Tell me about your worst (or best) game warden interaction.

About 3 weeks ago I had an encounter with a warden at the Red Mill boat launch on the Eno River.
He was a super nice personable guy. We talked for at least an hour. Mostly about spiritual things as I had asked him his thoughts on the afterlife. He never checked me for my license or looked at my boat. We just got to know each other.

When I was sixteen I was out fishing with some friends when a warden pulled up next to our boat. He asked how the fishing was. We held up our stringer and then he asked for our licenses. My friends were younger than me so they weren’t required to have a license. At 16 I was. He made us follow him into shore and he let me buy a license and avoid a ticket.

Another time I was out with my brother in law. We were done fishing and I was running the trolling motor back to the ramp while my brother in law trolled. A warden pulled up and only questioned me because I was running the motor which made me the captain. Well we were in my father in laws boat and it had no registration. I had my pfd but my brother in law didn’t and we were trolling on a no motor trolling lake. We had to follow him to shore then to the sheriffs office where I had to pay $450 in violations because I was the captain. I made my brother in law split the fine with me.

~JOE~

I have been checked plenty of times over the years, both hunting and fishing. The most professional game warden I ever met was with the State of Arkansas, along the White River when I was duck hunting with some buddies and a guide. He was very professional, to the point (not chummy and not arrogant). Checked every shotgun for a plug, checked each string of ducks (no combined duck piles allowed, but our guide had educated us on that) and he checked our state license and federal stamps - when done he thanked us for cooperating with him and for complying with the regulations and laws. Conversely the Federal game warden checked us the next day, he never got out of the seat of his truck and just asked us what species we shot and if the shotguns were plugged - we told the truth, but could have told him anything!

In NC I have been checked fishing by NC WRC (on the Tuck and on the Trent) and by NC DMF on the ICW - all were professional, courteous, and quick. The NC DMF guys were much more interested in my boat and equipment, it was more like a Coast Guard check than a fishing license check. OH

Couple more: Dove hunt in 2003, a National Guard buddy invited several of us recently back from OIF to his Rotary Club Annual Dove Hunt in Jones County NC. He and his wife served a great breakfast, then we headed to the farm hosting the hunt. It was a typical huge, flat coastal NC farm with big, cut corn fields - lots of hunters paid to attend the hunt. and encircled the field. Two game wardens showed up (in NC they are Wildlife Enforcement Officers) and rode around the field in their Suburban getting out and checking plugs and licenses - lots of hunters for them to check in one fell swoop. They drove by me, looked at my side by side, and just said "have a good hunt" and drove on.

Not really a guide story, but similar. Back in the late 1980's me, my dad, uncle, and a family friend would drive up to the eastern shore of Maryland to hunt Canada and Snow geese - we always used a guide service. One day we were down in a long pit blind hunting a corn field when we heard a voice call out the guides name. It was a county deputy sheriff with a warrant for the guide's arrest - the deputy served the papers, read him his rights, and arrested and took him away. We were left in the blind, the guides decoys out, so we just kept on hunting. When done we got up the birds and gathered his decoys and took them to the outfitter. Seems he was in a spat with his ex-wife and had withheld the child support money - per the outfitter it pissed off the local judge who had dispatched the deputy. OH

Back home, about five years ago, I was living near this nice little stretch of smallmouth creek. It was just below the little dam of a double impoundment reservoir -- in which the smaller impoundment between the two dams was heavily off limits for fishing (never learned why, but I assumed it had to do with them pumping for drinking water in that mini impoundment).

That smaller impoundment was constantly patrolled by DNR and close to a precinct of theirs. They stopped everyone for their license routinely, and would nail anyone going past the off limit signs with a ticket. I got stopped and checked for my fishing license by the same officer almost weekly for a time there. He remembered me, and I remembered him, but he'd still stop me. It's just what they did there, and he was always cool about it.

One evening, I was taking the back way home (around the lake), and I was pulled over for speeding -- by the same DNR agent who kept checking my license. When he asked for my license and registration, I asked him "Fishing or regular?" He chuckled and let me go.

DNR was always pleasant. My buddy and I were a mile up a blue line drinking a few beers, and one of them came out of the bushes and thanked us for crushing our cans to pack them out. The local wildlife police they had in some counties could be hit or miss -- they'd either be robocop or a semi-retired local cop who just wanted to shoot the breeze.

I tend not to have many WRC or DNR run ins. They usually seem to leave fly fishermen be.

Last year I was fishing along Jacob's Fork during trout season on a week day and was the only person around which is how I prefer to fish. Less pressure, I don't get self-conscious about how I'm doing and generally relax.

I guess I'd been drowning worms for a good hour when a WRC officer wandered down to see how the fishing was. He asked if I'd had any luck, looked at my gear, we chit chatted for a bit,he asked if I knew the rules for trout and he finally got around to asking to see my license. That's when it dawned on me that I didn't have my hard copy in my gear. Me being me, I told him I did have my license but the hard copy was at home, probably sitting on the kitchen table laughing at me. Needless to say, I got "that look" and he was ready to give me a ticket when I remembered I had the email receipt on my phone and asked if that would be good enough for the day.

He allowed that that would work as long as I remembered my hard copy the next time I came out and I'd better be showing it to him the next time he wandered by even if he didn't ask to see it.

I never saw him again, but you can bet I'd pinned that dang license inside my gear bag!

Worst I ever had was when I lived in North Myrtle Beach, but often fished off the NC intracoastal waterway. I would put in in the ICW in north myrtle, but ride up to the sunset beach bridge (NC) area around tubbs inlet. One day after a long day fishing in NC i pulled back up to the dock to find a few game wardens checking boats. They checked mine and was good to go, asked if I had any fish. "Yes sir, a few trout and redfish. They check and tell me the reds are out of slot. I say no sir, they are in slot, I caught them at the sunset beach bridge in NC and showed them my NC lifetime license. "You ain't in NC now, are ya boy?" was the response that came back. I shut my mouth and went in front of the magistrate a few weeks later and told him my story. Judge asks for lengths of fish, warden cant answer because he didn't record it. Judge says he doesn't like this law and thinks the two states should get together and set one standard. Case dismissed.

A couple of good laughs, on me. In the '70s on Tar River a young GW(not Kay Dunn) approached and asked where my life jacket was. I kind of panicked, looked around the jonboat until I noticed I was wearing it. Comfortable vest types were somewhat new back then. 2nd hand story, my barber(when I still has hair) was catching white bass on Ga's Broad river when the GW approached for license checks. He showed GW his license and saw the woman nearby was nervous so the barber said "and here is my wife's" which he had in his wallet. Strange female was grateful, another, Daughter delayed buying license until the morning we were going. Had to stop at a WalMart on the way but the state's computer was down and the helpful store assoc. could not get the license, We looked for license for the next 40 miles and none were available so somewhat aggravated I went fishing. Daughter had 5 trout when the warden came and I encouraged him to take her to jail but he wrote a warning and made her stop fishing. enough but After work I rushed to head to Oconee river for white bass, Just got the boat launched when GW approached. I reached for my wallet and discovered I left it in dress pants at home when I changed into fishing clothes. Warden wrote me a temp pass for that afternoon. That was about 20 years ago and I have not been checked since.