The wardens in the SE states I used to hunt are not outdoors-men or interested in heritage, hunting, game management or fostering the love of the outdoors in future generations.
My experiences are Ga, NC, SC. Of those states I have a lifetime hunting license in 2.
What I have experienced is nothing but badge heavy law enforcement officers, not game management folks.
You can look up the warden that took a 223 between the eyes when he was trying to entrap 2 (legal) night hunters several years ago. It was on State land on the Ocmulgee River in Jasper co Ga.
The hunters screwed up by trying to hide evidence, otherwise they would have been in the clear.
I can’t count the times I have had wardens act like an ass in front of young hunters (many their first time out with their Dad), and totally screw these kids attitude toward authority and wildlife.
The rise in nuisance yote population and feral hog populations in the SE coincides with the emergence of aggressive game warden enforcement. They are out to make arrests, not participate in game or game lands management.
And these same wardens cross train and assist in drug busts/swat raids with local LEO depts. It is any wonder why they act like jerks?
Those don’t sound like game wardens at all-more like sheriff deputies gone wild-the only time a game warden here would have a reason to bust someone-other than for poaching- would be if they were doing or selling drugs in a public park, and they do bust people for BWI on the lakes and rivers-and they fine-but do not arrest-people fishing/hunting without a license.
Night hunting is not allowed except for wild hogs-and then only if the landowner gives you permission. There is not a lot of fed land-thankfully-unless you live on 15 acres or more, hunting is usually by agreement between you and another landowner.
Our park rangers are also “real” outdoors people-they have the same educational requirements as game wardens and do a lot of the same things, except they are based in parks.
A huge part of a game warden’s job is to prevent poaching and arrest poachers, and that is fine-I don’t know anyone who does not hate poachers-some years ago, one shot at my uncle when caught trespassing and hunting deer on our family ranch.
If game wardens don’t do it, who counts the game for the next seasons’ tag allowance, keeps track of the health of herds and such? Doesn’t anyone have to have an education in some animal science to manage game and do hunting and wildlife conservation workshops, etc? Pardon my saying so, but it does not seem logical to have game wardens that aren’t outdoorsmen and don’t have any knowledge of game and other wild animals or the proper management of them. The whole system in those places sounds screwed up...