Oklahoma Game Warden

[shoeless]

I went to the Blue River in southern Oklahoma to do some fly fishing today. Great place for any fellow fly fishing fans out there.

Game Warden came by checking licenses. I goofed big time and had left it in my check bag in the car after a quick stop for lunch. The law is clear that you have to have the license with you while fishing. It was an honest mistake, I took the bag off and decided not to carry it the rest of the day. It's always in the bag and I always carry the bag, but for some reason forgot to grab the license.

Long story short, the Game Warden was very polite and understanding. Reminded me of my responsibility and asked to see my ID. I handed over my drivers license and CHL. He looked at both then apologized for the inconvenience, but I would have to walk the mile back to the car and show him my licenses.

I made the walk, met him at the car about 15 minutes later. Presented the fishing license and was given a warning for failing to have license during inspection. He handed back my drivers license and CHL, asked me to sign the warning and told me he was sorry again for having to pull me off the river, but said "just doing my job so they know I'm working."

No comment on the CHL or any questions about whether I was carrying or not. Expected a little more from a Game Warden, but he was extremely professional. Great experience, first time for me having to show my CHL.

First time to get stopped by a game warden on the river. Great experience, even though I had to leave a great spot and was catching a ton of trout.

Mucho props to the Game Warden, great experience. And...I won't be forgetting to carry the license going forward.

[chabouk]

That sounds like an old-school game warden. How old was he?

Overall, a good encounter.

Have you ever seen the "Outdoors with T.K. & Mike" videos? They were produced in the age of VHS, and were never put on DVD after one of the duo passed away unexpectedly, so the only online videos are pretty low quality. It was a spoof show, of two Alabama rednecks producing their own outdoors show for the local cable access channel. If you get the chance, watch some, because they're hilarious.

Anyway, game wardens were a frequent topic. In one episode, they were bank fishing, and kept taunting the GW by stashing their fishing rods right before he showed up to check their licenses. They kept insisting they weren't fishing, just sitting there watching nature. After a few attempts, he caught them fishing, KNEW he had busted them, and demanded their licenses. They said "sure!" and handed them right over.

[chabouk]

A sample:

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[G.A. Heath]

In my experience game wardens do not care about CHLs, I suspect that this is because a large number of their encounters are with people who are armed. I had one game warden show up while we were hunting I handed him my licenses (Hunting, DL, CHL) and my hunters education card. He quickly handed me back my chl and told me "I don't care about that, I can see that you are armed" while pointing at my shotgun. Now this was a game warden in West Texas, not Oklahoma.