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You might want to give the Game Warden a copy of the 4 rules
in extra large font.

To fire your XD he had to have the proper grip AND his finger on the trigger - sheesh.

Plus he had it pointed at something that he didn't really intend to destroy.

It would be easy to be hard on the man for his blunder.

Your extension of grace to him under the circumstances was a good gesture.

SIA

Quite a story.

I'm as averse as anyone to unwarranted searches, and abuse of LEO authority to temporarily seize weapons "for the safety of themselves or any third party", and normally I'd be all for busting this warden's chops.

But, since you do have a bit of advantage in this situation, I think I'd open a dialogue about why he thought he had any authority to go over to your ATV, unzip your tank bag, and remove your handgun.

You could bust his chops and mess up his career, or you could have a dialogue and change his outlook. If the latter fails, the former remains available, but I would rather seem him stop thinking he has the authority to look anywhere and seize anything he wants.

I do not understand why he got into your saddlebag for the gun, but if the same thing happened to me the same way, I would do the same thing. Should you run across him again while hunting I betcha he won't bother you - he should think of you as one of the really "good guys". I do have to give the guy credit in that he was going to write the whole thing up which probably would not help his career. Kuddos (sp) to you.

Ok, I'm not trying to be captain skeptical here.....but how does he end up at your four wheeler....and you have to walk 4 miles back to your truck? I mean, if he got there in his truck, why didn't he give you a ride back to your truck?

Secondly, I can confidently say I have handled all kinds of guns/weapons thousands of times in my life, and have never discharged one or dry fired any weapon without intentionally trying to do so. And, as an XDm owner myself, I can also share that it takes a combination of a firm grip, then the full trigger pull with an out-of-the-box trigger break of over seven pounds...factory specs.

I mean, your story is your story, and I'm not looking for flame wars.

I'm just asking. I've encountered GW's many times in the field, both rifle and shotgun hunting, and always with a sidearm on me. I've never had one even ask about it.

Peace