In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Not to target any one group of people... posted by Victor on June 12, 2009 at 15:02:54:

Guns drawn to me feels like they've gone overboard, regardless of whether or not I'm waking up at 4AM. I have no problem with being approached and searched, but I would feel insulted if they think it's okay to point weapons at me when I've yet to do anything to provoke such an encounter and it just tells me I'm already assumed guilty before questioning/investigating. Sure, I'll submit to demands/requests with respect but it's going to strike a chord to be greeted in someone's target-sights/crosshairs.

Thinking about it again, given the fact that you were hunting deer and were most likely armed, then maybe that was reason enough for such an approach. Whether or not they knew this ahead of time is yet to be determined.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad there is active enforcement of F&G laws in place. The wardens themselves have a tough job and I praise the work that they have to do on the field. On a side note however, I'm not fond of what goes on at F&G in Sacramento.

Being a diver, I expect to be approached and searched by the policing agencies who enforce the regulations. Being Asian, I expect the frequencies of searches to be high because of the circumstances.

In my 4 years of diving for abalone, my encounters with authorities has been limited. I was approached once by a Sonoma County Sheriff maybe 4 years ago out at Stillwater Cove and he was as polite as can be. After checking that I was clean, we all went on our merry ways. Just recently I was on a friend's boat and we were "boarded" by the crew of a Sonoma County Sheriff's orange boat but it was after I had landed and put my abalone away so we could go SCUBA diving. It was not a very bad experience but perhaps it could have been more friendly to start off. There were two sheriffs and a game warden on their boat.

So like I said, I support the enforcement of the regulations and I have utmost respect for the ones who have to do such work. Given the fact that they deal with the public, I know it's a lot to ask for a humanistic approach but it would be nice. It just seems like if they could get away with shooting first and then asking questions, they might just do that.