Party Hunting?

[torch]

My daughter and I were dove hunting sunday. She is 13, and we had 17 doves in a pile between us. The Federal boys wrote me a ticket for party hunting. When did this become a law and when did they start enforcing it?

[MSDuckmen]

Always been a law. As far back as I can remember.

They enforce it when they catch you, at least everytime I have seen people being checked.

Same applies to all game hunted. You cannot have in your possession another persons harvest. Unless properly tagged.

[torch]

Duckmen I have been checked in a pit or blind with the ducks on the floor and never had it questioned with state or federal wardens.

[MSDuckmen]

Duckmen I have been checked in a pit or blind with the ducks on the floor and never had it questioned with state or federal wardens.

You have been very lucky my friend.

I have seen hunters many, many times get a ticket for having all the birds in one location.

We have seperate lanyards with dogtags that have our name and address on the tag.
The ticket for this transaction cost one of my hunting partners $220.00 in 1998.

I keep my own birds period.

[Drakeshead]

Would you have still gotten a ticket if there were two piles? For instance a pile to your left with 10 doves in it and a pile to your right and your daugters left with seven doves in it? I thought the law stated that the possesion limit was twice the bag limit; 15/30? 17 would be over the bag limit, but not the possesion limit.

[torch]

Drakehead, if they are not in a vest ie. bagged, then they must be tagged. If they were on the ground in 2 seperate piles then they would have to have a tag on the leg. I guess the best way is to bag them

[Wingman]

Posession doesn't count in the field. It only counts in your freezer. If you could have 30 doves on you in the field, why set the limit at 15?

Honestly, I didn't realize that having a pile with more than 15 and 2 hunters sitting there was illegal. I can see where the warden might think that the adult is taking advantage of the limit and shooting the youth's limit as well. Still a tough call. I probably would've gotten a ticket too.

Wingman

[judge jb]

wrong Wingman, it does count in the field...... you are falling back on a secondary charge that falls under the Freezer Locker law for over possession..... that is a whole new ballgame...... you can only possess a limit of birds on your person, and if you choose to put birds in a pile, make sure they are your birds in your pile...... i get sick and tired of people trying to BEND the rules...... and party limits is just another excuse.......shame on you..........i hope you don't change the rules like you change plans for hunts that are paid in advance......

judge jb

[bigwater]

say judge how do ya determine who gets the ticket? did for example torch have to claim all the birds himself? do you ticket both parties? i doubt that.... what if one party says well i killed 9 and the other party says i killed 8 where do the wardens proceed from that point? don't get me wrong its definitly best to keep you birds either in you vest or your bucket?

later bigwater

[Delta Duck]

Torch, Did your daughter have a shotgun with her or were yall using one gun? Did she even shoot?
I find it hard to believe the warden would have given you a ticket, unless she didn't have a gun or he was watching an did not see her shoot.

One of the reasons I have 3 kids is so I can make them hunt with me so I can shoot their birds.

[Wingman]

WHOA, JUDGE! You totally misunderstood me. What I was saying, is that you can't have a posession limit in the field. You can't have 30 doves per person in the field. You can only have a limit, which is 15. That's why I said posession doesn't count in the field. You are only allowed a limit in the field, posession at the house. Comprende?

And you totally lost me about the "changing the rules on a hunt when payed in advance" thingy. If you are talking about hunting teal instead of doves, I don't even see what the problem is.

Wingman

[Bigpoppa]

There are some gray areas here..........never had the problem with doves. With ducks you can pile 'em all you want, you can have every duck on one game strap but you better know exactly who killed what if Mr. Green asks. And remember this he may not ask to where everybody in the blind can hear, so if he gets different answers from different folks he assumes everyone is lying and everyone gets tickets. In our blinds even if 1 duck comes through and every body sprays 3 at it we decide whos duck it is. We may be wrong, but for purposes of not breaking the law, someone has to take credit and be one duck closer to a limit.

[torch]

I got the ticket and my daughter was shooting. She is a pretty good shot for a 13 year old. but she has been hunting with me since she was 7. As a matter of fact I will put her against most 13 year old boys in a shooting contest.

[RedEyed Duck]

Xpress, be careful what advice you give. Your local game warden may be OK with the birds all being in a pile or on one strap, but the law clearly states that each hunter should have possesion of his birds. Duckmen is correct in that the birds should be clearly seperated. Again, this is what the law states, I am not telling you that you that your game wardens interpretation is not different. Just be careful, they all might not be that forgiving. Stay safe and legal.

[Bigpoppa]

Good point Red eye. Iam just speaking from my experiences. So dont consider what I said to be advice. It is best to have em seperated to avoid any confusion.