure and follow the rules to a T over there. Not that I don't already but I will be even more conscience of it now. Good luck if you decide to fight it. That sounds like a very petty thing to loose hunting privileges for a year over.

He ticketed a mutual friend. I say he WOULD HAVE ticketed a CAB member or DCNR boss - NO IFS AND OR BUTS if there would have been cause.

Under Charles Kelly a GW could arrest ANYONE if he made a good case, Mr Kelly would prolly call ya and ask the particulars of the arrest. NEVER any pressure to drop an arrest.

Current admin...not so much

I was called by the Chief and told to "un-arrest" a person I arrested the day before. There ain't no such thing.........

troy

Yes there is, just not a legal or proper way to do it. I've seen it done before when officers arrested a person on a warrant that had already been served. The fault was from the magistrate's office and the officers are told to explain the situation, apologize profusely, take them home and then hope they don't sue the city. I've seen this probably 10 times in my career, usually to habitual misdemeanor criminals. Only one has sued the city. Most are just happy to not be locked up again. The one that sued offered to settle with the city for $7000 and the city attorney turned it down. A jury then gave her $75,000.

I've followed this thread and the other with some interest because the use of police discretion is something that I have a keen interest in and study. The bottom line however is that presenting the one side just doesn't give enough info to make an accurate assesment. Keep in mind that officers are human. They make mistakes, they can have bad days, they can let someone cause them to act with emotions and not reason. We try to teach and train to not let this happen, but it can and occaisionally does. That is why there are recourses such as courts and formal complaint procedures against officers. These complaints are used to weed out those that can't cut it. Generally one complaint won't matter, but the cumulative effect of repeated complaints most certainly will. Despite Doecommander's assertions, all are not assholes. A few may start out their career that way but either they change or quit, largely due to peer pressure or they get terminated. Those guys don't last long very often any more. New guys often start out with piss and vinegar, but quickly are taught that that makes us all look bad and won't get you anywhere. The smart ones catch on quickly and change. The one's that don't won't cut it. This goes for wardens, officers, troopers, deputies etc.

Game laws are not my field, but I would have to guess that if I came across the poster in these circumstances, I would have issued a warning, assuming they were respectful and not confrontational, but as Fred says, I wasn't there so I can't say for sure what was proper.

FWIW, I definately think the loss of hunting privledges was overkill.

jawbone, I met with the person I arrested(not on a warrant), had him raise his right hand and I pronounced him UNarrested. He said "what the hell was that?" I made him swear not to include me in his lawsuit......:)

troy

troy, you made my day. There is still hope for America.

I keep seeing various people in this thread using the term hunting privileges. Isn't it, in fact, hunting rights?

AMENDMENT 597 RATIFIED
Sportsperson's Bill of Rights.

(a) All persons shall have the right to hunt and fish in this state in accordance with law and regulations.

(b) This amendment shall be known as the "Sportsperson's Bill of Rights."

I've read this thread long enough to finally make a response. With most of the hacking on the warden, there are always two sides to the story. I've never had a problem with Mr. Nix. I think that the Perdido wma is a lot better place due to what he does out there. To the guys swimming with his kids, sounds that he could of been concerned with your safety and thought it might not be the best location for your family day during a gun hunt. And if the guy was walking down a railroad track looking around with a loaded rifle and nice buck would have showed his face, I bet he would of shot. So he was hunting in my opinion. Could be the high guilty rate in the county says something of the solid cases they make. Do it legal or don't do it. just sayin.

kat,



Sounds just like the Brady Bunch...



Do you really want your right to bear arms to hinge on the whims of individual officers whether they wear green, blue, black... wake up and smell the roses. You are giving your rights away.

Bearing arms is a constitutional right and the mere possession of them, loaded or not, is not a crime.

If the guy is walking through the mall with a hard-on, and some fine chic walks by, will he **** her?

You gotta make one hell of a leap to assume that crossing a R/R with a rifle makes one guilty of "Hunting or discharging a firearm" as the law defines.

2006 Alabama Code - Section 9-11-257 — Hunting or discharge of firearm from, upon, or across public roads, etc.
Any person who hunts or discharges any firearm from, upon, or across a railroad, or hunts within 50 yards of a railroad, or their rights-of-way, with a centerfire rifle, shotgun or a muzzleloading rifle shall be guilty of a misdemeanor

There are several places, at Lowndes WMA, where you have to cross a R/R to access the land.
I have done so many times, and I've seen both deer and turkey on the tracks, yet I have never attempted to shoot one.

This is true but don't be an ass and threaten someone with a ticket. Just advise the people of the hunt going on and that they are swimming at their own risk if they don't wear orange.

Reckon he had on orange when he was telling them how unsafe it is not to wear orange where there are people with LOADED (God forbid) firearms??

Good question!

And the moral of the story is, "Don't cross a railroad track with a loaded firearm because who's to say you would or wouldn't shoot a deer crossing the railroad tracks?" I have crossed that same RR multiple times going to what used to be my "secret spot" that nobody thought of going to. One of the Conservation Officers on that place met me at the truck a few years ago on my way out just to make sure my firearm was not loaded when I crossed that track. It wasn't thank The Lord. They are more than likely having problems with probably one or two dumb idiots who don't care about the laws in this state and are killing deer off the track. The only way to catch em is to patrol that track every gun hunt and ticket everybody that is crossing that track with a loaded firearm.

Well maybe they should work a little harder, and catch the ones that are causing the problems. Not a gentleman, who has give his life to his country, and just wants to go hunting. Kill a deer and not be screwed with.

by the way Bucky. thank you for your service. some of us still have a little respect. Maybe the commission needs to join the military like some of the rest of us. And learn how to be respectful of people.

Catching real violators does require the GW to work a little harder, a little smarter.

For what it is worth, the railroads do not like anyone shooting or throwing anything near the rails. they actually don't even like people being on the tracks. We've had to respond to many calls of kids with BB guns near the tracks and kids throwing rocks at the sides of trains. The RR police have actually wanted to charge kids with a felony for throwing rocks on one occaision. The point is they take this very serious (maybe too serious sometimes in my opinion), and will complain and send the RR police, (yes they have their own police), to make sure something is done.

Perhaps this is a case of the warden having to respond to numerous complaints from the RR about people "hunting" from their tracks. The warden is then almost put in a position of showing that they did something to alleviate the complaints. I've been there and done that before about the kids throwing rocks at the side of the train.

One thing that may have contributed to this that no one has mentioned. Wasn't it last year that a warden was shot while patroling some RR tracks ? If I remember correctly it was
right at dark. The hunter shot him thinking he was a deer since he had no orange on. I can't remember if it was Alabama or Ga where this occurred. Maybe Troy can remember this.The warden was shot in the chest , it seems the hunter was actually hunting on the tracks.