MS River hunters

[Model12]

Gentlemen, My grandson is one year old today. I believe that the only way he will get to hunt ducks with me is for all of us, now ,to respect each other. If a man spends the money to buy the dirt, it's his dirt and I will stay off of it. I expect the same from him. But most of the time, if I get to know him just a little, he may invite me to hunt his dirt.
Have fun, respect others, be safe, and support each other as sportsmen. If we don't, we won't have to argue these points for many more years....

[professor]

Meeka,

According to the COE, the mean high water mark at the V'burg guage is 38 feet.

[Meeka]

So if I understand what you are saying, a dispute on the west side of Chotard, say somewhere between the edge of the water and the dead trees, would have to be resolved by La. officers &/or in La. courts? Under La. law, from what I read here, the answer to my query as follows is YES.

Query: what about elsewhere north or south of there in Miss. on the west side of the east (Miss.) levee. I understand the land is privately owned. You want to hunt the sloughs and in woods covered by water; not dry land. You put out decoys, then hide the boat and hunt while standing in the water. The river level is, say, 38 feet or less on the V-burg gauge. You have not seen any posted signs. So you are standing on the bottom in shallow water "along" a public navigable waterway and the river level is below the mean high-water mark. Are you trespassing?

[Meeka]

§ 97-17-87. Willful or malicious trespass

(1) Any person who shall be guilty of a willful or malicious trespass upon the real or personal property of another, for which no other penalty is prescribed, shall, upon conviction, be fined not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or imprisoned not longer than six (6) months in the county jail, or both.
MS ST s 97-17-87
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§ 97-17-93. Entry without permission

(1) Any person who knowingly enters the lands of another without the permission of or without being accompanied by the landowner or the lessee of the land, or the agent of such landowner or lessee, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished for the first offense by a fine of not less than One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) nor more than Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00). Upon conviction of any person for a second or subsequent offense, the offenses being committed within five (5) years of the last offense, such person shall be punished by a fine of not less than Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00) nor more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), and may be imprisoned in the county jail for a period of not less than ten (10) nor more than thirty (30) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
This section shall not apply to the landowner's or lessee's family, guests, or agents, to a surveyor as provided in Section 73-13-103, or to persons entering upon such lands for lawful business purposes.
(2)(a) It shall be the duty of sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, constables and conservation officers to enforce this section.
(b) Such officers shall enforce this section by issuing a citation to those charged with trespassing under this section.
(3) The provisions of this section are supplementary to the provisions of any other statute of this state.
(4) A prosecution under the provisions of this section shall be dismissed upon the request of the landowner, lessee of the land or agent of such landowner or lessee, as the case may be.

MS ST s 97-17-93
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§ 97-17-97. Trespass after warning

(1) Except as otherwise provided in Section 73-13-103, if any person or persons shall without authority of law go into or upon or remain in or upon any building, premises or land of another, including the premises of any public housing authority after having been banned from returning to the premises of the housing authority, whether an individual, a corporation, partnership, or association, or any part, portion or area thereof, after having been forbidden to do so, either orally or in writing including any sign hereinafter mentioned, by any owner, or lessee, or custodian, or other authorized person, or by the administrators of a public housing authority regardless of whether or not having been invited onto the premises of the housing authority by a tenant, or after having been forbidden to do so by such sign or signs posted on, or in such building, premises or land, or part, or portion, or area thereof, at a place or places where such sign or signs may be reasonably seen, such person or persons shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or by confinement in the county jail not exceeding six (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(2) The provisions of this section are supplementary to the provisions of any other statute of this state.
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§ 97-17-85. Trespass upon enclosed land

Except as otherwise provided in Section 73-13-103, if any person shall go upon the enclosed land of another without his consent, after having been notified by such person or his agent not to do so, either personally or by published or posted notice, or shall remain on such land after a request by such person or his agent to depart, he shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than Fifty Dollars ($50.00) for such offense. The provisions of this section shall apply to land not enclosed where the stock law is in force.

MS ST s 97-17-85

[GulfCoast]

I don't necessarily disagree with SB. You are harrasing me if I have a right to be where I am. If I did not have a right to be there, I would not be anywhere around!

[Welldoggie]

It sounds like the arguments, presented in above posts, for free right of way(to hunt) when it floods are to take advantage of any old law loophole to go hunt private land that otherwise would be clearly in violation of tresspassing.

It's a matter of what's the right thing to do, even if not specifically documented in court documents. You either have a respectful attitude or a poaching attitude toward hunting opportunities.

If it's not yours, get permission to hunt it. It doesn't matter if it is easily accessed and no one is looking. If you can't get permission, find some place that you can. With all of the water we have now, many options are out there....if you have a boat and ALOT of decoy line.

[Po Monkey Lounger]

I am an attorney and have done quite a bit of research on the public waterway issues,and have presented a few arguments before the MDEQ in support of public hunting on disputed public waterways (pro bono, btw).

In an attempt to clear up some of the confusion, I offer the following. Keep in mind that a water body may be public by several ways. What most of this thread references is public waterways as defined by MS statute (the statute previously quoted in this thread). Another way it can be public is if it is navigable, as defined by MS common law. Or, the public water body can be public by prescription, meaning that it has been used openly, notoriously, and without protest by the public for more than ten years(similar to adverse possession). Still another are our publicly owned lakes and reservoirs (ie Grenada, Sardis, Enid, Arkabutla, Ross Barnett, WMAs, federally owned areas, etc.) With respect to public waterways as defined by MS statute, that are listed by the MDEQ, one cannot hunt floodwaters that have extended past the natural banks of the water body. With respect to water that is neither floodwater nor has exceeded the natural banks, one can hunt, stand or wade in the water, anchor to a tree, drop decoy anchors, etc.(all things necessary to duck hunt). This is true regardless of who owns the bottoms.

A "public waterway" as defined by statute and listed by the MDEQ may also be a navigable waterway as defined by common law.
If so, then there is no prohibition against hunting floodwater from such a navigable waterway.

The MS River is definately a "navigable waterway" and is public, without the need for designation as a public waterway by MS statute. I do not think the MS River is even listed by the DEQ as a statutorily defined "public waterway". Based upon my reading of the seminal Dycus opinion by the MS Supreme Court, I think that it would be legal to hunt on floodwaters of the MS River so long as those waters were accessed from navigable waters. If you can launch your boat from a public place on the navigable waterway and reach waters by boat, without leaving the boat, then you can legally hunt those waters. Keep in mind that the law regarding hunting the MS River is not the same as hunting "public waterways" as defined by MS statute. No one truly owns ole man river.

Before hunting any water body, be sure to check out the legality of the same. You may find, as I did, that even after conducting such research on the water body, and even if you are legally hunting the water body, you may experience some problems with the owners of the bottoms. If so, then you have to make a choice of whether to hunt there or not based upon common sense. My general rule of thumb is that if I am reasonably certain that the water I am hunting is public, I will hold my ground (one exception,hunting is not worth a violent confrontation). If I am less than certain about the area, then I do not hunt it.