Firing range owner sues Fish and Game chief

Union Leader ^ | Nov 23 2001 | NANCY MEERSMAN

[cva66snipe]

Last talk I had with a game warden I was just shooting the breeze about some stocking they had done in my area. I'm in a rural area and own good game cover. I mentioned the only thing I usually killed was CopperHeads I found on my property. He seriously looked at me and said they are protected. I said not when I find them on my land their not.

[sneakypete]

The lawsuit says an officer test fired it and concluded the sound the weapon made was the same as the shot he heard when someone fired at the decoy deer earlier that night.

Now THAT's funny! Can't you just see this guy's lawyer wetting his pants with glee as he reads this?

[2Trievers]

LOL

Hope he sues. Hope he wins!

[Don Joe]

"Truth is stranger than fiction."

Was he named by Mel Brooks? ("It's not a joke name! Bigus Dickus is a fwend of mine!")

It's always a mistake to put someone with a name like that in any position of authority. Unless he's been lobotomized, you know he's got an axe to grind that ain't never gonna be done. The guy's got to be a walking talking grudge on wheels. Ref. "A Boy Named Sue", J. Cash, for details of the principle.

[Don Joe]

"You made milk shoot out of my nose."

I hope you weren't using night vision equipment at the time. Mr. "Head" is on this thread!

[2Trievers]

Hey DJ

How are we going to find out who this mysterious Mr. Head is?

[sneakypete]

How are we going to find out who this mysterious Mr. Head is?

I dunno,maybe have a team of investigators follow his brother Potato around to see if they lead him to Richard?

[Brownie74]

[M.K. Borders]

Well this should be said. I live in Indiana, and have hunted a fished here since age 7. I have had several encounters with DNR officers, and for the most part they have been very civil and fair with me. One time (the only time ) I was asked to produce my hunting permit, and of course I had left it at home! I could have been arrested, instead the officer told me to call in the permit number when I got home. Try that with a State Trooper! My impression is that here in Indiana, Conservation Officers are pro-hunter.

[Quilla]

I live in Alabama where hunting and fishing are big business. A friend of mine had always wanted to be a game warden and had once stated that they have more power than any other law enforcement official. Lo and behold, his five year application process was finally successful and he was offered the job. One catch was that he couldn't work in his home county (or adjoining ones) for several years. He and his wife moved to Podunk, Alabama giving up their excellent jobs and incomes for this $22,000 per year fantasy.

On one visit to Podunk, he asked my husband and I if we would like to join him on a late evening stakeout with his decoy. Now decoys are not to be over six points here, as some judge considered placing a fake 12-pointer, on the side of any road, major entrapment. He placed the largest 6-pointer (I'm talking Boone and Crockett) I've ever seen on the side of the road and we basically played hide and wait. He was pumped. Several cars slowed down and a few even turned around for a return trip. Thankfully, no one shot at the decoy. During our 'stake-out' he described some of the authority granted to game wardens in our state. They can seize your vehicle, guns, and any property you have in your vehicle at their whim. I was almost scary. We basically decided to believe his new stance - that he was far superior to us - and our friendship has waned over the years. No big loss.

[M.K. Borders]

Yes we have basicly the same laws here in Indiana. But hey are applied to people who violate the law, not hunters of deer.

[BlackbirdSST]

They aren't called Wardens for nothing, don't you know. Blackbird.

[archy]

Well this should be said. I live in Indiana, and have hunted a fished here since age 7....My impression is that here in Indiana, Conservation Officers are pro-hunter.

As with most law enforcement agencies and groups, there are good ones and bad ones, though my impression of the IDNR cops was that there were an awful lot of political hacks among their number. A couple of years back, one made the mistake of reaching for his handgun while *inspecting* a rowboat with a couple of fishermen in it on the Illinois side of the Wabash River- who happened to be feds working a stakeout, and the Indiana D.N.R. cop not only found himself facing a pair of DEA 9mm submachineguns, but they took him into custody for criminal assault and handcuffed him like any other criminal- though the local Illinois State's Attorney declined to press the case against the Hoosier possum cop. A photo of the *suspect in custody* made its way to an area newspaper however, and I suspect that the bigshot game warden now also has a sufficient NADDIS file at DEA to keep him from ever gaining any real position of authority in a law enforcement job again.

But most of the problems in Indiana's D.N.R. seemed to come from the top, as when Governor Evan Bayh's appointee Patrick Ralston ran the I.D.N.R. as his personal kingdom through the 1980s and '90s. Ever wonder why the IDNR could only keep three female Conservation Officers until Ralston left? Perhaps there's a answer to be found in the story about at least one of Pat Ralston's own poaching incidents, to be found *here*.

[StoneColdGOP]

Richard Head.

Huh huh, huh... His friends call him Dick. Huh huh..