Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Dumbest hunting laws

coyote,

I forgot about that one. And as I recall there's no caliber restriction either for the air rifle, or do I have that wrong.

Geno

Yep, kind of a pisser, especially considering I've lived in 7 States since 1999.

And you're likely correct in thinking there's some statute in effect that allows that crap, just like if you have a hunting license and you happen to be in an area that has an open season (just about any open season) the game wardens can pull you over and ask to search your vehicle under the "presumption" that you are there to hunt..................because you have a license. They don't have to have seen you out of the vehicle with a rifle/bow/spear etc. Your just passing thru, the run your plate, bingo.

Geno

Shouldn't be doe or buck season, bull or cow, or male or female, antlered and antlerless is correct

700,

Well, I guess that's one area Cali has some semblance of sanity. By definition they go by antlers/antleress. And a deer with less than 3" spikes is considered "antlerless" if one holds a tag and should take one. From what I was told it is due to the fact that a spike that size is hard to determine at distance when the ears are up.

But antlerless/antlered is the rule.

Geno

Too many to list but non leaded rifle ammo is the latest head shaker for me.

Years ago I hunted deer in an area that had some of the most screwed up antlers I've ever seen. Must have been a nuclear dump site nearby.

When the antler restrictions went into effect those ugly critters became off limits which allowed their genes to be passed on. Used to shoot the screwed up ones for meat instead of a doe. I'm talking things like two tall tines on one side and knuckles on the other side. One of the biggest bodied and oldest whitetail I've ever taken had only six tines and an inside spread of only about 10 inches.(Yep, it was taken years before the restictions.)

I've often wondered if the place is now over run with odd balls since the restrictions.

My other objection to antler restrictions is that it forces meat hunters to become trophy hunters or limit themselves to does. I like big racks on wimmens and deer, but I know a couple of old ranchers that are not really hunters. They just like to take a deer now and then for meat. Often from their back porch while having the morning coffee.

Don't even get me started on water fowl! Just about need to have a lawyer with ya.

And keeping your gonads pinned to the carcass during transport must have been a real pain, right?

I agree the .23 caliber minimum has to go.

The dog hunting for deer is a strange one. I have met a couple of people in the southern part of the state which use dogs to hunt. As you pointed out in a post further down the page, it sounds like a bunch of drunks chasing deer in pick-ups. I have heard stories of shooting "buck shot" at animals crossing the roads. Letting their dogs out on other people's property knowing they have the right to go get them, so they can push deer out. These guys were unapologetic and acted like it was their right to do so. I am sure there are some ethical guys who do this type of hunting, but I have not had a chance to talk to one of them yet.

HI Geno. Yes you can't shoot within 150 yards of a resident but a pellet gun is not classified as a firearm so you can wack a Turkey off your deck. Actually they did this as there are a lot of Turkeys in residential areas and it generates more money for license sales which CA fish and game is only interested in.

Idaho allows any centerfire on all big game. The type of bullet or KE is irrelevant. You can shoot a moose or bear with a 22 Hornet if you want to. There are a couple restrictions on ML guns but none on cartridges.

Illegal to use game cameras during hunting season.

Illegal to use lighted knocks on arrows while bowhunting.

Illegal to shoot crows.

I've been known to do that, when I was Retrieverless. .

I remember one unretrievable wounded goose in Cook Inlet, before dog, going out with the tide, that took a half dozen or more shots to kill. I finally resorted to OOBuck, and that took two or 3 before I got a killing hit.

Antlers no good as proof of sex also makes sense in the case of large animals packed out piece by piece. Easy to carry antlers into the field with you, not so easy to attach a scrotum.

Also why many game regs read "antler-less", rather than "cow" or "doe" as some females have been known to grow antlers.

Hard to feel up alive critter in the wild .... tho I have called in moose close enough to almost do so - certainly get a good visual!

You want some lawyerese in your reading, read the definition of "take" in Alaska's hunting regs. Short version is if you pick up a gun and think about going hunting, you are all done for the season - or it could be interpreted that way by a warden if so desired.

Quebec. Can't pack a rifle while retrieving wounded game. No chitt look it up

Back when PA was home, having an actual 'start time' was ridiculous to me. See a buck directly under your stand at 6:13, but start time is 6:17, so you can't shoot it. Seriously? Who is the person that decides shooting light to that degree, for every hillside, in every weather condition, knows the eyesight capability of several hundred thousand hunters, and the distance every deer will be from every treestand or still hunter?

That and hunting on Sundays. I am a Christian and attend church on Sundays, too. But now I go hunting right after.

Being shot at, on my own f-n property, should give you an idea of the mentality.

The rule here was "can see to can't see".....right up until some idiots decided that meant they could hunt all night under street lights. Now we have an exact start and stop time.

Ha! That figures, Kellory. Has to be some of those in every crowd, I suppose.

I actually had a WCO stop me as I left the woods one morning to check if I had fired my rifle and check for blood on my person. I had no deer, but there was a shot (several hours earlier) before "starting time", and he wanted to make sure it hadn't been me. (It wasn't...hadn't seen a legal deer, or fired a shot )

I stop in at the ODNR offices every year at the least, and sometimes 3-4 times a year to discuss rules, laws, changes, and the reasons behind those changes. They usually make sense.
There is a rule that disallows any light projection from the weapon onto a deer. Then someone started selling razerhead tips with a laser in the spine of the head. It would have done the same thing but would have gotten you arrested if you used it. The law did not say "from the weapon or the ammo", so it would have meant court time. They were not aware the product existed.
It obeyed the letter of the law, but not the intent of the law. Anyone using it would have been accused of being a poacher, since it allows for low-to too low light shooting of game.

I wasn't talking about Idaho. I'm guessing lots of sheit that is legal in some states, ain't in others. Savvy

The no shooting from a vehicle or from a highway is dumber than schit.