How To Address a Game Warden?

[joe817]

Boy Howdy! Talk about thread drift.....

No kidding!

[mojo84]

Interesting how conversations flow to other topics. I notice this outside of the cyberworld also.

[Charlies.Contingency]

I'm just kind and respectful, but I'm not a very formal guy. On the otherside of the coin, I've never been addressed as Taxpayer Rich by any government employee before. It would be nice to be shown a little respect for all of my hard work too.

You being a taxpayer doesn't distinguish you from them. They pay them too.

As a private sector person, I earn everything my family needs plus enough to help fund the government, there's isn't a single government employee that pays for everything his family needs plus the needs of others. That's why they used to public servants. Not to mention how insulting it is that same public employees are union members as well. The taxpayers pay the salaries and union dues. To protect the government employee from the government.

Are you saying public employees don't pay taxes? Please explain yourself better.

Government employees can't pay taxes. If I give you $100 and you give me back $10 have you paid me $10? Paying taxes with tax dollars is nothing more than bookkeeping. This reality infuriates many government employees but it doesn't change the reality. If all your income is from government employment paid with tax dollars, you don't pay taxes. You're a net tax consumer, period. Those who are privately employed are net tax providers.

I disagree with this premise completely. If one trades their time, effort, labor and expertise for money, that money is their's and any taxes taken out are taxes paid just like we pay. Now, if we were talking about the government agency itself, I would agree.

You can disagree with the premise but it doesn't change the math. The source of the funds used to pay the taxes are taxes. If a government employee works for X and he pays Y in taxes his real salary is X-Y. His "taxes" went right back into the same pot that paid his salary (this is an obvious simplification since there are different taxing entities than the one a given employee works for, but it's still just bookkeeping). It's a fiction that is maintained largely because it simplifies the accounting, since taxes are assessed by a variety of different taxing authorities. I'm not suggesting there is anything nefarious about it or that there aren't government employees whose labor earns their salary.

Also, I disagree with your premise that if one labors for money that the money is theirs. This may have been more or less true prior to 1913 but since then, not so much. The only limit on how much of your labor the government can appropriate is the prevailing political consensus. And not only can the government directly appropriate your labor in monetary form, it can, does, and is appropriating the labor of your children and grandchildren by the subterfuge of deficit spending. In the not too distant future when this whole house of cards comes tumbling down you may also see the product of your labor expropriated in a bank bail-in --if you have funds in banks or equivalent institutions.

BTW, my oldest son works for the government, so don't construe my remarks as bashing government employees.

It depends on the way you look at it. In your simplified form, pretty much, they don't pay taxes. When you complicate matters with what taxes they pay, the money goes in several different directions. So a government employee IS paying taxes, because not all of those taxes are going back to the "pot" that pays him/her. Considering where the money routes on the way back to the account that pays him/her, it's so minute that it may not even be a calculable number. Taxes go to pay a lot of things. So money paid to a government employee that is returned to the government in the form of taxes does go back to the government which paid the employee, but it's so terribly complicated it's not worth discussing.

The premise is correct in a sense, but it's accuracy is not quite right. I don't like to think of employees/workers as consumers though, because to me, that belittles everything that they do.

I pretty much agree and that's pretty much what I said. The taxes being paid don't go into the same tax pot so they're paying taxes to different entities but the source is still taxes. I don't see it as belittling to say that government employees are tax consumers. My son is a government employee and as such is a tax consumer, not a tax generator. Does his labor have value? I think so. Is it a necessary government function? Not really....it could be performed by the private sector and probably have the same value.

So, why isn't it? If it was a private function the industry itself, and hence, those choosing to buy its products would have to pay for it. Instead, everyone has to pay for it whether they buy the product or not, making it in effect a subsidy and therefore a benefit to that industry. And that's what a lot of our current government is...a vehicle for socializing costs for the corporate interests with sufficient political power while allowing the privatization of profits. Corporate rent seeking.

Gotcha. Hard to explain and hard to make everybody see the same thing with the same wording.

We're drifting off course though, I'm out of here before we drive her ashore!

[narcissist]

Best bet is if he hasn't seen you yet go the opposite direction as quickly as possible. If you must talk be polite but then remember what my attorney told me never speak more then needed.

[Stick_Shift]

Thought this would be a good place to ask --

How does one address a Game Warden ? For example, one could address a DPS member as Trooper Smith, or a member of a SO as Deputy Smith.

Sir. Or, ma'am. Whichever the case may be.

[anygunanywhere]

Best bet is if he hasn't seen you yet go the opposite direction as quickly as possible. If you must talk be polite but then remember what my attorney told me never speak more then needed.

