Off the wall question that I know will probably bring out the peanut gallery, but here goes...

I know somebody working on putting together a wildlife management workshop for landowners and they are going to have a game warden as one of the speakers. They asked me what kinds of things landowners would want to hear a game warden talk about. I told them I would ask the oracle that is Texags and get back to them.

So how about it...other than telling your side of how that dang local game warden wronged you because he was just being picky back in 1983, what would you want to discuss or hear a game warden talk about with regard to land management and game laws?

Thanks for any input.

[This message has been edited by txags92 (edited 1/3/2013 12:56p).]

Why the TPWD website isn't more user friendly... I can find the dates for the seasons but you have to search to find shooting hours... I would like a setup like they have now, but include any other information that may be important

Hunting near property boundaries,

Why there can be such variance in interpretation of some laws? Particularly water access, firearm possession in public and transportation, etc.

Also, some clarity on open containers while boating would be nice. I am pretty sure I know what the law is, but I have heard of it being enforced differently. I somtimes sip on a beer while trolling for stripers.

What are the laws and regulations regarding target practice on public lands? They seem to be fairly lax in western states, but in Texas, I haven't seen much about it.

"Can you please PLEASE let me shoot that monster out of season?"

I laugh, but I've put together whole workshops using this method.


I may be speaking at it or another workshop.

How in the hell did you get thru my gate?

Right of entry and search of property is always a good subject.

Ask him to talk about the most mis-understood game laws, or laws that people may not know exist.

quote:

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how differently they interpret the laws surrounding hunting from public water (particularly rivers) and the boundary at which it becomes trespassing

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This is an excellent question I would like to know the answer to. We had hunters walk from the river bank up onto our lease claiming the GW told them it was fine as long as they were within the first flood level.

Agreed with the riverbank question. We've had duck hunters on the river post up on the bank of our land plenty of times. I've been told the boundary is water's edge but also 10-ft beyond. Would LOVE to know the real answer. Also interested in shooting location/direction...i.e. if you are hunting a sandbar in the middle of the river but shoot over towards the bank of somebody else's land

Ursus, I think this is for the one you aren't speaking at based on the draft flyer I saw. This method of giving speakers input on what the audience wants to hear is better than sending them a list from post-workshop comment cards and telling them here are all the questions your audience wanted you to talk about.

When you quarter a deer and put in a cooler. Does the rack or skull count as proof of sex with the meat?

also, why the hell do they write tickets for not putting the name of the ranch on the tag. What does that matter.

to go along with the river hunting ? I would like a better understanding or a source where I can go look to find duck hunting regulations for hunting all bodies of water. on core land or other bodies of water where can you hunt from the bank, where can you hunt from a boat on the water, where can you take a boat and get out and hunt. how far do you have to be away from a dock, house, someone else's land. and like the river question does all shot have to be maintained within the waterway?

In an antler restricted county, does a horn broken off at the base qualify as an unbranched antler? Had one on our place that would have been legal had he had both sides, nut his right beam was broken off about 2" above the base.

Why does your state agency pay way better than my state agency?

haha

Clarification on possession limit. Do the birds in your freezer count?

I always thought once in the freezer they weren't part of your possession limit. I have heard conflicting answers though.

Can I kill a legal 13+ inch spread buck in one county and kill another 13+ inch spread buck in another county if both counties have antler restrictions?

I've heard that different game wardens interpret that differently and the laws are vague and do not really clearly answer this question. I've read the laws multiple times trying to decipher the answer to this and I can't see how anyone could be successfully prosecuted for doing this, because it's just so unclear.

Can a person completely field dress and debone a deer in the field? The book says that you must leave the meat in quarters, and cannot process any further into burger, jerky, etc. But what about taking all the meat off the front shoulder bone (you will end up with multiple chunks of meat). You dont exactly have a whole quarter, but your closer to that than further cutting down into burger, jerky, etc. On the hindquarters, you can completely debone and still leave the entire quarter intact.

[This message has been edited by BurrOak (edited 1/3/2013 9:08p).]

Burr oak, can you elaborate on that. That's news to me. I field dress and debone all of my deer.

"A deer may not be processed any further than four quarters and two backstraps (example, steaks,
hamburger, chili meat, etc.) until the deer reaches a final destination, except for immediate
consumption in camp (see Processing deer, Turkey, or Antelope in Camp)"

Been that way for a long time.

Exactly my point Ursus. It seems we are in a gray area here. If you completely debone the front quarter, you end up with multiple chunks of meat and not a whole quarter, but your not exactly going as far as hamburger, steaks, and chili meat like that law says. And like i previously said, you can completely debone the hindquarter and it still be completely intact.

Ursus, whats your take on this? Am I breaking the law by deboning the front quarter and having multiple chunks of meat?

Never really thought about it to be honest, and don't want to mislead. I know plenty of folks that debone. Generally I debone at home, so never been an issue. Let me make a couple calls tomorrow.-----generally when there is something grey on here, I usually talk to 3 different wardens in 3 different districts.

I look forward to hearing the response on this. Ive been told by other hunters that I'm breaking the law, and others that Im not. But I dont really think I am. I know its not my call though.

My brother took his Hunters Ed not too long ago, and I asked him to ask his instructor about this. They ended up sitting down and discussing it after class was over, and the instructor ended up saying it would probably depend on the individual game warden and how he felt that day.

Unwritten 5 min shooting hours grace period?

Jbonnot03 - the annual waterfowl booklet (PDF is free download from TPWD site) is pretty clear on the topic. Birds that are in the freezer at home (final destination) are not considered part of your possession limit.

I always freeze mine and label the bags with date, # of birds, and species, which provides additional supporting info and also helps me in planning when / how to prepare.

will tpwd be rolling out an online drawn hunt system as rumored?

If I put up a barbed wire fence and then a high fence behind it, can my neighbor tear down the barbed wire fence?

Ask if he's ever worked the Doss area

Nice AgLaw.

tamc91-Correct. According to the State of Texas, you can have an unlimited number of frozen birds in your freezer at home. But according to what I can find about Federal regulations, possession doesn't cease until you give them to another person or hand them over to a carrier(Fedex, USPS, etc) to transport to another person.

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&SID=a362072124f3573d298218725466f41a&rgn=div6&view=text&node=50:9.0.1.1.3.4&idno=50

I think it is a technicality that a Fed could use to tack on charges if they wanted.

I am sure it is to make it easier to identify that you only have 1 tagged animal, and didn't cheat.

I've got no problem with the rule. I could see how a guy with a big barn/mancave might want to do all the work out on his land, and transport it back to the house in the city. That might annoy me if I had that problem =)

I would ask him, are you really the most powerful law enforcement officer out there? My dad always told me that game wardens had the most power of any officer out there....they didn't have to have search warrants, etc.