Question about Road Hunting

[IceAge@work]

Road Hunting doesn't have to be a "drive along until you spot a rooster, slam on the brakes, jump out of the truck and blast away" cluster bleep.

In SD find a minimum maintenance(gravel)road ditch that hasn't been mowed, maybe has a few cattails and a corn field next to it. Park your truck at one end an hour before sunset. Get out and walk keeping the dog in the ROW while hunting and you will get some shooting in. That situation can be found pretty easily and is a nice combination of cover, food and grit.

I've picked up that last limit bird this way more than once. Not my favorite way to hunt but no less sporting than spotting a little isolated cattail slough or weed patch in a WIA and bagging an easy rooster or two there.

Common sense and knowing the rules is key. I don't hunt road ditches anywhere near houses or livestock. Only shoot birds that get up in the ROW and let the dog do the retreiving if the dead rooster ends up outside the property line on private land.

[matthothand]

Can someone share a link that explains the different road types (state, county, township, etc.) with distance from centerline or other relevant distances pertaining to access and hunting? A diagram as mentioned previously would be helpful. There seem to be some that don't agree on here and it would be good to be able to read exactly what the rules are in MN. There's a lot of people that don't know what's legal for road hunting in MN.

[BobT]

I wonder if roadway right-of-way may vary from one couty or township to the next.

[CANOPY SAM]

Me and a few buddies used to "pinch" em' in ditches. (Roosters)

Spot a bird or two, drive past them a couple hundred yards, drop a guy off, turn around, drive past them again by a hundred yards, park the vehicle, get out and walk toward each other until the bird is flushed. Gotta be real careful when shooting, but it works pretty well as long as they don't run into the posted field.

I think in most areas the landowner's only own up to the ditch edge, not the road edge. But I'd check before going ahead.

[zzammon]

No frowning here. Road right of way is public, paid for and maintained by all of our tax dollars. Some want to jog on our roads, drive a car, 4-wheeler, and some hunt. All are good by me.

What counties/townships have roads with out right of way?

[Eric Wettschreck]

It gets a little dicey here in Murray county as some of the townships have roads with no right of way, and it's very difficult to figure out which roads do and which roads don't. I've been here going on 16 years and I still don't know for sure which ones are legal. How does a guy find out? I have no clue. I asked the local CO a while ago and he told me there's a lot of grey area. There are township roads here that some stretch of the road has a right of way while other stretches of the same road do not. I'm not sure but I think it's due to some type of agreement between the township and land owner that was made prior or during construction of the road.

Pinching ditches can be a great way to bag a couple of roosters but I don't do it anymore as I can never really tell if the township road I'm on has a right of way or not. To each their own but it just isn't worth it for me. I love to hunt and getting a tresspassing ticket would really suck.

[Tom7227]

I think that the answer is pretty complex on whether a certain piece of ditch if huntable or not and I would be wary of any simplistic one sentence answer. I also think that whatever one CO gives as an answer isn't necessarily correct, and won't necissarily be followed by every other CO or law enforcement officer across the state. This subject comes up every year and IMO many times answers given are of questionable value.

I think that legall the answer depends on whether land that the "roadway" covers is owned by the public or is owned by the adjacent landowner who has given an easment to the public for the use of that land.

I also think that the Minnesota Hunting Regs ducks the entire issue as has the legislature by only declaring that it illegal to shoot a big game animal from a roadway.

Here's a statute on the subject:

2009 Minnesota Statutes

97B.001 TRESPASS.

Subd. 7.Taking with firearms in certain areas.(a) A person may not take a wild animal with a firearm within 500 feet of a building occupied by a human or livestock without the written permission of the owner, occupant, or lessee:

(1) on another person's private land; or

(2) on a public right-of-way.

So, after being a lawyer for 37 years and a prosecutor for many of those years my answer is proceed at your own risk and make sure you have bail money.