Compliance checks: court-approved constitutional and acceptable trade-off for wildlife conservation and public safety issues like boating safety for the minor law enforcement intrusion. Most police agencies won't use these much except for DUI checkpoints, etc...(public safety issue.)

Reasonable Suspicion: officer has reason to believe a crime has been/will be committed. Allows for traffic stops and brief citizen investigative detention. These encounters demand a bit more time for the officer to determine what's what. Courts have ruled these encounters should not be overly long. Some rulings have even stated a time of +/-20 mins...but that is just a general guide based on vehicle traffic stops for traffic violations.

Probable Cause: officer believes a crime was/is being committed. Allows for and is needed for the officer to arrest or obtain warrants based on the violation facts that he now has direct knowledge of. PC encounters, or those that lead up to this level, may require more time for the officer to complete. Issuing a traffic citation at a traffic stop may not require much extra time, but other more complex field investigation might.

Compliance check may lead to reasonable suspicion. RS may lead to PC for issuing a citation or arrest or it may not. EXAMPLE: GW compliance checks hunter parked along road with buck in back of truck. Hunter says he killed the buck and produces the proper licenses. An obvious bloody drag mark is visible leading from the No Hunting side of the roadway to the guy's truck. Officer now has RS that buck was killed in the closed area. Some additional time
is now needed by the officer. The hunter is gonna be briefly detained (not physically arrested) while officer does some quick field investigation., with or without the hunter's cooperation. But the hunter says he shot the buck on the opposite side of road, which is open for hunting, and it ran over to closed side. Hunter shows GW where he shot buck and obvious blood trail...CASE CLOSED. No evidence of a crime = No PC for citation/arrest.


Again, RS may not lead to PC and then the encounter could be terminated. EXAMPLE: GW hears what sounds like duck hunting with unplugged gun. He conducts compliance check and determines all guns have plugs and all have proper licenses and are within bag limits, etc. GW leaves because hunters want to get back to hunting....

A hunter that pukes out the 5th Amendent or says I ain't answering your Nope questions will likely end up posting a "I Hate GWs" post on Tman.

Hope this brief explanation helps..

Gun plugs are easy to get around just take more than one gun with you. Shoot the first 3 swap guns and empty the 2nd one. I believe that's still legal.

Yes...perfectly legal.

Or it is in the Peach State of Georgia.

What I'm trying to find out is, in your example of, "all guns have plugs and all have proper licenses and are within bag limits, etc." but GW does not leave, rather keeps asking questions over etc. How long do you have to be kept from doing what your out there to do?

never had any problem , been checked for tags that was about it

closest thing I ever had to an issue was when they came out with the GO-WILD cards

was out fishing warden rolls up , I hand him my go wild card this was the year after they came out

heard a groan , apparently it was a nice idea but no one asked the wardens if they had cell service sad part you could see the tower just down the river , apparently Madison got them on a service that worked good in Madison and not in the rest of the state

never been checked in the woods for a deer tag they wait at the road mostly

I sure am glad we are done with back tags those were a PAIN keep switching it every time you put on something dry.

No It was Lou Ann. (SP)

Wardens need to stay in the office more then in the field. Never meet in the woods trapping .

Trapset,
All you need to do is ask the GW if he's done and tell him you'd like to get back hunting. You're not required to remain after compliance check if GW has no RS.

I was deer hunting In Wyoming. I was traveling down this 2 track and I came across this game check. They asked me for my license no problem. Then they asked where I shot the deer. I said I shot It west of the road. They said no you shot It east of the road. I said now that I think about It your right.

I believe your answer has already been answered in several posts. GW checks your paperwork, and gun and maybe asks a few general questions, e.g "having / had any luck?" etc. Give him maybe a minute or two more and then tell him to have a nice day and walk away. Any further questions or verbal statements such as "I'm not through talking to you" or "come back here" etc. are not lawful legal "commands". Keep going about your business.

Kinda what happens here. Not a lot of conservation police here and most are tied up doing things like work with an endangered snail or it's habitat. Never been stopped for licence check. Ever.

I'm cool with showing my permits and a few simple questions. It's when it's the same questions asked five different ways trying to get you to say something they can run with I don't like.

I spent some time in Wisconsin around Camp McCoy in the early 70s.
Deer hunted one fall there and had to wear one of those back tags; looked like a license plate. I hated them. Felt like I was walking around with a target on my back.

If they fly a helicopter and land near my camp and walk to my camp to ask all these personal questions, where am I walking away to? Should I go hide in my tent? He is the one that has to go away. Should I tell him to go away?

That’s what happened to a buddy of mine who was staying at a camp in NW Ontario. They asked him about his fish down in the freezer. Then told him not to leave his cabin while they walked around and asked other people in camp if they gave my buddy any fish towards his limit. They had already asked my buddy 5 different ways if he caught his own fish. 45 min later they came back and told him he was ok. My buddy was an older guy so maybe they figured he didn’t catch his own fish? Who knows but it was wrong for sure.

Some of ya'll sure have game warden-itis.

Those guys/gals obviously worry the crap out of some of ya'll.

If you don’t want to talk to 'em...don't.

They're just people...not green goblins....lol!!

B4 I retired, I'd had some good laughs messin' with some of you guys....

Y'all too tense....

Asking about fish is not personal question. Fish overlimit is part of a CO's job. Asking how much he is paying to stay at the camp is a personal question.

Not if the GW is thinking about using your guide service...or recommending it...

What!? You mean GW's are human?

I didn’t really notice anyone being too tense. I did notice a couple posts that struck me as a bit too defensive