Anyone know what the penalties are for killing game, out of season, without a permit, with a primitive weapon?
The penalties are much like driving drunk, with fines and other small penalties the first time, up to and including losing your ability to get a license for life.
Using a primitive weapon isn’t going to attract the same attention gun-and-run poachers attract.
I have one useful piece of advice … hopefully, using primitive weapons, you’ll stalk closely to the animal, enough to see that it is a mechanical deer that is a Game Warden decoy used to catch poachers. I have actually ran into a game Warden in Southern Indiana once while mushroom hunting who was running such a sting. The feeling I got from him was that the efforts to catch poachers were mostly a symbolic deterrent and they always came with a media blitz afterwards in hopes of upping the perception that they would get caught.
Which, of course, led me to believe that their symbolic efforts, much like on the war of drugs, only net the ‘dumb’ ones and those who know the law rarely run into the law.
good luck, and good hunting!
I have one useful piece of advice ... hopefully, using primitive weapons, you'll stalk closely to the animal, enough to see that it is a mechanical deer that is a Game Warden decoy used to catch poachers. I have actually ran into a game Warden in Southern Indiana once while mushroom hunting who was running such a sting. The feeling I got from him was that the efforts to catch poachers were mostly a symbolic deterrent and they always came with a media blitz afterwards in hopes of upping the perception that they would get caught.Which, of course, led me to believe that their symbolic efforts, much like on the war of drugs, only net the ‘dumb’ ones and those who know the law rarely run into the law.
good luck, and good hunting!
Yeah, my uncle is an undercover federal Game Warden. And from the stories I’ve heard from him what you say makes a lot of sense, Tony.
If your smart about it, and keep your mouth shut, the chances of getting caught drop significantly, I would think anyway.
Curt
Years ago I remember learning that there were two game wardens who were responsible for the national forests in Colorado from the southern border to the northern border along the entire front range. Not a lot of manpower there to catch the mountain lion poachers we were concerned about at the time.
I also remember a story about a guy from Iowa who came to Colorado to hunt elk. He shot his elk, dressed it out, threw it on top of his truck, then drove out. He got stopped at a gamecheck station, and the guy asked him what he was doing with the dressed out donkey on top of his truck. What I learned from the story was that if one is not driving out past gamecheck stations, one is not likely to be asked anything.
As for the penalties. In Colorado and most likely elsewhere, whatever was used to hunt can and will be confiscated. This includes the truck you drove in, the rifle or bow and arrows - anything that was involved in the process can be seized, never to be seen again (other than in the plush country clubs built for the cops.)
So, yes there are penalties and they can be pretty severe for someone who goes into the forest to hunt with his $50,000 truck, his $100,000 motor home, and his $5000 high-powered rifle. But for someone who lives in the forest and makes his way on foot, hunting for his food and using that food while still in the forest - the consequences from the cops (4 letter word) are not likely to be existent.
Snowflower
small game in some states is open year round. harvesting roadkill gets treated as poaching as well. salvage tags are usually free if available but a pain.
What about urban game? Are there city ordinances or something? Who deals with game in city parks? Are there state regulations that fall onto city parks as well?
no one would say anything to a guy in an ‘animal control’ polo going around checking deadfalls.
well, it works for hunting mushrooms, anyway…
AWESOME TonyZ
Yes dude. Animal Control polo = fucking gene.
The scam the 'mates and I have been pulling for years is clip a fake namebadge to a polo (becasuse people 'spekt the collar), print out a fake ‘mycological’ checklist, and attach it to a clipboard…
You have no idea how many people in this world have fallen to the spiel:
"Hi I’m Jim Nopolis and this is my collegue, Cy Bensis from the (insert name of state university here) Mycology Department, and were doing a survey of fungi growing in the area. Would you kindly sign .here. to give us permission to survey your land? Thanks. "
I hope it works for other foraging activities!
That’s hilarious. What kinds of land do you use that scam on? Do you live in an urban place? Personally I just run up in people’s yards and take the mushrooms. No respect for private property. No siree. But NW PA ain’t like the west coast. No one gives a shit about mushrooms here, you hardly run into another person in the woods period let alone another mushroom hunter.
Most of American law is backed by propaganda, usually in the form of signs and television shows. Of course, “No Hunting/Fishing/Whatevering” signs are not going to fine, arrest, or shoot you, and anyone who’s taken Clue 110 will realize that LE personnel are not like the actors on television.They are like any Babylonian (civilized) worker – they work from nine to five, eat garbage, don’t give a fuck about their jobs, and then drive home to harass their families. Also, when it comes to general crime, they show up after they get a phone call.
And LE is only able to catch people who are slightly dumber than they are, so as long as you aren’t doing stupid shit on behalf of money, and are generally clever, then all should be well.
