How many of you break the law on opening day,

[Greg.B]

Another hunter ed instructor chiming in:

I hunt legally, because I've learned (and seen firsthand) that our actions, both good and bad, reflect on everyone that hunts; that's one of the BIG points I try to pass on to students that I teach, and I challenge each and every one of you to do the same for the future of our hunting tradition.

[zahnzieh]

Yeah , time to come clean. I always load my shotgun by the truck before going to my treestand (before legal shooting time). I never shoot before legal time but cannot see clanking around loading my gun after spending all that time trying to be quiet getting to stand. Know of a hunter who got a broadhead through the kneecap because of some idiot. I see enough idiots in the woods with guns (shooting before legal time) but with a bow? Truely amazing - the guy should be banned for life!

[siv]

"I never carry a camera to the woods."

Maybe I'm just out of it, but what is this superstition about not carrying a camera into the woods?

[jimbo_4]

I knew of two other people who broke laws fairly regularly.... One guy was in high school, so it's been some years, and the other guy has since passed, so he won't get in any trouble.
High school guy used to live in the UP of MI, most of it's rather remote, not much work, and they did in fact shoot for food. They would usually hunt legal though, but if they didn't see anything, they would set up a motion detector out back over the bait pile. There was a light always on over the pile, the motion detector went into the house into the bedroom to a lamp. So at 2am, light goes on, head to the other room where the 06 was and shoot from inside to reduce the noise outside, get the deer after light. From what I understand, this is fairly common up there, but like I said, from what I hear, the mostly did it for food.
The other guy, he was an old redneck who would go out with 2 other guys, one driving, one shining, and one in the back with a .22 shooting. He said they'd just shoot right between the eyes and they'd drop. Have no idea why he did it, personally, I think he just liked the idea of getting away with something.
Myself, I try to follow every rule, I have terrible luck and if I ever tried to push my luck, I'd get caught. Just not worth it, besides, for me, just being out there is fun. I don't think I would get the same satisfaction if I were "cheating". I have to say, if I ever NEEDED the food, rules be d***ed! I'll do whatever it takes then, but I'm not there yet!

[hogdogs]

siv, It is a personal thing, It seems when I have a camera with me when hog doggin', fishing or gun hunting I have much less success... When I forget the camera at home I seem to nail my quarry with much higher frequency and quality...
Just a personal thing for me.
Brent

[VaFisher]

Do you really expect someone to post on a public site that they break the law on a regular bases or enough they want to tell all, I think not or at least if one has any coots they would be much smarter then that.

[gunn308]

Getting caught poaching up here is loss of hunting license, loss of gun, loss of vehicle used, plus jail and a fine. The warden service has a decoy robot deer that many an early, late or night hunter has lost their prize gun to. But I do remember growing up when my grandfather would get laid off from the railroad there would be venison hanging 1 in summer or 2 if it was winter, the wardens knew who was feeding their families and we never sold or wasted any of it. Naw I like to hunt and fish too much to loose my license.

[Kreyzhorse]

With hunting under attack in this day and age of PC, I don't think we need any one breaking/bending the rules while deer hunting. I feel I represent the sport and I act accordingly which means following all hunting laws.

[.41 rem mag fan]

Last Sunday I was trying to get my 13 year old son on a whitetail buck. He still has a deer tag he can use in this area but he does not have a tag for an elk in this area though. Well guess what walks out in front of us 5 minutes after legal time to shoot (he reminded when it was legal to shoot)? Two bulls, one of which I had a tag for but unfortunatley for him, he did not for the other. He drew up on the bull, realized what was going on and where he was and did not shoot. What a temptation.......... Nice 5 x 5 bull in your crosshairs, not more than 35 yards away. After we watched the second bull run away, he looked at me and said, "Grampy and you have always said, "One shot kill, do it legally and take every usable part home"".

I know Dad was proud and I am sure Grampy would be too.

[publius]

I was in the stand kissing my cousin last weekend(celebrating the doe I shot before daylight) and she dropped my $50.00 bottle of Knob Creek. Luckily I was already drunk but I had to break up with her for that transgression.

