Question for all the Hunting laws guru's.....

[BigTen]

So if my buddy isn't going to buy a deer license but has a pheasant license, and we push a cattail slough for deer, I assume he is not legal to walk along and shoot at pheasants, correct?

[Gary Crichton]

That is a dandy, but why would you want to shoot at the birds. Wouldn't that scare the deer out of range.

G.C.

[Odonata]

I am not a law guru, but it is legal to hunt pheasants and other game during deer season. As long as he is not actively involved in the pursuit of, or taking deer, I don't see how he could be considered illegal. (?) If he is "pushing deer" with you, that would be illegal, shotgun in hand or not.

[BigTen]

I am 99% sure you are right, I just thought maybe someone knew of some obscure statute....

Gary, I don't know if you've ever tried to shoot out of a cattail slough at a 4 foot tall deer, but it doesn't work too well. better off pushing them out the end for some posters to shoot at.....

[hanso612]

If I hunt deer in the AM and hunt pheasants in the afternoon I can not be in possession of a slug or shot bigger than #4? in the afternoon without a deer liscence? If I have bird shot in my vest and slugs from the morning hunt do all the people I run into on the way out of the WMA have to have a deer liscence if we walk out together or join up to pheasant hunt if I also have slugs?

[hanso612]

Put another way. Could I be ticketed if I don't have a deer liscence but intend to pheasant hunt with the proper liscence and hook up with others to pheasant hunt who have deer liscenses, pheasant liscenses and are in posession of slugs?

[PerchJrkr]

i dont think its legal unless he has a tag. UNLESS he is walking directly next to you, but that would be questionable. having any part in the hunt is considered hunting and would need a license. i know my dad saw that when i was younger and asked the game warden, and he said technically i couldnt be a part of a deer drive unless i was like within arms reach of my dad if i didnt have a license.

[BobT]

I would hesitate to walk with deer hunters on a drive while hunting pheasants. The law is quite specific about it being unlawful to assist in the taking of deer if you are not licensed to take deer. Even though you are carrying only a shotgun and shotshells, being in the area when hunters are making a drive, it would be extremely difficult to get a court to agree with you that you were not participating in the drive. Even if you could convince the court, would it be worth the expense both financially and in terms of your time?

Bob

[Gary Crichton]

Sorry Big Ten but I don't deer hunt. Always wanted to but never have, so if I ask stupid questions please forgive me.

Just trying to understand.

I do hunt but only grouse as of late.

G.C.

[BigTen]

no problem........even when larger bucks get up in cattails they generally stay low, very hard to get a decent shot.

[Gary Crichton]

I can imagine that could be a challenge. A question: Do the pushers ever get a shot when pushing or only the party waiting at the end of the push.

G.C

[jbell1981]

I can imagine that could be a challenge. A question: Do the pushers ever get a shot when pushing or only the party waiting at the end of the push.

G.C

When we do deer drives the posters (people waiting) get the shooting and also the guys at the outside of the "push line" so if 4 guys are walking a crp field the 2 inside never get a shot, but the 2 outside would and the guys waiting at the end.

Of course there are different situations, but this is how we do it most often with a larger party.

[glenn57]

personally, i think pushing-doing drives is not a good way to hunt. like i said IMO. i dont care for shooting at deer running wide open.

[slabchaser]

somtimes the pushers will get shots but for the most part the posters do the majority. I like doing 2 man post and stalks

[J_D]

I hunt with 18 guys in wisconsin, we sit on the stand opening weekend and drive the rest of the week. when conducting drives most of the time the bigger bucks are shot by the drivers. these bucks are big for a reason and know exactly what is going on, and they always try to double back. does, fawns and smaller bucks will usually filter out to the standers. How the deer reacts when kicked up usually has alot to do with the wind.

[jbell1981]

personally, i think pushing-doing drives is not a good way to hunt. like i said IMO. i dont care for shooting at deer running wide open.

In a lot of circumstances the deer aren't running wide open, send the drivers with the wind, the deer scent them, get up way ahead of the drivers but genereally aren't running full boar, just a slight trot thinking they are ahead of the danger until BAM, the poster nab them.

Where I hunt on the west side of the state, doing drives is the only way. If we didn't we would almost never see deer.

[KG243]

Just stay away from grey line! I will leave with a common qoute "Keep it simple stupid!"

[lawdog]

Anyone walking with you needs a deer license or they are assisting you without a license and that's illegal. The definition of taking is what sets this out. If you are walking with them on a drive, you are assisting them by potentially driving deer to the posters therefore you need a deer license. Now a deer licensed guy can sure walk along and shoot pheasants on a drive as long as he doesn't have his dog helping on the drive...

[hanso612]

I try to avoid the grey areas myself and I post lots of devil's advocate stuff just to remind myself of the grey areas and to help others not make the same simple mistakes I have made.

Last year I switched from deer hunting in a.m. to bird hunting in the afternoon. I switched from Hornady sts sabots to black cloud duck loads. I cleaned out my vest but miss identified one shell. They are both black and look very similar. I accidently carried the slug to the fiend and only noticed as I was about to load my over under that one shell was a slug.

It could have been a very dangerous situation. Luckily I caught it, but it brought to mind my earlier question about the legal consequences of this type of action. I pheasant hunt with many out of state hunters who don't buy deer liscences. Could they all have been on the hook for hunting deer without a liscence just because I carried a slug into the field? It seems unfair that the person making the mistake is legal and those who where doing everything legal are subject to the fine.

I also can see an unfair situation when grouse hunting. Often at dusk I walk the trails for grouse with a dog. Most of the deer hunters are in the woods and get off stand and walk the trails back to camp. If we walk the trail together and meet a warden back at camp it seems unfair to give anyone a ticket.

It also seems unfair that if I am hunting deer with all the liscences and a dog hunter shows up for birds on the same trail theoretically preempting my right to shoot any deer that passes even if it isn't driven by the dog.

Some of these trail heads get awefully crowded at dusk. There are 500,000 thousand of us out there. So, when asked to keep it simple it isn't always that easy.

Just some food for thought to keep us on our toes about the many nuances of our hunting laws. Hans