Sherrif got a new horse.

Aside from him, I was the only boat on the water.

He looked like he was "practicing". Lol. I feel bad for him. The boat looked like a John boat with a tiny little motor. Brand new. No tags on the trailer yet.

I am starting to wonder about Waxahachie lake. A few weeks ago, he met me at the ramp and gave me the "shake down". Then the city blocks non residents from the lake over the 4th. Now he's got a new boat.

I hope the guy doesn't let the hill billy politicians get to his head.

I've never been,but sounds like a bad time to check it out.lmao

Golly you could outrun him with the ultrex

Sounds like your off to a great start making friends with him, we have one on aquilla that if he wants to get a ticket out of you he will, I try to be nice tho

Eh......I have enough friends.....

I must have been ok though...he watched me spot lock about 10 ft outside of the "no boats" buoys and fish. For about an hour. Catching dink after dink. I guess he already knew I had registration on me, license to fish, life jackets, throwable flotation, fire extinguisher, horn, lights, etc. from our recent get together.

He must be new my bud lives on south shore just a 100yd or so e. of pipeline we aren't on lake much but got good view from backyard or dock never really seen him.

Is this him ?

Most of those guys are pretty good dudes. I have taught my sons, You set the tone for the meeting when a LEO walks (or pulls their boat) up to you.

Nice

Exactly right. I went to high school with a girl who as soon as the officer walked up before he could even speak she would say "I need your badge number"...... what an *ss-hat of a girl.

Our game wardens in North Texas are some of the nicest LEO around. I appreciate seeing them and they are welcome to check me anytime.

Glad we have some good ones around Rayburn. The coe pulled the same stunt with ramps around here during the splash. I'm guessing some clown ran off the side of one when the water was high a complained so the closed ramps that you couldn't see the lanes. Pretty dumb. Now they closed a beach area because it has grass growing in the sand. So people are swimming at the ramp and all over now

I can’t believe the boats the Game Wardens have to use on Conroe. They are small, crappy, old, boats that don’t belong on Conroe as rough as it is. They deserve much better.

I agree, you think they would be getting some ad revenue from that TV show, I've seen some GW in really poor equipment over the years but recently I've also seen them in some nice new boats/trucks. So I guess its not as bad as it used to be but still not enough to go around.

They can't afford newer boats because they all just got a huge pay raise in the last couple of legislative sessions, also they all almost have new Chevy pick ups. Most game wardens make like 5-8k a month!

How huge? As of 2017 Texas Game Wardens salaries were:

Trainee $3,362/mo
After one year $4,436/mo.
After 8 years $5795/mo

If the State of Texas, or any other state, actually used all of the money raised from the sell of fishing licenses instead of funding other non outdoor related budgets, Game Wardens could have anything they wanted/needed and our lakes, ramps, public docks, etc would be unbelievably nice and well maintained.

Bingo. I wish our docks, ramps, and parking lots were a fourth of what you all have in surrounding areas. Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas I'm jealous.

Got any links to support that?

I do, but they don't support Brutaldudeski's numbers.

https://salaries.texastribune.org/state-...ife-department/

I figured he was going off of opinion and not fact. Especially considering TP&W budget and warden pay is public info.

5-8k a month is a little off but if you look the striking majority are clearing 5k a month easy with some of the higher jobs making much more, per the website linked

The striking majority grossing, not clearing $5k a month. That's pre-tax. Game wardens also buy a lot of their own equipment. And they work more hours/week than most of us could endure. None of them are getting rich and that's not why they qualified for and took the job.

Personally, I don't think our Wardens make enough $$$.

Just keep making it up as you go.

The Game Warden and the state biologist that work with us on our deer lease and managed land permit are nothing but first class. We always call them when we are out all night long during the night time game surveys. Our old cabin is always available for coffee, cold water or just a break, during hunting the season, we always have extra doe tags and turkey hunts for their kids to use if they want.
I don't know any of the lake wardens but I'm sure they have been schooled in game warden "ettiquette" For the money they make and what they have to do, It's a thankless job. I'm glad we have them.

This....

I have a couple of wardens (retired and current) that are good friends. Instead of just plucking ideas or numbers out of the sky, you should take a moment and talk with them.
People would be surprised if they knew how many hours a warden put in relative to the pay they receive. They are probably the most misunderstood law enforcement branch working today.

You could outrun him with an Ultrex...awesome.

I agree 90% of the time but I came in contact with one at Monticello once who needed his a$$ whipped. What a jerk and he ramsacked my boat like he was looking for a corpse or something. He was wanting/needing to write someone a ticket and I disappointed him.

Ran into one @ Cypress that was the same way. He did get to write me though, my fault entirely.
I think we started our meet and greet off wrong when I kicked his boat off so he didn't ram into me.. He seemed put-out by that.. (or maybe it was the wording I chose when I told him to learn to drive)

Paying it forward eh? agree all I have met have been great. Even the guys that checked me on Fork in the new skeeter a week or so ago. Got the new fire extinguisher btw......

The Monticello guy was definitely an A$$. I'm a big fan of law enforcement and treat them with respect and friendliness. This guy did not care about that and was rude to me and my wife on every encounter. If the fishing had not been so good I would have never spent another dime in Titus County.

If that Warden is still active in the county, call his Captain. The more legitimate negative encounters supervisors hear about from the public, the more "charm school" the offending Warden receives. If the complaints go on long enough, TPWD will deal with it. Yes txduckhunter, I'd say you definitely set a negative tone from the beginning.