The armies of Babylon are only unmatched in physical strength, but they ain’t so smart.
So the best thing to assume is that all Babylonians are narcs. Not “treat” all Babylonians as narcs; all Babylonians are narcs. They are the people who will most certainly call in on you. Especially over where I’m at, where people have this vile idea of being opposed to directly killing animals, but will finance agriculture and all industries it enables to torture, mutilate, and exterminate everything. I would not recommend urban hunting unless it can be done at night, otherwise you will have to deal with greater risks. Of course, doing any hunting at night will need some special tools, unless you’re a pretty decent ninja. The easiest thing to do would be fishing. It’s great at night, everyone is asleep, and it’s still just as fun.
You also don’t necessarily need to lug around weapons, tools or whatever. Whenever I go pole fishing, I just stash the pole under a pile of sticks right where I’m fishing. The same can be done with anything else. No one will steal it because they aren’t looking for it, and typically don’t come anywhere near it. The more expedient/primitive the weapons are, the better, since they are generally easy to make, and it doesn’t really matter if they get lost. Just keep track of where you hide it.
I’ve been earning a reputation this spring by biking around setting rabbit traps in peoples neighborhoods. People have actually come up to me in town and asked me to come trap rabbits on their property! Recently some people asked me to come catch some feral guinea fowl at their place if i like. So last night i set a couple live traps w/ sprouted grains as bait. This morning the guinea fowl (a really huge feral population has grown where these people live) had still not visited these folks fields. So i headed down the road w/ my crossbow and found 10 - right on the side of the road in a kind of rural - suburban scene (meaning people could see me from their houses). I said fuck it, im tired of being pushed around told what i can and cant do. There were 10 of these beautiful birds, and they just hanging out infront of me, so i took a shot.
I hit one with my first arrow. In the leg. It could still fly well enough to get over a fence and into the nearest yard - wounded. The dude who lives there was sitting on his porch - i really calmly told him that i had shot a bird that was wounded on his property and I had to put it out of its pain now.
He flipped, started threatening me that what i was doing was illegal and he was going to kick my ass (although i was holding a crossbow…). I told him it didn’t matter how he felt about me - we had to put that bird out of its pain - but i had flipped his crazy civilized hate switch and he just chased me away.
Damn.
I feel so bad for the bird. I forgot how nuts everyone is - that hunting yr dinner is against the rules of consumerism. Maybe you folks can learn something from this experience i had?
It made me almost puke i felt so bad.
AH! I fucking hate people. God damn.
Aw dude thats horrible! Thats like exactly what I am afraid would happen if I went after the resident canada geese that live by a creek near my mothers house.
Another interpretation -
He just wanted to chase you away so he could poach your bird.
I mean, what DO you think he did with it after you left!?
Willem - he could well have eaten it (i hope he did). It’s just hard to know how to react when some ‘propery owner’ starts threatening with violence. I chose to back down, not sure if that was the smartest, but when one is in the heat of the moment…
Scavenger - yea, it was a shitty experience but ultimately it just taught me that i have to refine my skills - have to really hone them to the point that i can sneak into peoples neighborhoods - kill a creature quickly and efficiently, and leave unseen/heard. I will keep on doing this (and fucking up) until i get it right.
I loved reading this! Yeah, I agree, probably not the best choice you made in such ignorant blissful times, but yeah I love hearing that you don’t plan on quitting but instead plan on practicing and working on your next approach (you said it better).
people just don’t understand, how do they think their chicken dinner got on the table…made in a lab or something? you probably would have killed that bird more humanily than that dudes dinner was.
i was in a canoe with my friends one day, and i saw a snake, i had been out there all day and was getting hungry. i wanted it for lunch. i told my friend eric that i was going to catch and eat that snake. he started to yell and say if i killed that snake he was going to kick my ass, and that i should just go to a fast food place or a grocery store instead.
i was completely baffled by his anger and his statement. i really didn’t know what to say. i think i said something like, everything is food. but i dont’ know what goes through these peoples heads, like where the hell do they think the meat they’re eating comes from the freakin sky? i should have said something like:
“at least what i’m eating has had a chance to live the way it was meant to live and not be genetically altered, raised unhealthily in a very small dirty room, inside with thousands of other animals, or chained to the ground like baby cows …dick”
maybe i should’ve had HIM for lunch.
yeah.
its amazing how if i go down to the river and catch 10 salmon i feel… bad. and people will tell me that it’s a bad thing to do. But if someone drops a net into the ocean and catches thousands of fish at once, as long as they are doing it for ‘money’, its all good. And eating those fish is okay.
Suddenly murder is not murder, if thats how you make money.