Conservation Officer

Now we all know that the conservation officers are out there on patrol during the deer season, but not too often do you really have to talk to one.  Now for all of you folks who have yet to talk to one consider yourself lucky, my family and I tend to talk to the same one three times a year at least and each time is to check to make sure we are legal.  The talk usually consists of what we have seen, if they can see our gun and tags to make sure they are valid and legal and then tend to just tell us to have a nice day.  Now in case you do not know about what the conservation officers are checking for I will tell you.  When looking at your gun (in the state of Illinois) they will ask for your firearm then three shells.  This is to make sure that the magazine tube under the barrel of the shotgun holds only two shells.  Since in the state of Illinois we are only allowed to have 3 rounds in the weapon while hunting (1 in the chamber and 2 in the tube).  Now when he asks to see the tags he is checking to make sure we have valid Illinois deer hunting permits along with a valid hunting license.  Also he checks to make sure that you have your Firearms Owners Identification card on you since we have to have it with us along with our hunters safety coarse card.  So to all of you people who have not been stopped by the conservation officer you are missing out on a lot of fun dealing with them, and by the way that was sarcasm.  Hope no one has to have a talk with them and happy hunting.