Seated at his kitchen table, finishing off the remains of a Saturday breakfast, Hunter Hollingsworth’s world was rocked by footsteps on his front porch and pounding at the door, punctuated by an aggressive order: “Open up or we’ll kick the door down.”
Surrounded on all sides of his house, and the driveway blocked, Hollingsworth was the target of approximately 10 federal and state wildlife officials packing pistols, shotguns and rifles. And what was Hollingsworth’s crime? Drugs, armed robbery, assault, money laundering? Not quite.
Months prior, in 2018, the Tennessee landowner removed a game camera secretly strapped to a tree on his private land by wildlife officials in order to monitor his activity without apparent sanction or probable cause. Repeat: Hollingsworth’s residence was searched by U.S. government and state officials, dressed to the nines in assault gear, seeking to regain possession of a trail camera—the precise camera they had surreptitiously placed on his private acreage after sneaking onto his property at night, loading the camera with active SD and SIM cards, and zip-tying the device roughly 10’ high up a tree—all without a warrant.
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1984 revisited. Man, Orwell had it right. Maybe it is time for another revolution.
ReplyDeleteHuh. Seems like the Constitution is completely lacking enforcement language against official violators. After this empire dies, the next time that should be fixed.
ReplyDeleteLesson learned? Don't mess with the government cameras. However, if you are hunting or target shooting on your land, who's to say a stray bullet might hit them or not?
ReplyDeleteDid it say property of US government? No then how would he know it wasn't placed by some weirdo pervert?
ReplyDeleteOh wait it was.
Exile1981
"Open fields doctrine" is an unconstitutional piece of non-law and an outright crime against we the people. Its one of the biggest reasons I am a vehement proponent of people surveilling their own land and perimeter planting of nasty botanical like yucca and black berries. Put a Pewag chain on the gate so no one gets on the property without using the front door and announcing themselves every time.
ReplyDelete- arc
Why would you risk being charged with theft for removing the camera's? Walk away, tell no one, wait a reasonable amount of time and do what needs done from a distance on the blind side of the camera. Then deny, deny, deny....
ReplyDeleteI recommend a railroad spike and a large hammer. just affix it to the tree to prevent it from falling.
ReplyDeleteSo if this is true, why do we have rape trees, drug labs, human trafficking, and all sorts of other criminal activity? Because its allowed. It time for a cleansing of the corrupt filth in this beautiful nation of ours.
ReplyDeleteVictor
If they're on land which is legitimately used for hunting wouldn't it be terrible if they ended up full of bullet holes or - maybe more likely - shoitgun pellets?
ReplyDeleteBe a good place to put some Tannerite.
ReplyDeleteA nice, small EMP device right near each camera would ruin the camera and any material it recorded without leaving a trace of what happened.
ReplyDeleteAlso, set cameras at likely entry points to your land and counter-spy.
Basic physics, any EMP big enough to fry the device is big enough to affect all of your neighbors for miles around. Plus any airplanes that happen to be flying over your area.
DeleteNope, you leave your stuff on my land for more than a day it becomes my stuff.
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY!!! I acquired a nice game camera that way courtesy of the local game warden... He actually had the gall to call the sheriff on me, lol... I asked the sheriff why would anyone admit to armed criminal trespass and then ex[ect to get back something they left on my property without permission? Sheriff laughed.
DeleteSince the camera also had footage of the agents entering the property, I would have taken a copy to the local law and demand that those agents be charged with trespassing.
ReplyDeleteI'm in complete agreement, play their game against them.
DeleteJD
Sorry to bust your bubble, but in some states it is "legal" for game wardens to enter your property. In Texas (least back in my day) game wardens could enter any property that game animals had access to. Meaning a dove or quail can fly onto your land and nest in a tree, the game warden could enter it. They along with university police had the most power of any LEO in Texas. The Sheriff's department I worked reserve for sometimes would ask a game warden to check out a place. If he saw something illegal, he could get a warrant and call us to "back up". Game wardens use to only work wildlife calls, but not they are doing just about anything they can. I don't condone this behavior in the original article. What needs to happen is to ban any lawyers from any legal judging and law making. Plan simple English only. The lawyer can only defend you against the government. No judges. No politicians making laws. No bureaucrats making regulations. Only plain people, in simple language. Those doing the judging, law making and regulation making must pass a course in understanding the US Constitution. Added on no one should be able to run for more than 1 office. Period. No reelections. No moving up the food chain. Run once and your done. Finally, as someone wrote somewhere, "first, you shoot all the lawyers".
Delete"Finally, as someone wrote somewhere, "first, you shoot all the lawyers". "
DeleteGood luck defending yourselves at your murder trials, then. And the wrongful death civil trials that follow...
I HATE all fucking cops. There's no such thing as a good one.
ReplyDeleteTime for these assholes to start getting splattered along with the politicians (esp. since they protect each other).
Absolute scum bags these damn police
Put up cameras surrounding their homes, invade their privacy like they do ours, break their arrogance down by invading their home life. Govt people, cops, politicians all believe they can do anything they want to us without any blowback. It is our fault they think this as most of us don't retaliate. Time for a change. Visit cops, game wardens, govt people, politicians homes, post online address's, let them know they are actually vulnerable as we are and we are tired of their sh#t..
ReplyDeleteAll bad. It starts with the doves they shot belonged to the state. Then they violated the hunting license they signed for by baiting the birds. Rules and laws are selectively enforced. They are not the only ones feeding wildlife. Somebody snitched, you pay, now they are watching you. All I want is to be left alone to do my own thing. But no, somebody doesn't like what you are doing.
ReplyDeleteFunny how when wild animals harm you or your property, they're just wild animals that the government has no power over or responsibility for. But the minute you do something to one of them, suddenly they're the king's deer.
DeleteQuote from a Tennessee Firearms Association legislative report for the 2020 session:
ReplyDelete"
Public Chapter 799 (SB2292/HB2492) by Sen. Bowling and Rep. VanHuss amends the wildlife resources laws so that wildlife enforcement officers are prohibited from making a “search or inspection of a person’s dwelling, place of business, or interior of an automobile without a search warrant.” It was watered down from the original bill which prohibited TWRA wildlife officers from entering any private property (land) without a search warrant. "
But as usual, the Tennessee Legislature half-assed it and caved on the one provision that was critically necessary to put an end to this clandestine surveillance bullshit.
Oh. And fuck Fish Cops.
I am afraid those cameras would be on the very trees I needed to cut down and cut up for firewood. They might get damaged when the tree fell. They might be exactly where Mr. Stihl needs to go. Or they could end up in the fire.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what would happen to such a camera if 20,000Volts happened to pass through it a few times?
ReplyDelete