"standing" is a horribly abused legal concept for throwing cases against the government out. I also think it was likely incorrectly argued.

The federal government has forced all 49 states that implemented falconry regulations to write state regulations to allow these warrantless searches. And some of those HAVE been excuted on. Some states have been more draconian with others on how they interpret inspections. California Fish and Wildlife for example publicly opined a few years ago that they had the legal authority to do an inspection whenever they wanted and they would act on that authority. My state has been relatively chill about it, and our falconry coordinator that recently retired was rumored to have taken the stand that in Washington inspections cannot happen without a warrant (I was not in on that conversation directly).

All the same, a graduated apprentice of mine was subjected to a drop in inspection here in Washington in late December [of 2021] without a warrant. This caused a lot of stir at the time with the local falconry community - especially since the falconry program coordinator with our wildlife department had been on the job for all of 2 months when this happened. However, as the facts came out everyone - including my former apprentice - agreed that the inspection was justified. Although there was still some friendly criticism for how it was executed. Turns out my apprentices neighbor had complained to fish and game that someone was keeping hawks caged up and was mistreating them. That complaint SHOULD have been followed up on - and when it was it was found to be baseless.

Still - it was a very nerve wracking experience for my former apprentice. And HE is an attorney...