[guntotin_fool]

We might bend the hours a tiny bit. But I do not wear a watch when hunting. If I can see well enough to ID my target and the background. Then its legal shooting hours

[hogdogs]

Guntoting, Same here... I have no portable time tellin' machine. I do pretty well with the sun most of the day but for early/late cutoff times it is just good visibility. Since my vision ain't near what it once was I doubt I will violate them rules either...
Brent

[sourdough44]

I wonder how many load their guns before the legal shooting time? I know most don't want any noise just prior to prime time.

[guntotin_fool]

Been thinking more about this one....

in someways, we may bend the rules a bit more, but we are never poaching or breaking the spirit of the law....

for example, tagging, in our state, the tag is supposed to go on as soon as you reach the deer. We don't do that, in fact we often don't tag until the last moment. Why? well if Joe is only hunting one weekend, and he has shot nothing, and his either sex tag is going to go to waste, well he will tag the buck that is hanging and haul it home, Dick may have shot that buck, but he now still has his buck option remaining. Dick has four doe tags, so if he had shot a doe, he would have tagged that...but why take away his buck tag?

Likewise if Joe is only hunting that first weekend, and its warm, he might tag all the deer we can put on his tags, so that he can report them and get them home to a cooler. why spoil deer.


WHile some contend that its illegal to load your gun while standing on flat ground, with a nice light bulb giving adequate light, versus trying to hold a cold bullet with cold hands and trying to load in a swinging tree stand, I disagree. we load then walk out the stands.

As I said, If I can CLEARLY see my target, and I can see its background, its legal to shoot in my mind. Because its my son and my nephew sitting in other tree stands around me, you better believe I will NOT shoot until I know exactly where that bullet is going.

WE never take too many deer, shoot off headlights, bait (which is illegal here), use a night sight, etc. We only take deer during season, we only take pheasants during season, despite that they are walking around our camp all summer and fall. We don't shoot predators, even when we sorely want to, except for Coyote, which are legal. Even red tail hawks, of which we have seven on our property, killing and eating our grouse and pheasant, we let live, reluctantly, but they are still there.

I view the regs as law, but also spirit of the law, where certain things are listed to prevent misuse, but at the same time, reasonable people, working in the spirit of the law, can find some flexibility.

[nra_guns_winner]

Wow I've gotten some great feed back on this one! As for shooting before daylight I can relate with a quick story. I was in high school so maybe I'd tagged three deer so far in my life. It was a nice cool dark morning. I was in my stand maybe 40 minutes before day break. I was on my fathers property, he had cattle and three horses. So anyway I'm spooked by one of those horses who was just being noisy, on the other side of some brush. At the time I couldn't make out what it was, I really thought it was a deer. Finally after what seemed to be 15 minutes it made a horse like noise and then I just felt like crap inside because I was fairly close to busting one of my dads horses. And yea after that morning I called and requested the horses be put up for a few days during gun season. I use to hear of cattle being shot during deer season and left dead or crippled up. Well this must be why.

[Greg.B]

Originally Posted by guntotin_fool

for example, tagging, in our state, the tag is supposed to go on as soon as you reach the deer. We don't do that, in fact we often don't tag until the last moment. Why? well if Joe is only hunting one weekend, and he has shot nothing, and his either sex tag is going to go to waste, well he will tag the buck that is hanging and haul it home, Dick may have shot that buck, but he now still has his buck option remaining. Dick has four doe tags, so if he had shot a doe, he would have tagged that...but why take away his buck tag?

Disclaimer: I hope that I don't offend you or anyone else, as what I'm going to post isn't meant to do so; it's meant to illustrate the point of this thread and expand upon the discussion. So, with that out of the way and the high hope that this topic will remain a civil discussion, here goes:

Is this legal in your state? If not, then the question of 'why take away his buck tag' should be answered. Further, if not legal, then have both parties then broken the law; the first for allowing someone else to use his tag, and the second for using someone elses?

[hogdogs]

Well I know in Florida I do not have to stop shooting at 2 deer. I just have to give one away before shooting the 3rd... Is it legal? I have no clue but I haven't had this *problem* yet...
I can be in possession of only 4 whole deer but once cut and wrapped they are just meat in the freezer and I am off to shoot more... Man I am chomping at the bit for season to start...
Brent

[Swampghost]

I haven't broken the laws purposely since we've had laws with the exception of necessity. A few days without food can make one rethink laws as can a large 'gator between you and your path home.

[guntotin_fool]

NO offense.

