Hope this goes all the way to the US Supreme Court

huh?????????

Hope they close that stupid useless agency soon! What a supreme waste of tax payer money! They should be doing their job instead of chasing people around on ATV's gimme a freakin break! They seam to think that they are the almight powerful short man woods man police officers, half of them don't know where they are when I see them in the woods, and 3/4 of them are busy gabbing in the country stores while letting their expensive trucks idle after putting $80.00 gas in them! I've seen it happen! I've also been redirected and told that I had to continue paddling my canoe to the next closest "certified boat landing" which was almost a day away because my truck was parked at a boat landing that wasn't designated as such. I had to drop off my canoe partner to drive my pickup truck and continue paddling almost a day away when I had just completed 96 freaken miles and 4 days on the St. John River. I begged for a warning and the dumb dumb just simply stated that it was the "new governors rules". I've been canoeing for the past 15 years and didn't even know that there were designated boat landings in the middle of the North Maine Woods. Not to mention gamewardens who check our passes every day sometimes 3 times per day. Same warden same passes. Useless agency, that's what they are! It's too bad because there is a lot of real work to do.

Boat launches and parking areas for boat launches are there for a reason. A designated area to launch your boat is a convience for you, the designated parking is so that all can access the boat launch. What if everyone felt the same way and parked wherever they wanted and you could not get close enough to launch your watercraft? Would you be so quick to complain that we should be able to park where we want? Game Wardens are not out to make someones life miserable, they have a big responsibilty to keep the woods and the people who are in the woods safe. If someone is going to go boating or hunting or hiking in the North Maine Woods they should take the time to find out as much as they can about the area they will be accessing, that way they will not run into trouble. There are several publications that give this information. I am an avid hunter, four wheeler and fisherperson and would not think of striking out for any of those activies without being prepared. Not trying to lecture or sound like a goodie goodie, just saying be prepared, your time in the woods will be much more enjoyable!

I can guarantee you that I am very prepared for my excursions in the Northern Maine Wilderness. I have been places people could only dream about. My gripe is that these wardens are out to make your life miserable. Why else would they check my passes 3 times in a day. There was probably 25 people registered in the woods that particular day. It is plain and simple. They are bored and have nothing to do other than patrol the woods, assemble together at the local country store, chase people, hide fake deers in the ditches, and idle their trucks. This agency does have a specific purpose that they are charged for and they do not do what they are suppose to! The year that the boat launch sites were established was the year after Barachhi got elected. He changed the rules overnight like usual and the boat launches that people were using for the past 50 years were no longer designated. Gimme a break!!! have you even ever been in the North Maine Wood. Ridden the Pell and Pell road for 90 something miles? I was born and raised in Northern Maine. Own property in Allagash adjacent to Fish River and the St. John. I walk and travel those roads like my main street. Common jeepgirl! I have overheard these sorry excuses for law enforcement talk about the local people and what they say would suprise most of you! Be on your guard with them, they are sorely mistrained!

i have no problems with being stopped. i love to ride my atv and i want to make sure the trailes are safe and dont have a bunch of drunks out there. I say stop me all you want. All i want is to have a safe place to ride.

First, Yes I have been to North Maine Woods, spent most of my life there hunting, fishing, wheeling, and just driving all the back roads. Some of the boat launches maybe have been closed due to private land (woods companies) or for reasons of hiking purposes and restrictions from that direction, the game wardens are not the ones making those decisions they are the ones who have to enforce the decisions. I have canoed up Little Black Brook more times than I can count and know the areas up there like the back of my hand, so I do understand, its a wilderness that needs to be appreciated and enjoyed, What do you think the entire area of North Maine Woods would be without any guidelines or restrictions and no Game Wardens to enforce them, would be a free for all. I worked for nine years for a corporation that brought us in direct contract with the Game Wardens and the work they do, and the ones we encountered went out of their way to make the best of a situation, and to date the only people I have seen have a negative encounter with them are the ones who are breaking the law. Everyone is entitled to their own say in the matter and not trying to change yours, there are always good and bad in any situation, its just I try to make the best of it. And just for the record once I even got caught for fishing under a bridge that was fly fishing only and I did not see the sign and the game warden let it go as the sign had not been there the day before when I was fishing the same hole, so they do have empathy and are not all out just to collect a paycheck, I am sure like in any other profession it depends on the individual what type of person they will have a direct bearing on the way they come across to the public, not everyone is cut out to be what they do, but, should not be a blanket statement that they are all that way. K that is it for me, I don't often post a comment, but, when I do its not to anger anyone just to voice my opinion, and don't like the part of going back and forth, so if I have offended you in anyway did not mean to, I just always try to not judge a person or their career until I walk a mile in their shoes!

tis okay, I am not easily offended! LOL!!! Glad that we could agree to disagree. I am by no means a law breaker, but have had more than one negative encounter with this agency and the ones I have dealt with were less than reasonable and chose not to use their professional descretion. Really glad that you enjoy the woods as much as I do!

Have a great weekend! I'm over it! and will get off my soapbox! LOL!

This ruling is not about wardens, it is about freedoms and rights. Do you want state troopers to be able to stop every car on the interstate without probable cause? Do you want law enforcement to be able to enter your home without a warrant? I don't, nor do I want them to stop me on an ATV without cause. I want to be free to roam the outdoors unmolested unless I give reason to searched and harrassed.

Fiction is right!!! That's what I was trying to say! He just said it without emotion! Good job!

This is kind of a hard one for the courts I think and that is why it has gone back an forth. I think they are trying to way constitutional rights vs. public safety. An ATV isn't like a car where an officer can stop it for any number of violations. The most important safety issue in my opinion is OUI and its not like a Warden can follow an ATV to check on how well it is being operated, they cant stop it for a stop sign violation, not using blinkers, drifting over the line, not dimming headlights, driving really slow and all the many other things that might signal a drunk driver. So really about the only way to catch a drunk on an ATV was a random stop and if that is what it takes to get a drunk driver of the trail I'm all right with that. Drinking and driving an ATV is probably even more common than drinking a driving a car, not to say that most ATV riders are doing it but it is a danger to all that ride. I was in the Machias area a couple weeks ago and saw probably 20 ATV's at the various businesses in town so obviously the new rail trail is getting a lot of use, the last thing you want is to have a drunk ATV rider ruining that. We have never been stopped while riding an ATV, mostly because is way back in the woods normally, but if we were to be I would welcome it as knowing that it might just be making the trails safer. Now that Wardens cant stop an ATV for a sobriety check its like a open pass for one to drink and drive one. I have no doubt that the change in the law will put more drunk drivers on the trails thinking that there would be no chance they will be stopped. Wardens will probably get creative and start stopping for muddied up registration tags or something but I'm sure now far far fewer riders will be checked and the trails will be less safe.