Not much different than any other law enforcement officer. Game wardens especially must be careful since ALL the perps they deal with are heavily armed.
Last year we had a Cub and Boy Scout jamboree at Sardis. A couple of the rangers were so rude to the kids during the fishing rodeo that some of the Scout Leaders filed complaints against them. I'm not talking about kids acting like banshees. The ranger running the fishing rodeo treated the kids like they were in a reform school. 2 rangers at the camping area were so damn anal retentive it wasn't even funny.
Like those fishermen. They are ALL heavily armed with rods and reels. One time I saw this guy on the beach at Fouchon catch a very large stingray. He left it lying in the sand while he walked to his truck and got a .44 Magnum. He shot the stingray right on the beach in front of dozens of people.
2 state and 1 federal I've encountered. those 3 assume everyone's guilty till they say otherwise. 1 was made to look fool when hi gun belt slipped from his waste to his feet. Th 2nd assumed i was stashing stuff in my blind bag. I was, my duck calls. He tried wading to me and sunk above his knees in ice water. After he had snuck through 600 yds to catch us "trespassing." The fed was writing tickets to.not signing the duck stamp face. The state gw was loaning pens an.giving us a heads up. Most are good, some mess it up for the rest of them.
It's a thankless job. Nobody likes game wardens and few appreciate the importance of their job. They have to take a lot of shit that they don't deserve. I can see it making assholes out of them. LSU owns some government-issue gray-hulled Boston Whalers like the game wardens use. We have seen a lot of indifference and downright hostility at boat ramps and other places where we encounter fishermen until they determine that we aren't game wardens. One professor thinks someone took a shot at him once down in the marshes. I wear khakis in the field a lot, but I don't when working in the Whalers because it made me look like a game warden. We started flying a small purple flag that said "LSU COASTAL RESEARCH" and wearing Hawaiian shirts.
Me either but then i've never broken any fishing or hunting violations. I am always curteous to them, and usually have my DL and hunting/fishing license ready when I see them approaching. Now they don't usually bother me since I know most them in this area, except to see what i've caught.
This. I don't hunt enough to know them like you do, but I appreciate what they do and follow all of the laws. I have never once gone over limit or broken any rules/laws that I am aware of. I treat them like I would want to be treated. I also sincerely thank them. I don't have a lot of sympathy for the guys who break hunting/fishing laws.
