hunting on the ice?

[Gordie]

I've got a spot that there is about 300-500 geese landing and its on the ice they stay for a while then some leave then some return and this goes on all day. my question is as long as your 500 feet from houses and not in city limits can you shoot waterfowl off of the ice?

[tealitup]

All depends on where you are located. Are you close to Zimmerman? Some places around there are closed to public hunting, while some are open.

email me and I can look for ya

[email protected]

[BuckKiller]

i would probably think it would be unethical just like shooting them off the water. not sure if its illigal or not.

[BigWadeS]

if it's a public spot or you have permission, no different then shooting them in the water, just comes down to your own ethics and if you think it is right, sometimes ground pounding is the way to go

[Scott Stein]

I've got a spot that there is about 300-500 geese landing and its on the ice they stay for a while then some leave then some return and this goes on all day. my question is as long as your 500 feet from houses and not in city limits can you shoot waterfowl off of the ice?

id say go get em!! as long as the ice is thick enough that u dont kill urself tryin!!

[Gordie]

I wasnt going to ground pound them was thing of putting out decoys and doing it just like field hunting only it on the ice layout blinds and snowcamo just wanna make sure its leagle probly call the co to find out.

tealitup I know that you can hunt this spot cause I shoot ducks and geese during season. thanks thou

[tealitup]

If you can hunt the spot - then you can hunt it with ice on it. Go for it!

[Dean Schellinger]

Up in the air, I believe in MN it might be considered open water and you need to be partially covered in naturally occuring vegetation. You might want to look into it, but if you were on shore it would definitely be ok, middle of a lake....maybe

[hhguide]

I'm kinda with Flowage here I think you have to be in some sort of natural vegatation with that said. This weekend I layed in a boat out on some ice this past weekend and did pretty well. We layed white sheets over the boats that we drug out for safety and dressed in all white set out decoys and watched them drop in did ok but sure was fun! but we were sitting in some pencil reeds that we consider natural vegation then.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

sleeper shells on ice can cause geese to commit sudden death by steel shot. i love running spreads like that.

[luckycrank]

Originally Posted By: elwood

I've got a spot that there is about 300-500 geese landing and its on the ice they stay for a while then some leave then some return and this goes on all day. my question is as long as your 500 feet from houses and not in city limits can you shoot waterfowl off of the ice?

id say go get em!! as long as the ice is thick enough that u dont kill urself tryin!!

I had a c.o tell me this year that the 500 foot rule does not apply once your on the water

but you must be concealed in natural vegatation

straight from the regulations

Taking in Open Water

A person may not take migratory waterfowl, coots, or rails in open water unless

that person is:

a) within a natural growth of vegetation sufficient

to partially conceal the person or boat, or

pursuing or shooting wounded birds (while in compliance with the

watercraft restrictions listed below), or

c) on a river or stream that is not more than 100 yards in width.

i'd say it would be illegal unless you are shooting from the bank or cover

[guppie]

Luckycrank hit the nail on the head, got to be concealed in cover.

[jigginjim]

The 100 yards would cancel out much of the Miss. R.

[PierBridge]

I thought I was crazy.....I wouldn't trust any ice for hunting right now.

[Gordie]

crazy thats me I've been spearing for two days now in the Zimmerman area

[dan z]

hunted a lake today that had some open water But I had to break to get to it. lots of birds to watch and a group of three came in and I managed to drop one. seen some goldies and a common merg also. nice morning to be out!!

[SledNeck]

been a long time since we had open water here

[Gordie]

emailed the dnr on last tues and no reply as if its leagle or not but ther birds are still there and they have a nice open spot of water. bitten the bullet every time I look at them.

[dan z]

broke ice today again and it paid off big time today! pics in the photo gallery

[goblueM]

well the water isn't exactly open if its got ice over it

thats a very interesting question, I would think that it might be ok. My understanding is the rule is the way it is so people cant go chase down birds in a boat. If its on ice whats the difference between that and a field? Not much in my opinion. But asking the CO is the way to go!

[commander019]

When in doubt, always give the local CO a shout. Ours told me I can hunt the ice. Ice is not water and therfore the concealed in natural veg. rule does not apply. That is his inturpretation of the rule and that is what I go by because he checks me.

[Ryan Berger]

When in doubt, always give the local CO a shout. Ours told me I can hunt the ice. Ice is not water and therfore the concealed in natural veg. rule does not apply. That is his inturpretation of the rule and that is what I go by because he checks me.

lucky,, ours said otherwise

[Dean Schellinger]

Yeah its a [PoorWordUsage] shoot dealing with CO's alot of the time

[fishgutz77]

Pencil reeds are natural vegatation and are considered cover.

[duckster]

I talked to a local CO about this. He also bounced the question off of his supervisor. They said once the water is frozen over it is not considered water and you could hunt out in the open on the ice.

That it being said, it is always a good idea to dicuss it ahead of time with the local CO that you will be dealing with.

Duckster