Those are good questions, but if the guy was not a warden and was just a poacher with a dcnr cap on, why give back the keys? Why do a license check?

That's funny and good beer.

I recall he had on camo pants and a light tan shirt with a Dept of Conservation type hat. He definitely was not wearing a gun. I saw no badge or nametag and he only offered up his name when I asked him.

Remember I just got checked in Lowdnes County two weeks ago and that GW had on dark green pants, light tan shirt, wore a badge and had a DNCR hat and was definitely carrying a pistol. He also had a ticket book in his back pocket. But in that instance I was at a gate on my 4 wheeler and the game warden pulled up in his truck and got out. Could not have been nicer.

JA call their office with the name you have now and see if you get his number. I'd call him to verify it was him. Like others have said if he didn't have his side arm he was hunting not working.

The guy may have been a warden but he was more than likely hunting, would be my guess.

I tend to think he got bluffed out.......

And that the guy was not even GW!

Parking to hunt Abandoned

Now if....and only if... there was some probable cause of laws being broken or even some hint of some illegal activity or some actual suspicious activity or some kind of situation needing investigation---then taking the keys would be proper and warranted.

Otherwise it is a "pretend" situation and totally a farce and bogus. "It might be stolen" is a cheap excuse....after following tracks, warm engine, on private land, during turkey season, just so happened to be 70 yards from hunter and "Waiting".

My thoughts.

I agree with Hogwild. I think you got bluffed by someone who went through the motions of checking your license but was scouting or trying to hunt or something.

I really don't think this guy was hunting and I think he was who he said he was.

Like I've said earlier, I think he saw my fresh tracks turn on the dirt road from the paved road and he followed them in looking for a hunter.

When I left I saw where he had parked about a hundred yards from my 4 wheeler. He walked past my 4 wheeler and put the keys in his pocket. He walked another two hundred yards to a fork in the trail. The left fork went down the hill about a hundred yards to the edge of a small pine thicket. That's where I was when I looked up the trail and saw him.

There's no way he thought the 4 wheeler was stolen. That theory just doesn't make any sense. It rained hard the night before and my tracks were the only tracks on the dirt road. The dirt road is the only way in. They were clearly 4 wheeler tracks. He could see my footprints leaving the 4 wheeler and heading down the trail. No way he thinks it's stolen or abandon. He told me specifically that he took the keys to keep someone else from walking away with them. I'm sure he really wanted to make sure I didn't double back and leave before he found me. Simple as that.

I'm not going to file a complaint. It will do no good and just piss the guy off. I don't think that's fair to the other members. He would be well within his rights to check us every weekend next deer season and walk right up to shooting houses etc., at 4:00 in the afternoon. It's just not worth it. Looking back, it really wasn't that big of deal.

There were no locked gates on my route. We wanted to put up a gate but the owner has farming rights leased out and the farmer objected. This land is private land that we lease for hunting. I explained all that to the game warden. The incident happened this past Saturday morning about 6:45.

If you will check my very first post, I only posted to ask if anyone has ever had their keys taken before. That's why I considered it a "weird" encounter. In the last 21 years, I've only been checked twice and the first time was two weeks ago. We're 8 pages in and apparently no one else has so I guess I just was unlucky but again, I hunted for another 2 hours and got back on the 4 wheeler and rode back to the camp house. No harm done.

I disagree. If it was a poaccher when he found the "scooter" he would have hightailed. If it wasn't the GW why take the keys if it was a poacher?

Ouch...

That's what I thought from the start.

No, citizens lie to police everyday. Every call they go on has two or three sides to a story. Look at Ferguson and the witness statements. Go to any domestic or neighbor confrontation and they all have a different story. People pulled over for traffic violations lie. I didn't see the stop sign, I wasn't speeding etc. LEOs hear far more lies than they dish out. That's why they become cynical as do most folks working in a job that deals with folks in a similar capacity.

Are we sure he had no gun? If he didn't then he wasn't a GW nor is he much of a hunter, unless he rings their necks, in which case he is a heck of a hunter.

OP, you don't have to file a complaint, but you need to check with the district supervisor to make sure he is a GW. If he isn't, and it sounds an awful lot like he isn't, he committed a felony and the officials need to know about it before someone gets hurt. It's crazy, but some nuts get their rocks off doing stuff like that.

Oh lord... I take one or 2 days off from aldeer and y'all decide to be awesome.

And here lies another problem. Doesn't have to be a GW to come on your land and check you for hunting violations.

Two things I've learned from watching Ironsides, Perry Mason, Mannix, Columbo, Barnaby Jones, Hill Street Blues and Law & Order:

Always ask for ID.

Never talk without an attorney if you "take a little ride to the station to clear things up."

Bingo...