Guess it's different in Illinois.
described him as having a “very aggravated and disrespectful tone” toward the officer who questioned him about his crossbow and wrote him the ticket
A mere peasant "takes a tone" with a King's Man? HORRORS!
Too bad peasant Vandermyde didn't have a dog the King's Men could shoot.
It would appear that the "conservation officers" were trespassing when they gave him the ticket.
Not in their little world. You'd get a chain-mailed gauntlet across the face for suggesting that in front of them...
Game wardens seem to feel that they can go anyplace. There was a case a good ten years ago where two of them were stalking some hunter on his own property trying to catch him shooting a deer after sunset They were in full camo and really not seen by the guy because they were hiding in some brushy woods. Well he shot at a deer between them and him. missed the deer and killed one of the kings men. Wonder of all wonders he was found NOT GUILTY. The court room was packed with "law enforcement" types in uniform to intimidate the jury, but the jury did the right thing.
In Illinois, the king’s men can come and go when and where they please. Conservation officers can forcibly enter and search your home without a warrant if they have “reasonable “ suspicion that you’ve got illegally taken game inside. They can open your freezer and empty its contents on your floor in their hunt for poached squirrels. They can come onto your privately owned timber any time they please and harass you and your friends for sitting around a campfire at eight in the morning. (I know, because it’s happened to me.) Most of these ‘public servants” are on the wrong side of history, and will be on the wrong side of the line when things go really south. Bear in mind, Illinois’ FOID card requirement (Firearms Owners Identification) gives it the power to (A) deny you your Second Amendment rights and (B) establishes a handy list of gun owners’ addresses. In many, many ways, Illinois IS the blue model for the rest of the nation.