FLORENCE, Ala.—Today, three Alabama residents teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a lawsuit challenging an Alabama statute that permits game wardens from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to search private property without a warrant or consent. Killen residents Dalton Boley and Regina Williams, and Muscle Shoals resident Dale Liles, decided to file the lawsuit after each faced multiple privacy intrusions from Alabama game wardens.
Neither Dalton, Regina, nor Dale has ever been charged with any hunting violations, yet game wardens have snooped around on their properties without warrants on multiple occasions. That’s because of an Alabama statute that allows game wardens to “enter upon any land … in the performance of their duty.” Whether it’s a posted field or residential yard, the statute gives wardens broad power to roam around private property without any warrant.
“The Alabama Constitution makes it clear that if the government wants to come searching on your property, they need a warrant based on probable cause, and game wardens are not exempt from the Constitution,” said IJ Attorney Suranjan Sen.
The invasion of Regina and Dalton’s privacy began in 2024. Regina owns 10 acres in Killen, which she has lived on her entire life. For decades, Regina used the backyard for outdoor recreation, but as she has gotten older, she’s been less able to enjoy the land herself. So Regina gives her neighbor, Dalton, and his kids permission to use the land. This arrangement worked great for both the Boley family and Regina, until February 2024, when game wardens started intruding on the property.
“This used to be a place where I could come to relax and get away from it all, but now that I know someone could be snooping around, I find it hard to just go there and relax,” said Dalton.
In November 2024, the game wardens once again returned to Regina’s property. This time, they told Dalton they had been watching the land and gave him a warning for baiting deer. But Dalton has never baited deer and has only shot one deer on the land with a bow, more than a year prior.
Since that time, Dalton—a military veteran who used to use the property as a place to relieve stress—has stopped using the land for his personal meditation and has kept a closer eye on his sons when they use it.
In Muscle Shoals, Dale owns and leases a combined 86 acres with sprawling fields, marshes and swamps. Unlike Dalton and Regina, Dale does use his land for hunting with his kids and grandkids. There are two entrances to the land: a private gravel road and a gated entrance. Dale first saw a game warden’s truck parked on his land in August 2018. He tried to talk to the warden, but he sped away.
Six years later, in November 2024, a neighbor sent Dale a photo of another game warden parked on his property. Once again, Dale tried to talk to the warden, but once again, he sped away. Since that time, Dale has put up “no trespassing” signs and installed a camera at the entrance, which in January 2025 captured another game warden attempting to drive onto his property, before seeing the camera and turning around.
“I’m all about preserving our wildlife and great outdoors—that’s why I’m the president of my local conservation club’s chapter. But game wardens still have to respect people’s rights,” said Dale. “Aside from my own privacy concerns, I don’t like that the wardens don’t wear orange when they’re roaming around. It makes it very dangerous when you’re hunting with rifles and people aren’t wearing colors that make them easy to see.”
IJ is the nation’s leading organization protecting Americans’ privacy and property rights. As part of its Project on the Fourth Amendment, IJ has challenged warrantless searches of private land in states throughout the country, including Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Tennessee. While the Pennsylvania and Louisiana cases are ongoing, IJ defeated the warrantless surveillance in Tennessee.