In our state, you are supposed to only tag the deer you shoot. Party hunting is legal, but it gets grey then between the two. we have different tag limits in different parts of the state, were some places are one antlered deer, unless you win a antlerless lottery, to other places (like where we hunt, were you have one buck tag, and up to 4 more management tags for antlerless deer. A few places are to the intensive harvest area, which are kill all you want. more or less.

What I was saying was more of an examination between what is the spirit of the law, and what is the letter of the law.

In fact our guide book has become so involved that making a mistake based on misunderstanding is a real common act. I just heard of a young man who broke the law, but he was so clear in his responses to the CO that he was given a warning because he felt the laws said one thing, and had a reasonable expectation that it was written that way, so the CO said, I can see where a reasonable person might make that mistake as well.


When I started hunting the rules were far clearer, only taking up a few fold out pages on a map of the different zones, now we have something like 200 areas, and 3 zones, and 3 seasons, all for firearms, not counting early firearms, early park and controlled zone, muzzle loader, archery, etc.

When deer were scarce, it made a bigger difference, but today, deer are overrunning the habitat in places, and if you bend the rules a bit, its not likely to end the chances for the herds survival.

Today in minnesota, we expect to kill about a quarter million deer a year, just a few years ago, in the mid seventies, hunting was stopped for a year, because it was thought one more year of hunting and no habitat would kill off the herd. the herd then was well under 100,000 animals in the whole state, perhaps as few as 20,000. today we have that just in the Metro area.

[9mm1033]

By the law for me. I haven't seen anyone breaking the deer gun season laws, except I do hear them. Since all shotguns are limited to three rounds in the tube, I hear more than three rounds rapid fire (meaning their shotgun was loaded with at least five rounds). And I hear shots well before the legal hunt time of 1/2 hour before sunrise and shots after the closing at sunset.

[nickE10mm]

I would say that I do EVERYTHING by the book ALTHOUGH there IS one thing that really IRKS me. I find that, with certain calibers, a Wide Flat Nosed Beartooth bullet at high velocity would be better for hunting medium game than a hollowpoint bullet would be due to this handgun caliber in question's lower power (albeit LEGAL) status for hunting. The Dept of Conservation says that only hollowpoint bullets can be used legally.

Its frustrating to have to use a suboptimal (and less humane) method to take game simply because its required by the conservation dept (and their screwy illogical rules, in this case).

Still, I follow the rules....

[rburch]

I tend to speed a bit everywhere I go, so I'll probably be going 5-10 MPH over the limit on my way to the stand.

I also don't carry those books with time of sunrise & set, so I go by common sense instead of the legal 30 min before or after.

Oh yeah, I don't have a plug in my shotgun, but I don't load more than 3 if I'm hunting anyway.

I bend a few laws, but excepting the speed limit I try not to break them.

[Byron Quick]

I usually have the DNR booklet with the time of sunrise and sunset. And have my digital wristwatch set to the time given by the Naval Observatory. When I shoot, I'm legal as to time.

Cousins are legal here in Georgia

I've broken game laws two or three times in the past fifty years. Don't make a habit of it. Biggest one I can think of is hunting without a license while visiting another state. Once.

[summerman]

I have put shells in before walking to stand to avoid the loud noise of my 1187 action. We get lots of doe permits so no problem where we hunt so all is tagged. We have forgotten the permits after tracking a deer so instead of walking a mile back and forth, we have dragged the deer put it in truck and then tagged it back at the ranch. (deer hear are to be tagged at point of transport.) All deer are tagged, no night hunting, always safe. We are safety zealots. If anyone ever has a shell in there gun in the truck he is maligned for the rest of the season, as a novice, unsafe, has bad lineage, poor upbringing, ignorant and anything else we can muster. It's more of a sport if you follow the rules and sort of makes it fun. We have all said, Mother ***** if it was 10 minutes later/earlier I could have, should have etc. If you follow the rules it gives you a great sense of honor and it teaches the new hunters to follow the rules. If you start to follow the rules of game taking it's a slippery slope and then you get to.. "hey it was almost daybreak, or I only had shells in my gun but the action was open.. or I was just about on our property.. etc., and soon trouble ensues. Play it safe play it clean and take the challenge of getting game legally.

[.300 Weatherby Mag]

I follow the rules... The only thing I've ever done wrong... I needed one bird to fill my limit and I ended up knocking down 2 with one shot....