How's it going Central Texas? Its Friday and Belton Lake and/or Stillhouse Hollow Lake is calling my name this weekend.

Damn im in a good mood.

Whos doing what this weekend?

While I don't speak for all of central texas... I am doing just swell! thank you, for asking ...

And I don't have lake time in my weekend plans, I do have yard work, BBQ, beer and getting a pair of boots repaired going down!!!!

Added bonus is grandma came down to see lil ATM, so wife and I can relax.

Wnjoy the lake!

All of my friends are selling their barges & boats thanks to the Game Wardens & Bell County Sherriff's Dept. harassing the **** out of them trying to catch drunk boaters. Each Game Warden boat is required to pull over 25 boats every day on the weekends.

If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.

If they aren't doing anything wrong, why screw with people?

Because they can?

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How's it going Central Texas? Its Friday and Belton Lake and/or Stillhouse Hollow Lake is calling my name this weekend.

Damn im in a good mood.

Whos doing what this weekend?

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What's up broseph?????????????????

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If they aren't doing anything wrong, why screw with people?

Because they can?

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Exactly.

It's a safety check. It takes literally 1 minute to show them all of your required safety gear. And you may never do anything illegal on the water, but there are insane numbers of unsafe and illegal people who are putting you in danger. Would you rather them not check anyone and let it be a free for all of drunks?

That is a total strawman argument

I would rather the cops leave people alone unless they have a reasonable suspicion the person committing an offense

I understand your argument, but this is not the police you're talking about, it's game wardens. Total different set of laws and standards.

Game Wardens are police

And I hand already acknowledged that they "can" do what they do. I do not think they should have authority to detain citizens absent reasonable suspicion of a crime

They are law enforcement in every sense of the word, and should be held to the same standards and restrictions and limitations as any other police officer when it comes to detaining citizens against their will







[This message has been edited by Captain Pablo (edited 7/19/2014 6:00p).]

Except you are not being detained when they ask to check your boat for the required safety gear.

Oh, and be sure you wash that boat off before leaving the ramp area. I'd imagine that'll get a lot of asses chapped in the coming months.

Edit to add: Game wardens are not police. Their role is to enforce laws pertaining to wildlife and fisheries resources. You get on the lake, you are operating on a wildlife and fisheries resource. They are provide governance which allows them to make arrests and uphold laws similar to, and in many occurrences, equal to police, but they are wildlife and fisheries officers.

[This message has been edited by rather be fishing (edited 7/20/2014 1:34a).]

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and should be held to the same standards and restrictions and limitations as any other police officer

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The problem with this is that they have more jurisdiction than your local policeman. They are not required to have a warrant to enter your property. You hunt down on some of the large south Texas ranches and it's a pretty nice day when the game warden happens to role up and check on you.