Dirty tactics once again from the AZGFD! Now you'll know why to never trust them

[bonecollector777]

Here I have attached a court hearing in regard to the matter of a game and fish officer Shawn Wagner shooting an elk while hunting with various other officers and a judge. Shawn shot an elk while hunting in 3B and made a bad shot on a bull. The bull was tracked but not recovered. Shawn left to Phoenix the next morning and signed his transport tag over to another officer without the knowledge that the elk was dead. Long story short the other officers proceeded to look for the elk and found it STANDING UP, WOUNDED BUT VERY MUCH ALIVE and proceeded to shoot the animal FOR Shawn and PUT SHAWNS TAG ON IT. Somehow all 4 officers thought this to be ok to do and acted as if Shawn had been there the whole time and killed his own elk.

Let's pause for a second. Can any of you imagine what the AZGFD would do to any of us if we did something like this? Not only would we be fined but would also have our license taken away. But seeing as though their own employee did it they felt it was ok to let it slide.

The elk was killed by another officer and somehow (to save Shawn and themselves from being punished) concluded the "fatal" wound was from Shawns arrow a day earlier. This elk was alive enough to be standing up and after various poor placed shots into the animals legs and throat it finally was killed.The animal was transported and taken to a meat processor after.

Besides the fact this this absurd act was called legal it gets even better. As you will read in the court papers other officers then began looking into the incident to see if it was legal or not. The badly trained officers and chairmen conducted their investigation incorrectly and did things out of order which eventually led to Shawn and all people involved to be let off scot-free. Not only scot-free but Shawn then SUED THE AZGDF FOR $100,000 and WON!!!!!!! WTF?

Please read the court papers I attached as they explain things in much better detail and you will see the corrupt things that take place inside the game and fish. Some statements from the chairmen during the investigation were things like "If we didn't have to play by the rules this would have been done a long time ago." and "we didn't want to start another investigation into the officers that didn't follow policy because they would be too much of a hassle." HAHA are you kidding me?

In the end not one person was punished,demoted, or fired after these events. It only shows that as long as you are one of them you are ABOVE the law and apparently can do what you want and get away with it as long as benefits you. The illegal acts of all involved are shameful and things like this can't be tolerated. People lose their licenses over throwing some trash on the ground and GandF officers end up $100,000 richer for illegally taking elk. Seems wrong in every possible way. Are these the kind of people you want managing our wildlife?

 

m5569612.pdf

[azslim]

sounds like a perfect example of "buddy hunting" to me

[twowindy]

If this was one of us,things would have gone down a lot different.

[AZLance]

And they wonder why Hunters have lost respect for them... I know there are still a few good ones... but the list is getting smaller and smaller.

[Non-Typical Solutions]

So is Wagner still employed by AZGF???

[AzHuntingAddict]

After reading the 14 pages of court documents, It leads me to think Wagner was right in suit. His supervisors were in the wrong in how they handled it. From what I read Wagner was not the one who bungled it up and tried to hide the story or keep it on the down low.

[Hunterjohnny]

After reading the 14 pages of court documents, It leads me to think Wagner was right in suit. His supervisors were in the wrong in how they handled it. From what I read Wagner was not the one who bungled it up and tried to hide the story or keep it on the down low.

That's what I got from it. Now everyone else is a whole dofferent story.

[twowindy]

Why wasn't this story on their website or did I just miss it.I know if it involved me it would have been on the front page

[twowindy]

So if I shoot a elk I can go home and let my son go find it and tag it as long as I fill out the transportation tag?Sounds fishy to me.

[Non-Typical Solutions]

I liked the part where they shot several arrows because of the limbs, hit the elk in the leg.........wow that there is criminal....interesting story, might print it out and keep it handy for quick reference just in case you ever get in a jam....

[bonecollector777]

I just sit and imagine what they would have done to any of us had we done something like that. We would have been charged with all kinds of things. The whole story is full of illegal activity and it's amazing that not ONE person was charged or punished for what they did. I have heard but don't know if it's true that the Arizona Republic has refused to write anything about this or report on it. Why do you suppose that is? AZGFD would never try and hide something like this from the public right? haha things just keep going downhill for them. . glad to see some of you don't approve of their actions either.

[DesertBull]

How can all of these LEOs not know the rules. Especially the most basic of rules. You can't hunt with a tag that has someone else's name on it. DUH!

[dzell]

they where all in the wrong and none of them should have a job or hunting privleges we should fire the judge that awarded the law suit as well

[123456]

Wow!!! This is a big black eye for the Dept. Sucks that corruption is rampant in just about any Law enforcement agency. Please remember that not all LEO's are this way, and treat every officer with respect until he proves otherwise. I think there needs to be a lot of house cleaning over at the Dept., and the ones who are involved in this crap need to be first.

Bonecollector- I usually write most of your stuff off as crap, but I do have to admit, I would have never heard about this unless you posted it. Thanks for posting.

[elpepe25]

Them Folks is a bunch of shysters, scammers, and flat out liars.