Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Pointed my spotting scope at a Warden

Depends on, what would you think if someone was pointing what you felt was a scoped rifle at you. If you are ok with that, then continue its use. If not somehow modify your scoping setup where it might not be taken as offensive. GW

IMHO the Gamey is an idiot. If I understand correctly he was observing you from a position well within your field of fire. Ken

well, 'officer safety', or the officer perception of his safety, trumps everything.

That says it all right there.

To avoid a problem in the future if somebdy sees you glassing them just hold it up sideways so they can see what it is.

Pretty funny, I got much the same treatment going through a barricade on the SRS bomb plant back in about 1990. I had a spotting scope on an airrifle stock. It was sticking butt-up out of a box in the van when a Whackin' Off guard (oops make that a Wackenhut guard) went ballistic.

Something about a "simulated weapon". I thought real weapons were the only issue...

Peter E, The Redfield has 18x to 40x glass in it. I do use it with its tripod and telescoping camera tripod, however in some instances I find it very handy to mount it on the gun stock. Straped into a backpack there is very little set up time over a truck hood, rock, log, fence post, pack, coat and etc.

As stated in my initial post, I do not make it a practice to scope individuals and that action has kept me out of trouble with the set up since 1985, until now of course. If I can maintain that record for the next 25 years I will continue to feel good about the way the setup was utilized.

I use to hunt Minnesota and Wisconsin each year for about 15 season...

I hate to say this, as I usually support LEOs...but I don't know what it is in Wisconsin and its DNR...

I've met a few really laid back and decent DNR guys in Wisconsin... but I have also met more A Holes with the 'short man complex in a position of power' among their ranks than anywhere else...

you weren't doing anything wrong RoundOak and also once you showed the officer what you set up was, to remove all doubt, he didn't need to shift gears and then give you the DNR lecture he did...

These guys just like to push scenarios so that they can write citations.. sorry but I have seen it first hand, many more times that once...

they tried it with me besides other people in our party, I just wouldn't bite the bait...

eg, we had one 19 yr old kid in our party... a DNR guy comes up to him and asks to see his license... then also asked him where his back tag was? Kenny said it was on his back.. the DNR guy told him it wasn't..

So he takes off his jacket and hat ( orange), shows the DNR guy the tag...and asking him irritated.. YOU COULDN'T SEE THAT???

the DNR guy, with his attending "witness" told him.. " Oh I saw it, I just wanted to see if you knew it was there....then he wrote Kenny up for being out deer hunting without having Orange on... Kenny tells him "I just took it off to show you the tag, that you could see in the first place!!!..."

"Doesn't matter, you don't have it on now and you have a rifle in your possession and you are hunting..."

So he was busy writing Kenny a citation.. I had observed it from a tree stand probably within a 100 meters..

I climbed down and went over and since Kenny was in our party, stuck my nose into it..

the DNR officer told me to mind my own business.. I told him he was pulling a fast one to give a citation to one of our younger boys in the party, and I observed the entire thing, and it was told entrapment and Bs...

His response was " good you can go into court with him if he decides to try and fight it.. I have my "witness" right here..

well we went to court.. and I drove 200 miles over there and came in as Kenny's witness.. Kenny lived down in Madison.. and this was out of Tomahawk...

Kenny gave his side after the DNR guy gave his story backed up by his "witness"...not only did I tell the judge that I had observed this incident, I had observed the same officer out pulling the same thing on several other people...

This clown evidently had a local rep for being an A HOLE, even among the locals... the gal at the local store was telling us that his witness was his brother in law, and he took him along, probably to keep from him being shot with no witnesses....

That isn't enforcing laws, that is creating problems to create job security for himself...

I'd say No.

The Warden was looking at you with binocs and he couldn't tell what it was? I'd tell him to call Doug and upgrade whatever it is he has....

Nice spotter set up...keep using it.

Roundoak,

As I said, I was simply playing Devils Advocate; the last thing I would want to see is a member here accused of "road hunting" or something similar because they were quite innocently using that set up from a truck, and were reported to a Warden or other LEO..

Regards,

Peter

RO

NO--HELL NO!

You were/are right and the warden wrong.

Keep using it!

WN

roundoak-

Heck no - keep on using it. I have a very similar set up though mine is cut back quite a bit more. A few years back I was parked alongside a road one fall evening observing a couple of whitetail bucks in a field. A car came flying up behind me, the guy wailing on his horn and shouting from his car. (He thought I was shooting at the deer!) He pulled up alongside me to chew me a new one - his face grew quite red when he discovered he was looking at my spotting scope.

Keep using it. But it does indeed look very much like a rifle and if you point it in the wrong direction and get yourself shot because someone hears a shot and sees you pointing what looks very much like a rifle at them, that is just the chance that you are willing to take I guess. Not worth it to me. Does look great though. And don't forget. It is always the other person's fault.

If you keep using it.. Just keep in mind that if some other dude sees you pointing it at them, and perceives that he is threatened, he might return fire. Cut the stock down and paint it orange..

I think the warden should thank you very much for being so diligent in spotting him in your field of fire and directing the shooter to avoid the area he was in. If he had his binocs at 250 yards and he had any kind of gun/woodcraft sense he knew damn good and well it wasn't a firearm. I'm going to say that at 250 yards with a pair of 7x35s I can almost tell the make and model of a rifle and certainly whether it is one or not. He sounds like a D**khead to me.

Alan

+1

You CAN keep using it...

But if the state statted issuing spotting scopes like yours to Wardens to use regularly in the field, would you think it was a good idea or bad idea?

Doesn't matter to me either way, just asking.

They already do and I have no problem with it.

WN

Wyoming Wardens have been using that same setup for decades. Someone just needs to pull the pink thong out a little!

Lots of those in the WI DNR.