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Old May 19th, 2008
cms81586 cms81586 is offline
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Default Who's had bad experiences with Game Commission Officers?

I'm not talking about getting caught doing something you definitely weren't supposed to be doing and being mad about it, but true problems. I was fined $128.50 along with a friend (same fine) for shooting 7 rounds out of a 1911 multiple times at a state game land range. It was both of ours first trips to a SGL range and we read the rules when we got there. It said nothing about 3 rnds in a rifle and 6 in a handgun. We know better now, but if the rule is so important then it should be posted. The WCO was sitting in the weeds with binos writing down each time we did so for over 40 mins. We took down our targets and were picking up our brass when he came out and slapped us both with citations. Ignorance of the law is no excuse but we were being very responsible and left the range nicer than when we got there. It wouldn't have been hard for him to give us a warning. He also inspected all of our firearms and wrote down serial numbers and models (taking the ATF's job now?). He also tried to tell us that it's illegal to have more than 3/6 at any range in PA...even private sportsmans ranges. When I told him we also belonged to Cresson Sportsmans he told us he was going to have to stop there and let the president of the club know about the "law". Oh well.

The second time was shooting at the farm with a PSL. It was in the middle of summer and he drove by and saw me shooting. It was a different officer and he bitched about shooting a rifle like that and tried to accuse me of shooting at turkeys that came out while we were talking, even though there was a target sitting in the middle of the field plain as day... I basically asked him to stop harrassing me and that there is no law against target shooting on private property.

Anyone else have lousy experiences with WCO's? I know of one that's a nice guy but every other one I've run into seems to be on a power trip.

Also, is it true they can inspect your property and house without a warrant? What can you do to stop them from coming onto your property? I'd like to see one try to come into my house and check my freezer... Do they need probable cause or reasonable suspicion to perform a search?

CMS

Last edited by cms81586 : May 19th, 2008 at 10:05 PM.
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