Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Shooting deer across state lines?

Anyone look into this? For example, hypothetically, pretend that you are legally carrying a rifle along the NM border with Colorado and you have a Colorado Deer tag. Pretend that your only-best shot into a Canyon in Colorado is from the NM side (about 200 yards into NM). Can you legally pull the trigger in NM to kill the deer in Colorado and walk over and tag the deer in Colorado?

Just curious.

I'd say not legal.

Situation similar happened around here a few years back. Seems a Louisiana guy was shooting Arkansas deer while sitting in Louisiana. Short story is the Arkansas game wardens shot and killed him.

Definitely not legal. Not any different from shooting from public land onto private. That being said, what they don't know won't hurt them. Don't ask how I know that.

Perhaps Arkansas takes poaching a little too seriously. :-)

No.

Thanks. Makes sense to me now that I had good night sleep. Plus, I think that I found a place using Google Earth where I would be able to overlook part of the canyon hunt area in CO and glass/stalk for the right opportunity.

If the game warden asks, "what state was the deer was in"?

Reply, "The deer? Well, the deer was in a state of confusion."

If one must pose this question, he/she should really not be afield.

Hey, Web

I'm not familiar w/that incident. I lived in S E La for 9 yrs but regardless I have no recollection of it.

Can you tell us what led to the shooting w/o going into too much detail?

Jerry

It is every bit as legal as shooting a deer in your neighbors yard without permission, from out of your back door, in a no hunting area, without a license and out of season.

I doubt it would be legal even if you had a valid license from the other state. In that case I still wouldn't count on a court's verdict going favorably for the defendant. The prosecutor would probably call it a case of poaching as the license for the state in which the bullet was loosed wasn't valid in the state where the deer resided. As a judge or jury member, I would agree.

Hunting ethics need to be retooled?

Ask the Colo fish & game dept how they'd feel about it. I'm guessing they'd be rather displeased.

I can tell you exactly how they feel about it ... and so can the two guys that I saw get ticketed for doing it.

A few years back I was about a half-mile west of the Colorado/Kansas state line during deer season, standing in the middle of a county road visiting with the local Colorado WCO. A pickup pulled up on the Kansas side of the line and the occupants extended a rifle from the window and started shooting prairie dogs in Colorado. The officer observed this and counted the shots. He asked me if I counted the same number as he did (7) and then mentioned that their activity was going to cost them at least $75 per shot. They finally noticed that there was someone else in the vicinity and hurriedly drove east into Kansas. He pursued them for several miles before they pulled over.

Turned out they were a couple of off duty LEO's from Kansas ... Deputy Sheriff and Highway Patrolman.

Oh yeah, they got tickets. Lots of tickets.

Shooting across state lines, shooting from a vehicle, hunting on private property without permission, shooting from a public road, hunting without the proper license, evading an officer ... etc.

Colorado WCO was really, really pissed. "They knew better!" was all he snarled when asked about it later. I imagine it was kind of hard to explain to their superiors too.

Enough said. Anyone ever ask a stupid question before and learnt something Thanks gents.

I remember Bryce Towsley writing that while tracking one buck he was no longer sure if he was in VT, NH, or Quebec.
I was Pronghorn hunting in SD and trying to make sure I didn't wander into WY or NE. I know I was close but I don't think I wandered over the line.

Only a rookie would walk over into Colorado to tag the deer. An experienced outdoorsman would drive over.

Plus, this should be in the deer hunting forum.

This is when a GPS with a good map that shows property lines is invaluable. Just south of us is the NV border. There are lots of places where it's impossible to tell where the border is without one.

You can really hunt a number of species on state lines. I had a couple of Montana hunts where I crossed back and forth between MT and ID on an FS road that crossed the divide numerous times between the highway and camp. If you hopped off the road, going back to it at a different point could easily put you in the wrong state if it happened to be just off the top on the other side. You had to pay attention to your subdrainages there to make sure you were elk hunting in the right state. It would be easier now with a GPS to mark the state line for you. There is a mountain goat area in NW WY where you could be hunting MT goats if you were a little lost. You can also straddle state lines on some ranches where you can hunt antelope WY-CO or WY-MT. Hunting right on the line is probably more common for deer, though.

Whatever way you look at it, though shooting across a state line would not be smart. I am sure every state has laws on the books against that. If you can't stay in the right state, find a better place where it is not a problem.

It's a lot easier with fishing. ID & OR have an agreement for the Snake river which is the border for many miles. The entire width of the river is open to boaters of both states but you can't fish from the shore in the other state.
I assume other states with wet borders do the same.

What I don't know is how to handle a deer swimming in the river between the states. Is it legal? Of course if you did shoot it in the water it would likely sink.

Taking a head shot on a swimming deer, over water?