When the warden visits us to check our game we greet each other respectfully. Him as Warden and he addresses me as Mr. then it is on first name basis after acknowledging each other. He always comes into the house to refresh himself if needed while SWMBO packages him up some home baked goods and a Gatorade or coffee or cold water. The warden is always welcome.

[03Lightningrocks]

Best bet is if he hasn't seen you yet go the opposite direction as quickly as possible. If you must talk be polite but then remember what my attorney told me never speak more then needed.

When the warden visits us to check our game we greet each other respectfully. Him as Warden and he addresses me as Mr. then it is on first name basis after acknowledging each other. He always comes into the house to refresh himself if needed while SWMBO packages him up some home baked goods and a Gatorade or coffee or cold water. The warden is always welcome.

That has always been my experience with wardens as well. The ones I have interacted with loved hunting and fishing as much as me. I never have seen a warden as a threat. But then again, I always follow fishing and hunting regulations so never had anything to hide from them.

One thing to remember is they are law enforcement officers and have all the authority, and then some, of any State police officer.

[The Annoyed Man]

Holy necro-thread, Batman!

4 years is a good long time, but I don’t think it’s the record.

[03Lightningrocks]

Holy necro-thread, Batman!

4 years is a good long time, but I don’t think it’s the record.

[OldCurlyWolf]

I'm just kind and respectful, but I'm not a very formal guy. On the otherside of the coin, I've never been addressed as Taxpayer Rich by any government employee before. It would be nice to be shown a little respect for all of my hard work too.

Every police officer I've had contact with in an official capacity used "Mr." and "Sir" when addressing me. That's plenty respectful in my book.

That is where I started when I was an officer. Though under certain circumstances it could go severely downhill from there.

[warnmar10]

Holy necro-thread, Batman!

4 years is a good long time, but I don’t think it’s the record.

I wish I understood the animus for necroposting.

[03Lightningrocks]

Holy necro-thread, Batman!

4 years is a good long time, but I don’t think it’s the record.

I wish I understood the animus for necroposting.

In what way are you using the word animus?

noun: animus
1.
hostility or ill feeling.
"the author's animus toward her"
2.
motivation to do something.
"the reformist animus came from within the Party"
3.
PSYCHOANALYSIS
Jung's term for the masculine part of a woman's personality.

[Jusme]

My nephew has been a game warden a little more than a year now. That has absolutely nothing to do with my response to this recently resurrected thread, just proud of him.
Game wardens, like any LEO, have a job to do. Their main focus, is enforcement of Texas, and Federal game laws. They also have all the duties, and powers, of any State LEO. For most LEO, they interact with people, who may be armed. Game Wardens, interact with people, who are almost always armed.
Some with high powered rifles, who may want to avoid going to jail for poaching.
I have hunted and fished, here in Texas all my life. I have always obeyed all regulations, ensured that I had the proper licenses, etc. I have actually had very few encounters with Game Wardens while fishing or hunting. I had many more encounters as a LEO. The few times, that have been approached while hunting or fishing, I am respectful, answer questions with a yes sir/ma'am, provide requested documentation, show any fish or game I had in possession, and made sure that any firearms were rendered safe.

I have found most are cordial, have a sense of humor, are willing to answer questions, in other words, normal people.

[flechero]

My nephew has been a game warden a little more than a year now. That has absolutely nothing to do with my response to this recently resurrected thread, just proud of him.
Game wardens, like any LEO, have a job to do. Their main focus, is enforcement of Texas, and Federal game laws. They also have all the duties, and powers, of any State LEO. For most LEO, they interact with people, who may be armed. Game Wardens, interact with people, who are almost always armed.
Some with high powered rifles, who may want to avoid going to jail for poaching.
I have hunted and fished, here in Texas all my life. I have always obeyed all regulations, ensured that I had the proper licenses, etc. I have actually had very few encounters with Game Wardens while fishing or hunting. I had many more encounters as a LEO. The few times, that have been approached while hunting or fishing, I am respectful, answer questions with a yes sir/ma'am, provide requested documentation, show any fish or game I had in possession, and made sure that any firearms were rendered safe.

I have found most are cordial, have a sense of humor, are willing to answer questions, in other words, normal people.

I wish my experience was like that! I don't give them that much benefit of the doubt for interacting with armed people who may want to get away with something- all LEO's do, and most are pleasant. Besides, COE lakes have been off limits for my whole life and they aren't "nicer" at those lakes.

I have always been a "good morning Officer", yes sir, no sir and careful with the tone of the no sir, sort of guy in the field or on the water. I have had numerous chats with GW's at hunting/fishing shows and loved all of them.

However, actual on the water contact is nothing so pleasant. (and I'll leave it there so it doesn't come off as bashing)