Time to renew.

[tjm]

I don't think law enforcement was ever meant to beneficial. It  is generally punitive.

[fishinwrench]

54 minutes ago, tjm said:

I don't think law enforcement was ever meant to beneficial. It  is generally punitive.

Well, it's supposed to be beneficial to society.    

Somewhere it went from that, to being a business.   Public Safety isn't the concern anymore, it's all about keeping the courthouses full every single weekday, and keeping all the jail cells occupied.    

We're all less safe this year than we were the year before.  Less safe from criminals.....and less safe from LEO's. 

[tjm]

In what way would you think a game warden could make you feel safer?

[fishinwrench]

2 minutes ago, tjm said:

In what way would you think a game warden could make you feel safer?

As far as my safety is concerned I was referring to LEO's.   Not necessarily game wardens.

But I did have an MDC guy come around an island and fly by me in a jet Jon while I was wading, way too close for comfort.  Like less than a rods length.     Rather than stop and apologize, he stopped and made me pull my waders down to dig my wallet out. 🙄 

Had my birddog get caught in some A-holes beaver/muskrat trap once, and not ever being into trapping I had a hell of a time trying to figure out that contraption while the dog was screaming his head off.   Near a fairly heavily used access.  Aren't they supposed to be marked/labeled with High-vis tape or something (like limb-lines & trotlines are)?    Told an agent that just happened to be back at the access sitting in his truck.....but he didn't seem to be motivated at all to find out who was trapping that area.   But of course he demanded to see my fishing permit while my dog was limping around in pain.    

I dunno man, I just never see or hear of one doing anything that actually benefits outdoorsmen.    Even had one argue with me that buffalo were carp once.  I wanted to snag one and slap him upside the face with it. 🙄

[kjackson]

21 hours ago, tjm said:

I still have to buy trout permit, trapping permit, migratory bird permit? 

Yes, plus deer and turkey.  Fishing (not trout) and small-game hunting are freebies. 

[tjm]

12 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Aren't they supposed to be marked/labeled with High-vis tape or something (like limb-lines & trotlines are)? 

Traps have to have a tag with conservation number on it, and I  imagine that one did, likely rolled up tight around a chain link where it would be lost,  because under the law only the trap owner or an MDC Agent can handle the trap. The agent probably should have taken your name though. The same law  to trot lines the tag, is for the Agent's use only; if some idiot pulls up your trotline to find the tag, the idiot is tampering, a violation. There is no requirement for visibility. Your dog was at fault, just like it would be in any other off leash instance. Free roaming dogs are a costly nuisance to a trapper or a farmer. And dog owners always say "my dog doesn't do that."

12 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I dunno man, I just never see or hear of one doing anything that actually benefits outdoorsmen. 

Every time they check you, me or another person for permits they are preventing poaching, or "theft of wildlife",  and that means there will be fish and game next year. It is unfortunate that such checks are the only  way of identifying thieves, it would be wonderful if all criminals had Hi-Vis tattoos that could be read with a scanner from a distance, then the rest of us wouldn't have to carry any I.D.

I don't know what it means, but in 60 years of hunting, trapping and fishing, I can count on my fingers the number of times I've been checked by game-wardens. I have seen them catch poachers on the water more times than I've been checked. It's crazy to watch one wade right into and across the creek in dress shoes, uniform and all. 

[tjm]

3 hours ago, kjackson said:

deer and turkey

Have always been free as a landowner, but the turkeys left  a long time ago.

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, tjm said:

There is no requirement for visibility. Your dog was at fault, just like it would be in any other off leash instance. Free roaming dogs are a costly nuisance to a trapper or a farmer. And dog owners always say "my dog doesn't do that."

I know some trappers and they always put some orange ribbon above, or on both sides of the trap.  I assumed it was a requirement, but if it isn't then it should be.   Especially on public land.    I could have kept the dog away from it if I had known it was there, he wasn't technically "free roaming".    

[tjm]

Flagging would excite the Peta types and all such sets would be  destroyed and traps stolen. It's worse some places than others and the antis stealing traps is what brought about the no tampering laws. A trapper shouldn't set in a high use area, though, or near a house and it is illegal to set traps in trails and paths used by people.  Most state owned land requires a special use permit with sometimes more restrictions than the Code,  I'm guessing that if the game-warden you spoke to didn't get excited, that he knew the trapper and may have already examined the set prior to you being there. 

Marking with flagging like you  suggest would also insure the target animals never got caught. If I have properly concealed my trap from a coyote, you should never find it unless it is tripped, coyotes and fox are wary of new things in their living space.  Flagging is sometimes used to visually attract bobcats and your pal may have been targeting them.

Trapping season is publicized, it's no secret that traps will be set during that season. Hunters should learn to deal with traps, anyhow, because even if the season is closed or the area hunted is closed to trapping there will be poachers that violate the laws. 

[fishinwrench]

20 minutes ago, tjm said:

Marking with flagging like you  suggest would also insure the target animals never got caught.

I don't know much about trapping, but the guys I've known that did/do never had a problem collecting critters.