DuckSouth.com

After reading the regs again for hunting public water, I have a new question:

Assuming the river meets the MDEQ's flow requirement and is recognized as "public water," Is it permissible to access a river by putting in a boat under a bridge, having parked on the side of a public road and carried a boat (small boat here) along the road's public right-of-way down to the river bank?

It seems to me the answer to this question would be the same as to whether fishing under a bridge is legal.

Thanks in advance.

I say yes you can.

It may be legal, but that doesn't mean that you'll get away with it. A couple of years ago, while living in the delta, a friend of mine and myself launched in an oxbow lake on a launch that was kept graveled by the county. I talked to a game warden prior to the hunt, and he said "ok to go". Long story short, after a couple of hunts there, I get a call from a jerk that had turned me in to the sheriff's office for trespassing. I got out of it, but didn't try my luck with them again.

What happened was, he and some friends had paid a big lease price for some land around the end of the oxbow, and didn't think anyone should be hunting anywhere on it. Sure, we had a couple of good hunts there, but to me it wasn't worth having to go before a judge to fight, or riding back to the ramp finding four flats, or my truck burnt up... Good luck

I'm "in the same boat" around these parts. Looks like a great spot, just hate to leave the truck.