Arkansas Blog

I'm not sure if the statistics bear this out, but I've heard that Game & Fish officers are the most "shot-at" among law enforcement ranks. Makes sense. I"m glad this guy was wearing his vest.

Yep. What do you suppose they earn a year? $30,000 perhaps?

I suppose this arises from my general distrust of officialdom, but something seems odd about all this. As I understand it the shooter had a handgun (visible or concealed?), was wearing camouflage clothing and walking along a street or road.
Camouflage clothing does not necessarily indicate a hunter and all the hunters I see around here prefer something a bit longer than your average handgun.
If I'm wearing hunter orange during a fence checking foray onto the back forty and carrying a handgun, am I technically a hunter, even though both items are used only in the interest of self-preservation? And nope, no hunting license in my pocket -- fishing's my racket.
Was my husband, who has been know to wear camouflage around the house, or even to work, a hunter when he grabbed the double barrel and buckshot and sprinted to the barn when he heard me scream? (A possum jumped or fell off a rafter and grazed my back. It was not a lady-like scream outta my mouth, but I was fine. Hubby was a basket case.)
I'm not condoning the shooting in any way -- just wondering what exactly what sequence of events led up to it.

Doigotta,

According to newspaper reports (and word of mouth) hunters have been in Burns Park for years. The AGFC is mandated to enforce our hunting and fishing regulations (fishing is legal in Burns Park). I would imagine those that bike, walk, play golf, bmx bike, horseback ride, etc in the park appreciate an officer driving through to keep an eye on things and not wait for someone to get shot.

The AGFC officer asked the man to see his hunting license just like any officer might ask someone suspicious to see some identification. If he hadn't had a hunting license then he would have asked for a drivers license. The guy could have been growing weed, cooking meth, hiding stolen goods, taking a walk in the park, geocaching, you name it, but the officer decided to see some identification and ask him what he was doing. The officer didn't assume that he was hunting (that is the link that everyone has made).

Remember that AGFC officers are some of the only officers that expect the people they stop to be armed with live ammunition. When the guy wouldn't show the officer what was behind his back, the officer I'm sure assumed he had something to hide.

Then the guy started shooting and it went from there.

And yes, this guy had a mother and friends who loved him and they even got in the paper saying what a great guy he was and something must have snapped to cause him to decided to try to kill another person (who happened to be in law enforcement)

>>>>Camouflage clothing does not necessarily indicate a hunter and all the hunters I see around here prefer something a bit longer than your average handgun. <<<<

As a former hunting instructor, Arkansas's game laws set out that if you're in the deer woods and carrying a "killing device," the reasonable presumption is that you are hunting. You may convince the game warden (or ultimately, a judge) otherwise, but your conversation with the warden starts with the presumption that you're a hunter, and you need to show your license, or demonstrate that you're not hunting. And if you're packing heat, then you are most likely going to lose that argument.

Here's a good 'neck' version of hunting in Viagra Village. A LTE spells it out for a Bella Vista letter writer who's opposed to hunting inside the city limits.
blue name

by LWood