Mike Murphy before you go out and try to "set everyone straight" you should really make sure you have the facts. You are very wrong on this subject.

One quick word here, there is a LOT of misinformation floating around

"Probable Cause" "Reasonable Suspicion" and "Safety Checks" are exact terms and are not interchangeable. An officer only needs RS to stop you. He can also stop you for Safety Checks.

Personally, I do my safety checks at the ramp and simply prohibit the boat launch until the defiencies are corrected, but that's just me. Any Marine Safety Officer can do this, and for that matter, can terminate your voyage AFTER you get on the water.

Game Wardens have no more power than any other Police officer, they just enforce the Water Safety Act and TPW regulations in addition to everything else.

Just a little bit of trivia, I have NEVER seen a boat accident that did not involve three things.

Alcohol.
Operator inexperience.
Disregarding conditions. ( speed at night, or overloading, for example)

I had a warden pull up on me and my boys at Whitney this past weekend. We talked fishing a bit...he said he liked my rig and took off. He didn't even check me out.....nice guy too. Guess he can spot the folks likely to not be licensed or illegal somehow. I was hoping he would ask to see everything so my boys could learn the drill.

OK this is a well rounded response.

Facts:
1- Sking about 20 mph, Slow enough to not make an offince.
2 - officer's (2) pulled them over while skier on rope and going.
3 - Took friend to marina and he passed the field sob test (hot day 3 or 4 beers in a 6 hr afternoon)
4 - Breathalizer - the first 3 trys didn't even regester, 4th try it said .107 it made them mad when he said that he thought there breath tester was broke.

Well i do agree with we don't need to be drinking and opperating a boat or car/truck, but if you look at the rules, there so tite that you can't even have 2 beers in a 45min period and pass any test they give you.

And as for the Field Sob test I would be willing to bet not 25 percent of you could pass it without anything to drink. Have you ever tried it, its almost impossible Sober. Stand on one foot for 30 seconds and not bobble then switch feet and another 30, how about walk 30feet one foot infront of the other touching heel to toe. Im 53 years old and use to be in good shape, I can't do it, you have to be an avid athelete just to get by.

well well im thinking they should have waited for them to stop sking before they just ran over and hasseled them.

Last is, (ITS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY) They want yours.

Why should they wait for them to stop skiing? If they have been drinking then letting them finishing skiiing would put other people on the water at risk.

Also, the thing you said about not being able to have 2 beers in 45 minutes and then not being able to pass a test, well I'm glad thats true. To me there is no reason to be drinking while on the water and operating a water craft. Do that stuff on land and not behind a boat (or car for that matter).

I don't appreciate people putting my life at risk because of their stupid choices. I know accidents happen but there is no reason to increase the chance of them happening.

I was just thinking, I've been stopped by a lot of game wardens on a lot of lakes in the last 10 years. The closest thing to a problem that I've ever had is that one GW called in the registration because the boat I was driving was registered to my father and not me (on Lake Livingston in a ski boat with a bunch of college kids...no alcohol, plenty of PFDs, etc.). I've never been held for more than 10 minutes.

Anyway, I always offer the GW a DrPepper, Coke, or bottle of water, but I've never had one accept. I would think that being out there in a shirt, shorts, and shoes with a PFD strapped on in 100 degree heat would make a man thirsty. Is there a rule about this or is it that they don't want to compromise their legal appearance of independence by accepting a 17 cent "gift"?

one time i got stopped without my fire extinguisher ; so i took a 50 out of my wallet , he told me hey wait a minute you cant bribe me !" im as honest as the day is long !!!" i pulled out a 100 and he said " man that was a lovely sunset " w/r/j

Reminds me of Steve Martin in "The Man With Two Brains" bouncing on one hand down the white line in the middle of the road saying, "Damn, these drunk tests are hard!"

Well, I do enjoy an occasional beer, but I do not allow alcohol on my boat at any time, EVER. I believe that most boating accidents could be prevented if everyone had the same common sense. So as for your friend getting arrested, I cannot say I blame the Game Warden. If anything, I wish I could hear this type of story more often.

I've been told on more that one occasion that the sobriety tests are hard just to try and get the person being tested to say something like, "Damn, I couldn't do this sober." Then the officer says, "Are you saying you ARE drunk?" You can tell just by having someone follow an object with their eyes if they are drunk or not, it's just easier in court if they have you on the record implying you were drunk.

Oh, the comment about enough power to arrest the President. Your local traffic cop has enough power to do that if he catches him breaking the law. It may end his career (or make it depending on the charge, I guess) but it can be done.

During a field sobriety test, there are more signs being read by officers than most people realize. These tests are not individually a pass or fail. During each test, the WAY you perform the test is being watched, evaluated and scored. Whether you successfully complete the test has nothing to do with it. A good example of this is the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test, which is one of the three standardized field sobriety tests. An officer looks for HGN signs in each eye:
Lack of smooth pursuit (jumpy movement at a certain degree)
Nystagmus at maximum deviation; and
Onset of gaze nystagmus prior to 45 degrees.
I've seen many perfectly sober folks fall on their butt wile doing the Nystagmus test. The officer is not looking to see if you complete the task. He's looking for symptoms of intoxication.

Oh, and by the way, "I couldn't even do that sober" is NOT an automatic go to jail phrase.
"I cloodunt eeevhun doo that shoberr" is.

Contrary to popular belief, game wardens are not exempt from the United States Constitution. Texas game wardens are given statutory power, designed to be within constitutional parameters, to search vehicles and some dwellings when they are reasonably certain a person is engaged in hunting or fishing activities. You can read the statute yourself at
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/PW/content/htm/pw.002.00.000012.00.htm

The game warden search statute is analogous to the right a police officer has to search a car when he has a reasonable suspicion of a law violation by a motorist.

The foregoing is the law. Game wardens, like police officers, are not perfect. Some accidentally, and some intentionally, ignore the restraints they are under.
My observations over 30 years of hunting and fishing is that they generally try to play by the rules. Like every organization, they have some real jerks out there, too. The best advice is to be courteous and never come across as aggressive. I was stopped last season by the notorious Leroy in Brownwood and I bent over backwards to be cordial and respectful as he went about his business. Guess what? He did the same!!! The episode still made my heart pound.
The guy who posted above that his buddy "got in the face" of a game warden has a fool for a buddy.

Nothing wrong with drinking then driving a boat or car. Just don't do it drunk (Over the legal limit).

Fishon9917,
You�re sadly mistaken. That's the frame of mind that gets people killed. When you drink and drive, you put yourself as well as everyone else on the road or on the lake in danger. You want to drink, be responsible and get a friend to drive before you kill someone!

Oh, and BTW...last time I checked ski speed was 30+mph not 20.