Your cover story about game wardens (“For the love of nature,” Sept. 10) states there are too few of them, they are deputized federal agents, they start at $41,000 per year, they have trouble recruiting due to collegiate requirements, and they depend upon fine money to finance this incredibly important job that they do.
The story goes on to to tell the tale of how three wardens and an airplane busted a couple of guys for shooting jackrabbits in the Carrizo Plains after dark. Carrizo Plains is thousands of acres of nothing 50 miles from anywhere. It is virtually unpopulated except for jackrabbits and a few other species. While there are conservation efforts and some ranches there, it is pretty much all unwanted public land. A trio of guys drove all the way there from San Mateo to shoot jackrabbits, and they were fined for shooting after dark. To achieve this, it cost the expense of at least two vehicles, an airplane, associated fuel, and the salaries of three agents for an evening.
What motivates this great an effort for this small measure of justice?
How about money? The article repeatedly refers to desperately needed fine revenue. There is the problem with the system: It mixes impartial justice and desperately needed money. This has been a recipe for corruption since mankind formed the earliest governments. Why do we as a nation continue to ignore this huge flaw in our justice system? You broke the law, so give us money. You have to go to jail, unless you pay bail and then you can be free even though you are a criminal. Pay the fine and pay for traffic school, and we’ll pretend like you didn’t speed. I am told that drunk drivers are forced to go to a school that costs approximately $1,500 on top of their fines. The state is horrible to put our officers and wardens in such an unethical situation as to motivate them to fine in the face of a budget crisis for fear of losing their jobs.
What are some of the negative results of this system? I have personally identified eight problems that confound honest sportsmen.
First, it doesn’t pay for itself. That evening in the Carrizo is a perfect example. The system operates in debt, constantly increasing the motivation to fine. The more they try to collect in fines, the more they need them to cover their costs. Sportsmen in fear of punishment will likely quit hunting on public land, and revenues will further decrease. Therefore, the pressure will be increased on the remaining few hunters until they are depleted. This is the point we are now at. It is more cost effective to pay a private ranch for a guided hunt and not need to worry. Keep in mind that the Highway Patrol has millions of drivers to fine, but there are far fewer sportsmen to fund Fish and Game. It seems it would be more efficient to add a tax or a fee to hunting licenses or access passes rather than spend money to find ways to fine hunters and create an environment of fear without breaking even. I, for one, would gladly make an annual donation if it would alleviate this stress during my recreation time.
Second, the encounters are all negative. Sportsmen are there for recreational purposes. To be hassled for a violation that seems very silly and costs hundreds or even thousands of dollars to correct causes hunters to hate wardens. It is one thing to get a traffic ticket while commuting to work, but to be hassled when on vacation leaves a particularly bad taste in one’s mouth. Wardens destroy their own PR with every encounter.
Third, the sportsman lives in the fear that a warden may take his guns, truck, camper, boat, etc. This is a violation of an individual’s rights under one or more of the articles of our Constitution. I am not a lawyer, but “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” has got to be the simplest, clearest law ever written. Wardens take hunters’ guns all the time, and they often do not get them back. I’m sorry, but this is very un-American.
Fourth, it is hard to see the benefit in many of these laws. If the law relates to public safety or protection of private property, then most people would naturally support it. Environmental
protection is typically a harder sell, but Americans are coming around to this reality as well. Unfortunately, there have been so many laws passed in recent years that no one can keep up with them all. Even different wardens have different interpretations of many of these laws.
Fifth, the typical outing has changed frequently and dramatically to comply with multitudes of laws that seem to protect nothing. A gun or piece of sporting equipment that you have owned for several years may no longer be compliant. For example, the .22 long rifle has been the most popular and cheapest small sporting rifle in the country for decades, but they don’t make non-lead ammunition for it because the industry was not ready with non-lead products when the law was passed. No longer can you drive to the forest with more than one shooting activity in mind. You must now make separate trips because you may not possess lead at all when hunting big game and varmints. There are still many activities for which non-lead is not an option due to pricing and product availability. These activities are perfectly legal, you just can’t do them while you’re hunting so you’ll have to make separate trips to the forest. This is an unprecedented change with huge ramifications in terms of expense and freedom.
Sixth, we are not always adequately informed of these changing laws. I e-mail wardens regularly to keep up with shooting laws that I was unaware have changed over the years. Without this contact, it would be virtually impossible to keep up with the multitude of laws, let alone the individual interpretations. How can laws that have not been adequately explained to citizens be enforced?
Seventh, the desperation to fine distracts officer’s attention from our rights and safety. Americans are being systematically locked out of vast public lands by landowners who control forest borders. Wardens enforce trespassing laws, but we need help to access public lands through easements that have been in place for decades, but are now gated. Also, the forests are known to contain marijuana farms, which seem to go unchallenged. The recent La Brea fire was found to have been started by organized crime growing illegal drugs in the national forest. Many fires are started by arson and burn down homes and ranches. There are serious crimes in the forest to be fought on behalf of our citizens rather than the petty crimes that seem to be enforced only to fine them.
Eighth, the system wrongly portrays sportsmen as villains instead of allies. They fund conservation with license fees of all kinds, specialized taxes on hunting, and fishing goods and fines. Sportsman groups volunteer their time and generate money for conservation all over this country. Hunting and fishing tourism keeps many towns alive. Sportsmen are squeezed constantly by bureaucrats and forced to live in fear of wardens. They endure this because they love their country and live to preserve their heritage. Becoming a criminal is not acceptable to them. These laws twist their rights to find ways to brand them criminals for fine revenue.
These problems ultimately force good people off of public lands for fear that they will inadvertently be construed as criminals. This reduces the need for wardens and reduces their revenue opportunities. At least one publication I recently read shows state sporting revenues to be at all-time lows. This vicious cycle is working the citizen off public land and the warden out of a job. We all lose.
The Sun article complained of low salaries and tough educational requirements. What does that mean to a janitor who is trying to shoot a feral pig to feed his family, but gets popped for hundreds in fines? Do we expect a nursing assistant to feel bad for the warden when popped trying to catch a few surf perch? People work hard in this country to earn $41,000 a year and are often paying on student loans for twice as many units as the 60 required to be a warden. Our public school teachers have it a lot rougher than that. A substitute teacher couldn’t begin to afford a fine like that.
Many people have come to hate wardens because of negative encounters. They fear them and blame them for the freedom we’ve lost. Cops should be heroes, but they have hassled decent people in this country while real criminals have run rampant.
I find this very depressing. I wish I could go camping to forget it all. m
Ed Apalategui is a Santa Maria resident. Send comments to the executive editor at rmiller@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 8-15, 2009.
