Judge Throws Out Missouri Some Hunting Regulations

[jdmidwest]

Why do you consider hunting from a canoe unethical?

A lot of old timers still duck hunt that way. Some squirrel hunt and some deer hunt from a canoe too. I would love to take a late fall or winter float and shoot some tree rats. But I question the legality of that in the sense it doesn't appear you need land owner permission.

I feel you should not have to "chase" a deer with anything, you need to be in the right place at the right time to take it. I don't like drives either.

Floating and hunting ducks on their habitat, taking a squirrel out of a tree along a bank are different. I think you are only legal to float and hunt if you don't anchor or get out on private land without permission. That would mean that you would have the duck or squirrel fall in the water to retrieve it.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I don't know how much "chasing" you can do from a canoe. Seems pretty limited to me. Much like walking the woods, which I have shot a lot of deer while walking. But even from a canoe, you would be even more limited.

[jdmidwest]

I don't think it is legal to shoot a deer in the water, I think I have read that somewhere, but it may be another state. It is one of the fair chase things, shooting a deer swimming a lake or river is too easy and the danger of a bullet glancing off water. Floating in a canoe and shooting one off a bank would be a different story, its just not done much.

[3wt]

I think the discussions here prove a point - that some hunting and fishing regs are a bit vague. There are common discussions we have about trout fishing and flies etc. that fall into this category too. Just because we can sit and make sense of them and call it common sense doesn't mean that they are good law. I agree with our interpretations, but we shouldn't have to interpret, they should be explicit, and cut yahoo judges like this guy out of the equation. The same goes for water rights.

MDC could probably save money by not fighting the ruling, but rewording and clarifying the regs to the point that this backward "judge," and I use that term loosely, could never put up a fight...at least not a fight that would cost much money and time to appeal.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I don't see anything unethical about hunting from a canoe, you don't travel that fast.

I don't know if anyone mentioned the safety angle of road hunting, but it is something to consider. I seriously doubt that most road hunters know where all the buildings and livestock are.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I don't think it is legal to shoot a deer in the water, I think I have read that somewhere, but it may be another state. It is one of the fair chase things, shooting a deer swimming a lake or river is too easy and the danger of a bullet glancing off water. Floating in a canoe and shooting one off a bank would be a different story, its just not done much.

It is illegal to shoot a deer that is the water. That would include standing knee deep in a pond drinking. But I never said anything about shooting a deer swimming. I just assumed that you knew that regulation.

[ozark trout fisher]

Why do you consider hunting from a canoe unethical?

A lot of old timers still duck hunt that way. Some squirrel hunt and some deer hunt from a canoe too. I would love to take a late fall or winter float and shoot some tree rats. But I question the legality of that in the sense it doesn't appear you need land owner permission.

I have to agree with Chief on this one... Hunters have been using canoes for thousands of years, they are totally hand propelled (except what the current does for you, and it's just generally a pretty natural way to hunt game (you could say the same about dogs I realize, but float hunting doesn't take away from the fair chase element to anything like the same degree that a few hounds with radio collars do)- I'm thinking about float hunting the Eleven Point one of these deer seasons, that would be all kinds of fun. Might even mix a little trout fishing in.

[jdmidwest]

I never said it was not ethical to use a canoe to deer hunt, pursuing a deer with a canoe is what I meant. Paddling like hell down a river or a stream for a shot at a deer would not be a pretty, well aimed shot. If it was standing or swimming the water, both ethics and legality is involved. If you are drifting along and get a shot at a deer on a bank, then yes. Most float, get out and hunt.

The regulation in question was regarding Motorized Conveyance, that part is cut and dry. They were road hunting and shooting out of a truck on a road. Regs say you have to be off a public roadway and be parked. There is no reg stating you can't sit in a parked truck with the heater running on the edge of a field and shoot a deer when it appears. It was a "pursuit" violation.

[Chief Grey Bear]

You can row away or peddle away after a deer if you so desire as far as my interpretation of the law as I read it. Is it Ethical, no.

I never said it was not ethical to use a canoe to deer hunt, pursuing a deer with a canoe is what I meant.

My mistake. I must have read that wrong. But anyway you look at it or try to spin it, to hunt is to pursue. Sitting motionless in a tree stand on even in blind, is to pursue.

[Gatorjet]

If they could overturn really stupid regulations like point restrictions.