fishcops
From spending a lifetme in the "bush" doing fun things, I've come to realize that COs are like veryone else. There are professionals in every field of work and there are incompetents as well. Not everyone graduates at the top of the class. Certainly there are those that are reasonable and those that are unreasonable.
I have met and "worked" with COs through the years that were great guys, Some of these are friends now. But I have met others who were incompetent, unprofessional, and a disgrace to their job and themselves.
My encounters with the latter, have never been the result of my "having something to hide", "doing something wrong" or my attitude.
I am old school and I'm smart. So while I may not always agree with a particular law, I do respect the rule of law. I also realize what is involved in the job that anyone in enforcement does. I don't buy into the "Dangerous thankless job" school of thinking to excuse bad judgement, unprofessionalism or outright abuse of power. There are plenty of occupations that are dangerous and thankless.
So What??
This is the kind of thing I'm talking about:
In B.C. F/W used to set up a game check at Cache Creek. It was set up through the whole hunting season 24/7. There were signs on the highway into town, directing vehicles with firearms or hunters to report.
3:30 a.m. my partner and I are returning from a hunting trip. We pull into the gravel parking lot. No other vehicles around.
A guy in a uniform comes out of the shack, and comes up to the truck as we are stretching and getting the back opened for him to check whatever he thinks needs checking. As he comes up we both said "hello, how's it going eh?" His response, 'I want to check your weapons", not firearms, "weapons".
I said no problem. The camper was packed to the door with "Stuff" from two weeks hunting. I took the first guncase out and removed my Rem. 1100 Shotgun. I opened the action and handed it to him. He immediately started berating me for not letting him open the case or the firearm, not because he was concerned for his safety, but it may have had a shell in it and that "is against the law". I told him I had been a firearms instructor for many years and one of the things I taught was to never hand someone an "empty" gun without the action closed.
He proceed to work the action several times, looking for a live round. He then took a piece of garden hose and inserted it in the magazine. The hose had been marked to indicate the length of two shells. When it was prevented from going in further, it meant that the mag was indeed "legally plugged".
Not satisfied with this, he began to unscrew the cap on the top of the magazine. I asked what he was doing and he told me he was checking to see if the "plug" was in the mag. We had the discussion that he had already checked and I had concerns that what he was doing was unnecssary.
All this was done in a quiet, non confrontational manner, since by then I realized I was dealing with one of the grads from the bottom of the class.
He then ordered me to step away from him [ 6 feet was in his comfort zone] as he continued to unscrew the cap.
As we backed away, the cap came off, the spring inside the mag took flight, and he dropped the cap on the ground. When he looked down at the cap, the barrel fell off my shotgun into the gravel. As he looked at us with the OMG look!!, we heard the spring come down in the lot. All of this in the dark.
At this point a second guy came out, and asked what was going on. While I explained to him, the first guy went looking for the spring.
Fish cop 2 apologized for his over zealous partner and said he was new
How new?? about a year.
When he came back with the spring I asked for the friction ring. He said he couldn't find it and really had no idea what I was talking about.. "Great I'm out $40 because of your crap!!"
FC2 pulled him aside and had a pow wow. He announced that FC1 was gong to pay the $40 out of his pocket.
I took the money, and we went on our way. They did not check other firearms, licenses or anything else.
When we got down the hwy, my partner said" I didn't know the 1100 had friction rings." I said it doesn't , my old browning did.
I have had bad experiences on other occassions as well. The last one cost me $2500 to have the judge chew out the CO and throw the charges out.
He developed a bad case of " I don't recall" when he was cross examined.
Sounded like he had Alzheimer"s.
I've had a CO harrass us for the better part of 3 weeks, at least twice or three times a day. Checking licenses etc. Before the hunt was over, I drove over 300 miles round trip to make a complaint. His career as a CO ended within a few months. He should never have been hired.
I have seen the dedication of some COs as well, and am proud to call them my friends. They love their job, they are professional, and they work a lot of hours for nothing, because of that dedication. These are the ones that deserve our respect and co-operation.
I have had them ride into my camp on horseback at 7000 feet, at 11 p.m.
He had been in the saddle since daylight, because that was the only way to check the area. He had coffee and carried on down the trail, still nearly 2 hours to his camp.
I've had them help us skid a moose out in -30 and snow up to our armpits if we had no snowshoes on.
We have taken them for hours in the mountains, on horseback, across rivers where they were so scared they just held on to the horn and closed their eyes, to catch some sheep poachers.
There are good ones and bad ones, the problem is when you do happen to get a bad one it costs you. Time, money, and most importantly respect and support for the guys that are doing the job properly.
I follow the law and try to treat everyone with respect. But that does not mean I allow my rights or my person to be abused.
I did get stopped by the mounties once though. A buddy and I were going to a new area to try a shoot a whitetail. I was in my then custom hunting rig, a.k.a our pontiac sunfire. 
