Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Northwoods Law—Really Stupid

It’s really nasty outside today, snow and wind so I’m watching the TV and stoking the wood stove. It seems they have a TV show about game wardens in Maine called Northwoods Law.. I wonder how real it is?

I’ve only seen a very few shows but every episode seems to have a grow op and some dope smokers.

Today’s show had something so stupid I could hardly believe it. It seems a deer had jumped thru a glass window of a small store on Main Street in some small town. Deer is cut up pretty bad from broken glass and might have a broken leg also— not that unusual I guess. The game wardens on scene made the decision to euthanize the poor doe. A couple of them tackle the deer and then another one brings in a .22 caliber rifle with a big ole scope on it. They check the basement to make sure if the bullet goes thru the floor that it won’t hit any gas lines or some such and then they proceed to shoot the deer. Inside the store!

I’ve met several people from Maine—none of them struck me as being that stupid.

I think that is what they call, "reality TV", Karl, nothing real about it.

Other than Marty Staufers Wild America. I can't stand ANY of the outdoor shows.

It's not just Main.....somewhere along the way Fish Cops became commandos and BLM cops became Special Ops.

LOL! and very true.

Sadly, while there are genuine strands of truth in some of these shows, you almost have to be a local to separate the real from the contrived.

Having never been to Maine, I thought it would be a great way to view their countryside. A couple shows was all I could take. The number of Barney Fifes, Dudly Dorights, & Bunny Ninjas was too much for me. Good gosh, I though squat was gonna get called in over a fish hook having an extra barb.

The warden hunting moose was somewhat entertaining,
Crossbolt safety saved one bull LOL.

Have seen quite a few episodes (what else is on at 2 am?)

Not impressed with the local brain power.
Can't be overly critical............ have a lot of dipsticks down here (midwest).

Not just there sport, the halfwits are walking around here with pistols and attitude strapped to them...in a country where no one carries the idiot fisheries twits feel the need to stand in front of you with their hand on their pistol.


I swear they get off on it.

fixt it. every one i have interacted with could barely tie their boot laces.

That would explain all the velcro on their "battle gear".

The commentator is what made me quit watching. He was rooting for the Possum Cops to find something, ANYTHING, they could write a ticket for. He does it every episode, too. The Possum PoPo there in Maine are about as bad as you'd think anyone could get.

The west coast version "Rugged Justice" is almost as bad. I can't watch that one, either.

So far, the Texas version isn't too bad, the cops try to do the right thing, at least in the early episodes. I kinda like that one. I won't watch the coastal versions any more, though.

I have seen a couple of the Maine episodes. I do feel sorry for the guys that have to work anything east of the Rockies. There are a ton of people back there and a lot seem to be real scissor bills.. Could be a heavy bias toward some of the colorful characters, as it's probably not interesting or good TV to view checks on normal law abiding citizens. Seems about 1/2 of their encounters don't even pack ID with them.

Do that many of us really go afield with no wallet and habitually leave our licenses and tags at home on the fridge? I hope for their sake that we're not viewing anything close to reality. If so, I'd not last a month in their shoes.

Our guys can go afield and maybe not see a person for a couple days. We do have way more square miles than people though.

Also, here in Oregon our wardens are actually well vetted and trained State Police, and they put out a monthly news letter that makes for some interesting reading.

Oregon Fish and Game Officers Newsletter

I know Warden Georgia from some of the earlier episodes was a putz in high school.

Old Town High School class of 1981.
Just saying.......

The Maine and New Hampshire warden shows were pretty much what one would expect from Yankee states. On the other hand, the Texas show isn't bad. However, like any reality show, it's scripted beyond belief.

I had a dream that I was on Naked and Afraid with Candace Swanepool. We didn't win anything, but it sure was fun trying to stay warm at night.

Agreed....seems like most of the nations Fish Cops are looking for everything BUT game infractions but the Texicans have the illegals to deal with too...and not by choice so I'm not so critical of their over reach.

I live in New England so have probably seen more of the Maine shows (and now NH on North Woods Law) than the Texas and Montana shows. However, I don't notice a lot of differences in the shows from one state to another. It seems like the jerks are pretty well spread out across the country. Occasionally, there are very interesting episodes. NWL a few years ago showed the springtime efforts to recover the bodies of some snowmobilers who went through the ice a couple months earlier. It was interesting and very respectfully done.

They probably film dozens or hundreds of perfectly legal checks -- have license, legal gear, legal limit, etc. But why show that? Nobody would tune in twice. But show a parade of goofuses breaking the law with a portent of danger added in and...big audience. Which equals big advertising bucks.

Probably takes a year of filming to get a few hours worth of show and I sometimes wonder how much is scripted. They breakup each encounter into multiple segments with ads in between.

I always liked Northwoods Law. I used to get up there quite a bit and it all brings back good memories.