Accessing a pond from the road

[walleyeking19]

Okay I found a spot loaded with geese this morning that is surrounded by wheat fields on 3 sides. The tricky part is that its a pond and the water comes up to the shoulder of the road, so I could just drop my boat off from the road and be in water.

Now legally, do I need permission from the landowner to hunt the water? I feel as if I saw that as long as I could load the boat in the water from the road, I was good to go. If I access the water legally from the road, I would be allowed to hunt the water as long as I didnt hunt from his field edges...correct?

I will still talk to the owner of the land so they don't get mad about someone being near their land. I just don't want to run into any problems with landowners. Heck, maybe he'll let me hunt the fields too!

[Kettle]

If it is a paved road it is more than likely a county road and as long as it buts up to the road you are good to go, I was told this by a MN CO. If it is a township road I was told no since the property owner owns the easment rightsof the road or to the middle of the road and another owners land then buts up to the adjacent parcel in the road center. Best bet is to call your local CO that way if someone calls and complains he/she is aware of you.

Kettle

[ClownColor]

easements change per county. I asked basically the same question regarding ditch hunting pheasants. Some ditches are ok....others not. Call the county and see what the right-of-ways and easements are.

[brittman]

Roll the dice or ask the local CO.

Ever thought of calling the landowner and asking permission ?

Even with permission, the landowner may call the local sheriff and you maybe having a little talk with a deputy as the geese are coming back into the pond.

One note ... you may be best off letting the geese go out to feed and then quickly move in, set up and hunt the pond. If you push the birds out in the dark - only a few (if any) may return later that day if other water is nearby.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

we had this discussion a while back and I posted some information; I did a quick search but could not find it.

If you look at the bottom paragraph of the first page of the PDF document that this link takes you to, it describes what rights of use you have to legally accessed water.

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/waters/water_law_questions_and_answers.pdf

[walleyeking19]

Thanks for the help guys! I dug up my old plat book and found the landowner, so I"ll pay him a visit tomorrow night. Hopefully all goes well!

[erikwells]

Yup I typically don't push birds off water this time of year if there are grain fields nearby. Once you shoot them off the water they are gone but if you find the field they like you can shoot the sometimes 3-4 times form the same spot.

[strait-meat]

I see your point but sometimes gaining access to hunt on private land is a a lot harder then hunting public water/roost where one doesn't have to ask for permission. I say hunt the roost and shoot some geese when it is this early in the season. From what I have noticed, early season patterns are less routine then later in the season.

[erikwells]

Ahmen Strait-meat, Just as many birds on my spot last year. We did really well last year but this year has been terrible. No pattern because they are not really moving atleast anytime I've been out a.m. or p.m. Hoping for a little redemption this weekend but not real confident. So I too would takem where you can getem. Good luck.

[Maxxed Out]

If the county is maintaining the ditch by mowing it you are good to go. If the ditch is not being maintained you are not. It is a bit of a wild card if a farmer came through and cut the ditch for hay. If you really want to get the answer call the courthouse, find out if in that township that right of way is maintained by the county. If you are...good to go.

[mulefarm]

If it were me I would talk to the landowner. If it is obvious that people who own the land are hunting it, I would move on. Sometimes what's legal, and what is ethical, should come into play.

[deerminator]

I agree with the route of talking to the landowner AND the local county and/or DNR to find out the legalities. For instance, here the right of way on any county or township road is 15 feet if I am not mistaken. I asked the DNR and county one time because I wanted to know if I could park my car on the shoulder of the road and walk onto the lake across the ditch that was about 10 feet wide. I could.

In terms of ethical. Just because people own land that abuts water does not mean they have an unwritten right to certain portions of it in any way whatsoever. We live on a lake and that does not give me the right to tell bass fisherman to keep a certain distance from my dock. Or the people that came on to my dock in the middle of the night during the Fourth of July, drank a bunch of beer, littered the cans everywhere in the water in the swimming area and set our swim raft free. Sarcastic on the latter. But my point is, if people want to hunt public waters and can access them legally, by all means, go for it. No one has an ethical right to public waters.

Actually, I guess you can set up swim buoys to mark off a swim area around your owned shoreline, but zero and I mean zero people have done that on our lake that I have witnessed in recent years. One guy used to but he wasn't very pleasant. Makes me think of how David Letterman said how he and his buddy owned places in the Hamptons or some fancy place in upstate NY and they would get irritated at all the people claiming their parts of the lake with their swim buoys. So they went out in their canoe after dark and set them free. Paul Schaeffer: Is that legal Dave? Dave: Well, no, its not legal. Ha

[laker1]

Yes you could mark off a swim area on your shoreline,but yes I could swim and fish there also. You have riparian rights,I have rights up to the highwater mark,including walking along the shoreline below the highwater mark.

Many easements along roads you can use for traveling purposes which may include traveling access to a lake etc.. That does not mean you could use that easement for all purposes. Some is for traveling only so they vary about other rights.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

If the county is maintaining the ditch by mowing it you are good to go. If the ditch is not being maintained you are not. It is a bit of a wild card if a farmer came through and cut the ditch for hay. If you really want to get the answer call the courthouse, find out if in that township that right of way is maintained by the county. If you are...good to go.

I don't think mowing a ditch has anything to do when it comes to water access law. Roads are typically public right of way, regardless of state/county/township and regardless of easement or straight ownership of the road bed. when water is accessible via a public right away and meets the requirements (floatable/wadeable) the water is generally accessible to the public. Now, try explaining this to a ticked off land owner at dark 30 and you better have the CO's number saved in your phone.

[jnorm1984]

If the pond is on the DNR's protected waters list, and you are accessing from the ROW, you are good to go w/o permission.

But as others have already commented, I would still seek permission to avoid ruffling and feathers. Good luck

[Walker Bay]

I think deerminator hit it on the head. I don't think it is unethical to hunt public water if the field that it butts up to is private and hunted. That is how it works it is public. I don't expect the public to stay off of the public land that butts up to our deer hunting property because we are deer hunting on it. As nice as it would be it isn't going to happen nor is it ok for me to try to kick people off of public land because we hunt next to it.

That being said, I would approach the landowner and have a conversation about it before 0 dark 30. If they get upset explain the research that you have done and express your intentions.