Game wardens shoiud have to have probable cause.

Has anyone ever tried to get a law passed where the game nazis have to have probable cause like on the streets? This is America and they should not be able to go boat to boat like they do. Any info?

leave the shotguns and fishing poles at home maybe

Learn the boating laws where you boat and there won't be any problem. By law, there can't be if you're in compliance.

I do agree that they have more power than other LEOs. It sucks that they can pull you over just cause it convienant without a probable cause.

If you are doing nothing wrong then what do you have to worry about. I wish they would pull more people over at my home lake and check the drivers for drinking.

^ Completely agree. I don't understand the problems others have with the wardens. If anything, I feel better when they're out there all over the place. The only time I've been approached is if we're changing riders or are stopped and just hanging out. They don't just randomly pull us over and give us a hard time. All I've been asked to show is my throwable, fire extinguisher, up to date registration, and if someone is drinking they need an ID. That's it. It takes a whopping 5 minutes. If you fail their attitude test, you're going to get hassled. Show some respect and they will often times return it.

Lake Austin is getting bad these days. No public ramps are open on Lake Travis so everyone is forced to LA. I fell last Sunday around 8:00pm and with only myself and one other boat in our section of the lake, he got within 50 feet of hitting me as I floated in the water. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN????? It was only me and him... there was 90% of the lake open but since he wasn't paying attention (looking at the tubers he was thrashing around), he drove full speed right at me and turned at the last second (I think one of him passengers yelled or something).

Originally Posted by petrie141

Lake Austin is getting bad these days. No public ramps are open on Lake Travis so everyone is forced to LA. I fell last Sunday around 8:00pm and with only myself and one other boat in our section of the lake, he got within 50 feet of hitting me as I floated in the water. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN????? It was only me and him... there was 90% of the lake open but since he wasn't paying attention (looking at the tubers he was thrashing around), he drove full speed right at me and turned at the last second (I think one of him passengers yelled or something).

This happens way too often me. It happened three or four times last week to us. I usually get on the microphone and yell at them.

I love the "if your doing nothing wrong" argument. The us govt used that argument to kill thousands of people with poisoned liquor during prohibition...

The reality is that most all of us are breaking some kind of law on the water just about every time we go out--Weight limit is the most obvious. I've been pulled over as much as three times in one day for absolutely nothing. Be patient a be cool and it usually works out. Plus, you usually only get pulled over once by the same warden in a season.

I have a positive story about a water-cop from last weekend. We got a late start last Saturday and the river was an absolute war zone. I decided to battle it out for a stand or two. I just got into the water when I saw a Coast Guard boat roll up behind us and I was sure he was going to pull us over for a check. He stopped about 100ft back so we took off. He followed us about a mile down the river and every time a boat tried to pass, he flashed them and made them hold back. I got smooth pass thanks to a water cop and when I crashed out he just cruised by and his crew gave us a thumbs-up.

Won't happen, the State only allows things that give it more power. They will roadblock anything that protects your rights, especially 4th Amendment rights. Also note that police on the streets don't need probably cause, the requirement to harass you unprovoked has been reduced to "reasonable suspicion" which in fact is not reasonable at all. Basically it means they can stop and harass you at any time for any reason and you have no recourse as they will lie (police are instructed to lie to you, and protected when they lie under oath in court).

Around here though it's not game wardens or even police that give me grief on the water. I've had several eyeball me or sit and watch us ride but I just smile and wave and they have gone on their way in short order. Here it's the Coasties that harass me. I've been stopped many times by the Coast Guard and detained for 30-60 minutes each time while they go on their fishing expedition. Of course they never find anything but it's frustrating that they can trample our rights unprovoked and without having broken any laws or done anything visibly illegal.

Of course after being harassed many times by the Coasties when you actually could use their help, such as a tow less than a mile to a boat ramp I can see when I had a broken coupler, they won't help. I finally got them to tow me after telling them they could take a couple minutes to tow me to the dock or wait for the call in a couple hours for a drowned or missing person in the water from trying to paddle and swim the boat back to the dock against the tide and adrift in the middle of a shipping channel. The Coast Guard has has no qualms showing their true colors, they're just revenue collection... Thieves.

Best you can do is just be in compliance, don't break any laws, and if they give you a paper showing inspection of safety gear or whatever keep it handy to show the next pricks who harass you as there's a chance they may waste less of your time.

Coast Guard around here are really cool. It is the Sheriff's that give you problems. Once once threatened me with a, I kid you not, $90,000 ticket for riding in a ship channel.