Sporting Groups, Ex Wardens Oppose Bill To Limit DNR Warden Patrols

Members of sporting groups join former state D-N-R wardens in opposing a Republican bill to keep wardens off private land unless they suspect violations. Balsam Lake Representative Adam Jarchow (jar’co) proposed the bill after the D-N-R tweeted a photo of a warden crossing private land to check on a hunter in a tree stand last year — and he wondered if it violated the U-S Constitution’s Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches. The bill would require courts to throw out evidence obtained without “reasonable suspicion” of lawbreaking on the 82-percent of Wisconsin land that’s held privately. Mike Arrowood of the Winnebagoland Conservation Alliance called the bill a “poacher’s dream.” Nobody from the current D-N-R testified, but retired chief warden Ralph Christensen says courts have ruled multiple times that wardens have the right to enter open fields — and the bill would effectively transfer the ownership of public wildlife to private landowners.