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My problem is with the laws more than it is with the agents who enforce them. Many of the laws are archaic and can be detrimental to wildlife populations (and example would be protecting alligators - allowing hunting makes them more valuable and provides an incentive for managing them in harvestable populations (like was and is being done with the wild turkey), but states like NC put them off limits, period, which creates a blackmarket affect and poaching.
Hunting is NOT a privilege as was stated in a previous comment; driving is a privilege. You have a right to participate in "wildlife management" (hunting, trapping, fishing, etc.) for personal use. The states' laws and permit fees are supposed to help manage this resource on public lands so everyone can have the opportunity to participate, to help fund that management, and to punish those who abuse the resource. Instead, many of our laws pertaining to these resources are so limiting that even those individuals who try to do everything within the law can be prosecuted on technicalities. I have no problem with Wildlife enforcement officers being able to search a vehicle or personal property on public property as long as they have probable cause, but a warrant should be the minimum required if on public property. Poachers are a despicable lot, and are only in it for financial gain, and should have the book thrown at them, but in certain instances, where an individual takes a fish out of season because he is destitute and hungry, it should be handled differently. Additionally, I have known individuals who were prosecuted for "saving" an injured animal that was considered a game animal or protected species, when no rehabs would take them. Additionally, laws allow commercial harvests that cause huge destruction of fish populations, then they create new fees and strict limits for the individual. Most of our states and the federal government are geared more towards the money from commercial business than the rights if American citizens.
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