Tresspassing Wildlife Officers.

[Fletch]

We've had them walk in front of trail cameras and flash a badge... Or at least I assumed they were LEOs... They were in plain clothes....

 

[giles]

They own the game and have rights to go anywhere it goes. Including your property, vehicle and freezer.

 

["J"]

They own the game and have rights to go anywhere it goes. Including your property, vehicle and freezer.

They own the game alright….

 

[switchhitter]

I've always been told they have the right to go anywhere they want and seize any property they want if it involves a violation.

That is what I always believed
No warrant required

 

[Tipmoose]

We had a WO that would sneak in and observe us in the trees. He would hunker down and wait for legal quitting time to make sure we unloaded our firearms at the exact minute. Then when we were heading to the truck with unloaded guns, he’d hope out and check our license. He did it so often for so many years, we expected it.
When he finally retired, my first meeting with his replacement set me on fire. I was in the middle of sneaking up on a bedded buck and was just about to get a shot when he came barging into the woods and ran the deer off! I’d been trying to kill that deer all year. I was furious and told him all about it. I killed that same buck but it took me another 11 months to get it done. I haven’t seen him since and that’s been ten years ago.
I called the DOW about the first WO because he had become just a nuisance. They told me he was well within his legal rights at that time to do whatever he felt he needed in order to catch us in a violation. He never did, because we play by the dang rules! Especially with that PIA WO always lurking!

It might have been fun to mess with him a little bit if it became too much of a nuisance.

My dad and his brothers were essentially feral children growing up in mid missouri in the early 40s. After one particular run in with the GW that ended up with their father being called from town to get them under control, the GWs started to follow them around trying to find a reason to ticket them. So, dad and his brothers grabbed a whole bunch of brown leather gloves and a broom handle and drove slowly down the gravel roads around the county. Every now and then they would stop next to land a family member owned, stick the broom handle out the window, and another brother would jump out of the back of the truck and run off into the ditch and hold up a brown leather glove he'd pulled out of his pocket and throw it in the back of the truck.

Wasn't long before the GW hit the lights and came over the hill behind them. They found no weapons, no ammo, and no rabbits and three completely uncooperative teenagers who knew they hadn't done a thing wrong. This went on for many weeks until the GW got tired of it and chased more productive sources of revenue.

 

[Tipmoose]

They own the game and have rights to go anywhere it goes. Including your property, vehicle and freezer.

They would probably convince me otherwise, but I'd have a long hard think before letting anyone into my home to look in my freezer.

 

[Jackalope]

They would probably convince me otherwise, but I'd have a long hard think before letting anyone into my home to look in my freezer.

Luckily they don't have the right and need a warrant if you object.

"They may inspect any container or package at any time except when within a building and the owner or person in charge of the building objects. The inspection shall be only for bag limits of wild animals taken in open season or for wild animals taken during the closed season, or for any kind or species of those wild animals."

Section 1531.13 - Ohio Revised Code | Ohio Laws

codes.ohio.gov