how can a warden enforce trapping laws

cathryn · August 04, 2010, 11:18:59 AM

if he has had no practical experience with trapping or isnt familiar with the different traps available for legally taking animals?

do you think that wardens should be required to take some sort of trapper training course in order to be a warden since they will be enforcing trapping laws as well as hunting and fishing laws?

maybe they are required in some states but oif they are here..the info dont always stick.

without the class itd be kinda like me refereeing basketball when im a football ref... that doesnt mean i have a clue about the basketball rules and regs...

what do ya think?

Bills Custom Calls · August 04, 2010, 11:33:07 AM

Even the cops don't know all the laws but some do radio in and find out what laws pertain to the incident

You are right if he is gonna act like he knows and wants to write you a citation he will look like a fool in court

If you are wanting information then make him write it down and sign it
or are you saying he just couldn't answer the questions that were being asked

FinsnFur · August 04, 2010, 09:15:06 PM

Game Wardens here can enforce traffic laws if they want to or need to. They have more authority then a police officer.

Todd Rahm · August 04, 2010, 09:40:32 PM

Quotewithout the class itd be kinda like me refereeing basketball when im a football ref... that doesnt mean i have a clue about the basketball rules and regs...

Just because he hasn't set many traps or have much knowledge in the area..........YET. Don't assume he doesn't know the rules.

People like us may try to learn as much as we can if we had the job or wanted that job, and heck he might too. Who knows?

I would much rather have a level headed Warden, that exercises common sense all day long. Then one that thinks he knows what he's doing, because he's set a few traps in his day.

cathryn · August 05, 2010, 09:29:45 AM

i spoke to a distric law emforcement guy yesterday about our law concerning connibears and their being used in water sets.
the guy told me that conni bears had to be submerged to kill...it was the nature of the trap.

he had no idea that they could in certain states be set on land and that in wv they do not have to be submerged.

if the guy came upon my set for rats or beaver he would have given me a ticket because he didnt understand the law or the way the traps work.

i think that the wardens should have to go through a couple weeks at least of trapping training through the DNR so they have at least an idea of what trapping and traps are all about.

if i were a referee for football would you want me to be calling plays at a basketball game???? or would i be the proverbial duck out of water and have no business making those calls?

bambam · October 19, 2010, 08:50:52 PM

I think "most" game wardens are good people who try to be fair, but there are always a few who make the others look bad. I remember one we had several years who didn't even know the GAME laws. A guy I know shot a bobcat on the second day of deer season. This game warden checked it in for him. Problem was, the law says you can't shoot small game during the first 3 days of deer season. When the game warden told his supervisor about the cat, the supervisor sent him back and he wrote the guy a ticket for shooting the cat.

If they don't know the game laws, I'm sure many don't know the trapping laws. Here in WV, it's getting to the point you have to have a law degree to understand the regulations.

Bluesman · December 04, 2010, 10:38:41 PM

I agree completely. If you want to see complicated, look up the NC regulations for taking fox. The laws are not even in the NC Wildlife documents, they are in a document scripted by the NC General Assembly. Figure that one out. Oh, and they really make a lot sense too

.

JB in NC

cathryn · February 10, 2011, 08:49:19 AM

shoot arent 60% of the counties closed to fox trapping in NC? thats the influence fox hunbters and hound hunters can have over trapping.

bigben · February 10, 2011, 09:01:02 AM

if you know he was in the wrong then fight it. in pa it depends on the wco you talk to. some say it has to be set in the watercourse. some say it has to have the bottom jaw in the water. and some say it has to be completely submerged. I wish they would clarify it better in pa. I see a lot of people punching in bucket sets for coon at every culvert thinking because the state owns the road they are allowed to trap 10ft on both sides of the road itself.

cathryn · February 10, 2011, 12:45:45 PM

they finally cleared up the wording in our regs.
it now says completely submerged.