RE: NY Conservation Officers
I totally agree. The lack of ECO's in the field is frustrating at the least. Two years ago I caught a poacher red handed dragging a doe out of the woods during theNorthern Zone rifle season. This was the second incident in which I witnessed this guy do this and I tried unsuccessfullyfor 3 days to contact my local ECO to report the incident. When I finally bumped into the ECO at a local conveniant store and told him the details he informedme that he was aware of the individual and had previously ticketed the guy for having a loaded rifle in his truck. I guess that wasn't much of a deterrent was it?
The bottom line and any ECO will admit to it is that they are way under manned which results in a huge area of responsibility. I spent close to 50 days in the field this season and never saw one ECO. It's a crying shame. It's not going to get any better anytime soon either with the mindset in Albany.
Think about it. Over the last decade and probably longer they've seen their ranks thinned, work load increased, not to mention less than fair contracts from the State of New York. Not the kind of treatment that will instill good morale among the ranks is it. Can you blame these guys for not going the extra mile. I'm sure this will rankle some feathers, but I'm sure if you talked to an ECO about this they'd back that statement up.
Mr. .45-70