There used to be a GW on Fork in the 90's that was an absolute arse. He did a ton for kids and was a pillar of the community. But every interaction I had with him was problematic. Apparently, he had some other challenges I didn't know about, and he's long since retired. Only Texas GW I've met in 50 years of hunting and fishing that was truly mad at the world.

Don't forget to subtract the retirement contribution they HAVE to put in also.
Insurance for spouses & dependents costs extra too. By the time all deductions are taken out, that $3-5K per month nets out at about 60% or less. $5K level gets home with maybe $3000-3200 after 8 yrs on job. That $3K per month nets out at around $1700-1800 bring home.
Now divide that by the number of hours they put in.
No. They DEFINATELY DON'T do it for the money.
I believe they deserve at least 25-30% more!!! That's MY opinion. Ive had positive encounters with the ones I've been checked by. I believe the type person that becomes a GW is a person that wants to serve the public, with the added benefit of improving outdoor activities for the public. Its a multifaceted job & interesting to say the least.

Ronny Ward

If that’s Jeff Powell he is a good dude. Doesn’t let much slide, but he is fair. Personally, im glad to see them out there. May deter some of the BS that goes on.

THIS^^^

The game wardens in the counties I hunt and fish in are really nice guys. I think the boss in Austin has turned game wardens into revenuers for the state instead of just protectors of our resources. They tend to write tickets for very minor infractions when a warning would have been adequate and driven home the lesson. They know the difference between an oversight and an intentional act, and i think it is the citations written because of an accidental oversight that puts a bad taste in the public's mouth. We work for our money just as hard as they do, so a ticket for an minor oversight in 1 trip out of 100 doesn't sit well. Like I said, I like all the wardens I come in contact with. They are the kind of guys I could be friends with. I really think it is the boss in Austin that has turned them into badged tax collectors/revenuers instead of Game Wardens.

I have family that are wardens. They have to do border ops and traffic control a lot as they are State Police officers as well as game wardens. My guess is part of their budget goes to securing the border, and that it could be used for better equipment if the federal circumstances were different. They work way more hours for their pay than I do for mine! If you think they make a lot, and that they don't treat people right, go through the process and become a warden. Make that big money and act so nice all the time that public perception changes.

Game Warden Pay per TP&W

Per the link the start out at $3662.50 and go up to $6487.17 with 20 years of service as of 9/1/2017.
That said there is no way I would do their job, no way I am going to walk up alone to someone I know just broke the law, them holding a gun already.
Then again being 5'6", 156 pounds on a good day they could just pick me up and throw me out of their boat.

If we can sit around and look up their salaries on a whim I'm sure that they knew what they would make before they took the job. Maybe they deserve more $, but they knew the deal going in. I chose to be a teacher and coach coming out of college knowing that the pay would be low. I enjoyed every minute of it. But when we started our family I changed professions to pay the bills after 6 years of coaching. Life is full of choices....

$6500 a month ain’t bad money....but, that’s 20years in! No way. I have mechanics and upholstery guys that I work with that make more than that a month, and a couple didn’t graduate high school.

My wife is a specialist for DISD. She’s right at 25 years with the district and she has her PhD. She makes around the same as a game warden. So, it could be worse! Thankfully, I can carry the weight for our financial needs. She does what she loves, as I’m sure a warden does, and accepts that the career isn’t gonna make em rich. It’s not all about money though. If you love whatcha do, it’s worth every penny, or even lack there of.

+1

And see, I watch the TV show and think they are way too lenient. The repeating issue I see is writing only one ticket for no license when they could write a dozen for illegally taking resources. Maybe they are doing that for the show? I've never had a bad experience with a GW, and respect them and the job they do even more than regular LEOs.

Have never had a bad encounter with a GW, know several of them and the amount of hours they out in the job and stuff they deal with isn’t worth what they get paid. They chose the profession and not one of them i know says a negative word about the pay, the only thing I’ve ever heard was the politics of the job in general.

I've only had 1 experience that I could've been cited for and that was in the dove field not the lake. I didnt buy the super combo that year and when I bought my hunting liscense and migratory bird I didnt check to verify I actually had it. Game warden told me I didnt. He allowed me to go to Walmart and buy the stamp. Could've wrote me a ticket but chose not to. I knew he would be back to check next day and I made sure I had him some breakfast tacos that morning. We talked on my tailgate for about 15 min between eating tacos. Great guy.

All of Law Enforcement has turned into revenue generators. It's not the fault of the officers themselves, it's the fault of the City Councils and legislators. Greed - pure and simple. No tickets = bad evaluations.

They had a female one over here on L Houston one time trying her best to launch and older rickety tiller drive. I offered to help her and she accepted ( taught her the lower your tailgate for better view trick) and then offered to let her follow me way up into the E fork but she declined , think she was taking it out for first time.

We ran into some in the river couple of years back in a 14" with a 25 johnson..2 of them and they checked us nicely and I asked if they had checked others, and he told me they had and asked what they were catching them on, he pointed at spinner bait I had tied on and told me "that thing" I later saw his on LSL and he was a Lieut!!

Years back I ran into one from time to time up in some upper reaches of W Fork and Spring Creek. He told me when they parked at 59/SanJac they would come back to busted windows in the truck. Well, county is building a park there now, hopefully we will see more enforcement of people raping the white bass during the run with every member of their family out there ( most not fishing) taking every one they catch.. size irrelevant.

Don't think you can hurt the white's population

Were you in full camo sneaking around on your belly while taking those pictures?

Nah. I was too busy rollin up my gill nets.

Our local one has gotten better, or maybe its just the type of boat your in. First time he checked me years ago he slammed into my tin boat, last spring he was a lot more careful to my new glass boat.