Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What A Tx Game Warden Told Me

So, you can't walk around your property with a concealed handgun during deer season if you don't have a hunting license?

Bullsheit.

Missed that at the end. Thx.

So:
1) The ruling states unequivocably that wardens can make administrative searches without probable cause.
2) But in this specific case, the warden is judged to have had probable cause.

So.. again, that state has a ruling on the books that wardens can make an administrative search without probable cause in order to verify possession and size limits.

Which is exactly what I've been told by Nebraska wardens that they can do. They can't search a residence, but they have the right to search any coolers/freezers/etc of anybody with a hunting or fishing permit. Said the Fourth Amendment didn't come into it because your purchase of the hunting/fishing permit was basically a contract stating you would allow such searches.

But.. IANAL.

It's my understanding that concealed carry doesn't count as "hunting". Lots of folks doing open carry of handguns nowadays with the advent of mountain lions throughout the state, so at some point I'm sure that will end up in court.

I think you would find that the limit of that administrative search would be be regulated to someone a conservation officer sees either hunting or fishing.
IE: if he sees someone fishing, he can then stop and search them for fish, a fishing license and such.

Or possibly more related, a boating safety inspection. Simpky being on the water in a boat is enough to get stopped and "checked"

Every state that I hunt allows CCW during hunting seasons (even without a tag), but you cannot use the CCW to hunt with.

The contacts with every TXDPW wardens over the span of 34 years, or so have been great. Hunting, fishing, didn't matter. Couldn't ask for better guys to deal with.

The MFing WIDNR up in WI, another story all together. Jackbooted pricks with a chip the size of Lake Superior on their shoulders, save for maybe one or two over that same span.

Never a game citation of any sort in either state. WI guys are just toxic sunzabitches even to a twelve year old kid in his first year hunting.

Here is the exact Nebraska law:



So, is "reason to believe any game, fish, or raw furs, taken or held in violation of the Game Law" the same as probable cause?

PS: And I do see that the OP and ltpowell were correct for Nebraska, no searches of homes without warrants. Barns and outbuildings and vehicles though don't need warrants.

Yes, and I suspect that some of the listed places that can be searched without warrant will not stand if challenged, at least without exigent circumstances.

To my reading. Yes.

and I think Patnis right too.

If he just willy-nilly walks into a barn that search will likely get tossed. However, if he sees a bloody drag mark leading into the barn, or what looks like deer hair on the barn door, that search will probably stand

interesting stuff

So.. an anonymous tip would let him search outbuildings/vehicles/etc without a warrant, but not a house. Which is more power than a normal LEO, right? Just not a huge amount of additional power.

This is where the myth of "enhanced authority" comes from. In most cases, it is much cheaper to pay the fine than it is to challenge the regulations in court.

Most states don't require a license to hunt your own property.
Don't believe all the crap you read here without checking the real facts first

Maybe. A Nebraska LEO would be more qualified to answer that. I suspect it is just law that hasn't been challenged yet. As Gadfly mentioned, there are lots of bad "rules" out there that are contrary to the law. I suspect the first time a Nebraska GW finds a ton of cocaine in an out building while looking for a pheasant, things will change.

IMO. No, an anonymous tip is not enough PC. It may give reason to go talk to the guy, and use my eyes to see anything in plain view that may give PC to search.

As an example.

While not Game law related. Some months go I was dispatched to a residence to speak with a cab driver who stated he was stiffed on a fare when he dropped the guy off at the house I responded to. I knocked on the door, guy opened door, and in plain viee was a stack of cash and 3 kilos of Heroin. At that point I could enter the house and seize the contraband without a warrant. Because

I was in a aplace i was legally permitted to be( on the porch, knocking at the door to speek with an individual named in an investigation.

B. i had legal access to the contraband( when he opened the door the coffee table came into "plain view".

C. There was sufficient cause to believe the subject matter was contraband.( Size, shape, and color of packages were indicitive of narcotics, the money, digital scales and packaging materials were indicitive of drug distribution paraphanalia.

Name a fee States that don't require a license to hunt your own land, aside from farm tags

As an aside.
Technically you are not lawfully present inside his house and therefore can't seize his drugs unless he invited you in.
Plain view is a seizure exception not a search warrant exception. You would need to argue exigent circumstances in order to enter. But this is all way off topic.

Montana's statute.
"A warden may search, without a warrant, any tent not used as a residence, any boat, vehicle, box, locker, basket, creel, crate, game bag, or package, or their contents upon probable cause to believe that any fish and game law or department rule for the protection, conservation, or propagation of game, fish, birds, or fur-bearing animals has been violated."

And the Montana supreme Court case:
"The defendant argued, inter alia, that the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress evidence because the game warden illegally stepped onto his boat and conducted an inspection of his catch. The supreme court disagreed. In attempting to inspect the defendant's catch, the warden merely placed a foot upon the transom of the boat, an exterior platform which was readily accessible to the public. In so doing, the warden did not disturb any personal property or gain access to any place not readily visible from a higher vantage point. Once the warden lawfully stepped on the transom, he could see into the open live well. That plain view observation revealed that the defendant possessed additional fish, in excess of his legal limit. The observation allowed the warden to remove the excess fish from the live well and issue the unlawfully killed game fish citation. Therefore, the trial court did not err in denying the defendant's motion to suppress."

In AL no license is required to hunt your own land. Would guess that it is required that you record the deer just like any other, but a purchased license isn't needed. I rarely do anything on my land without taking a rifle along.

I guess I've been lucky with the game warden's I've met. They've all been super nice. They generally ask to check fish (count and length) when I'm crappie fishing. I've never thought to tell them no. They've checked rifles before when driving out of a WMA to make sure they weren't loaded and muzzleloaders had no caps on them while in the vehicle. I remember one was really interested in the .358 Win I used when he was checking the deer...seemed like a gun nut and was very polite.

Updated.