HB 2207 and 2208

K

ksgobbler

New member
There are two bills that I feel we as sportmen need to be concerned with at this time. This information came in a KDWPT Legislative update.
HB2207 This bill would require anyone hunting, shooting, fishing, fur harvesting or pursuing any bird or animal on private land to have written permission form the owner or person in possession of such land or body of water. It would also prohibit any person from pursuing a wounded bird or animal on private land without written permission.

HB2208 This bill would establish a transferable regular landowner or tenant hunt-on-own-land big game permit, which could be transferred to a nonresident solely for the purpose of hunting white-tailed deer.
 
Thanks for posting and the heads up.

The first one addresses the complaint by landowners and ag lessees about having to post the land so the game warden her or himself can sign the citation. Addresses the unfounded claim that if it's not posted, it must be OK to hunt.

The second one seems to recognize the overabundance of whitetails, and should get more hunters out after them and maybe put a little jingle in some Kansans' pockets.
 
There is no over abundance of white tails. You ready to pay to hunt because thousands of WIHA acres will disappear. They were horrible the first time around and won't be good for us at all.

First one is easily solved with purple paint. It will handicap thousands of hunters in this state.
 
ksgobbler said:
There is no over abundance of white tails. You ready to pay to hunt because thousands of WIHA acres will disappear. They were horrible the first time around and won't be good for us at all.

Why would either one of these effect WIHA?
I like both of them.
Click to expand...
 
There is an over abundance of whitetails here. I don't have a problem at all with landowners being able to sell their tag if they don't want to use it. The landowners feed the deer all year, they should be able to recoup some of that. I guess I don't see the problem with needing written permission either, it will stop a lot of trespassing.
 
Farmers will take it out to sell deer permits to the highest bidder since they hopefully will only be allowed on land owned by th farmer. I know 600 acres near my house that will no longer be walk in and that's one landowner.

I know you guys mostly hunt upland. I mostly hunt waterfowl. In the past you see birds using a field and could call to gain permission. With a new law you are screwing a lot of KS hunters. Unless Folks just see what is planted then get written permission on every corn, bean, and wheat field knowing 90% will never get used. Or tracking a deer. Mine crossed property lines Inwouldnt have expected. Called the landowner and got permission to track. He lives in TX. The deer would've rotted with the new proposed law. An easy solution is already on the books. I carry a $3 can of purple spray paint.
 
ksgobbler said:
Farmers will take it out to sell deer permits to the highest bidder since they hopefully will only be allowed on land owned by th farmer. I know 600 acres near my house that will no longer be walk in and that's one landowner.

I know you guys mostly hunt upland. I mostly hunt waterfowl. In the past you see birds using a field and could call to gain permission. With a new law you are screwing a lot of KS hunters. Unless Folks just see what is planted then get written permission on every corn, bean, and wheat field knowing 90% will never get used. Or tracking a deer. Mine crossed property lines Inwouldnt have expected. Called the landowner and got permission to track. He lives in TX. The deer would've rotted with the new proposed law. An easy solution is already on the books. I carry a $3 can of purple spray paint.
Click to expand...

You can get a local game warden to asssist you and go after a wounded deer if you can't get written permission. It is easy to tell a warden you have verbal permission even if you don't. Written permission show's the you do in fact have permission. I don't think the purple paint is legal anymore, a judge ruled it couldn't be enforced. It is a lot of work to post written permission signs, and they don't always stay up. ( some magically disappear) I support both of the laws and hope they pass.
 
Warden told me they could not. He is actually who got me the contact info for the landowner.

Purple paint is still valid. Every one of my fence posts has it as well as each gate.
 
ksgobbler said:
Warden told me they could not. He is actually who got me the contact info for the landowner.

Purple paint is still valid. Every one of my fence posts has it as well as each gate.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure a judge threw a case out making purple paint unenforceable, I guess it could just be in his jurisdiction. Game wardens can and will go with you to track a wounded deer. A friend had one help him look for a nice buck on posted property owned by out of state hunters this year when my friend couldn't get a hold of them. Game wardens can go on private property without permission so why couldn't they? Maybe a good idea would be to get written permission to track a wounded deer on adjacent property before hunting, especially if bowhunting.
 
Last edited:
ksgobbler said:
There is no over abundance of white tails. You ready to pay to hunt because thousands of WIHA acres will disappear. They were horrible the first time around and won't be good for us at all.

First one is easily solved with purple paint. It will handicap thousands of hunters in this state.
Click to expand...

I hadn't really thought about the impact it would have on WIHA, but I bet you're right. I'm a little surprised the state would give up all that Nonresident $$$. With transferrable tags, the state is really facilitating pay-to-hunt operations for anyone with 80 acres or more.
 
I am an out of state hunter, so this isn't my bill. However, if there is a significant credibility to the revenue brought in by out of state hunters, then maybe what I have to say bares some weight. Please understand I will always appreciate and respect the opportunities provided by Kansas and never expect anything.

I will just say that if I have to have a signed piece of paper from the land owners I hunt on, I can hear the responses now. I might get one to sign. The other owners are plenty nice, but I just feel their mentality would be not to sign a piece of paper about their property. I sit down with these owners when we come out and bring small thank you gifts(no money), but I don't think the comfort level is there to bring a written form of legality into the mix. Makes me nervous about the future of the great opportunities I have been able to realize over the last 5 years. A lot of time put into finding the places we hunt.
 
quailhunter101 said:
I am an out of state hunter, so this isn't my bill. However, if there is a significant credibility to the revenue brought in by out of state hunters, then maybe what I have to say bares some weight. Please understand I will always appreciate and respect the opportunities provided by Kansas and never expect anything.

I will just say that if I have to have a signed piece of paper from the land owners I hunt on, I can hear the responses now. I might get one to sign. The other owners are plenty nice, but I just feel their mentality would be not to sign a piece of paper about their property. I sit down with these owners when we come out and bring small thank you gifts(no money), but I don't think the comfort level is there to bring a written form of legality into the mix. Makes me nervous about the future of the great opportunities I have been able to realize over the last 5 years. A lot of time put into finding the places we hunt.
Click to expand...

I can speak as a landowner, I and my brother own 6500 acres in east central Kansas and I own 2 half sections in west central Kansas. I have no problem signing written permission, nor do I know any of my neighbors that would. A lot of us are posting our ground no hunting without written permission only, and there are more of us every year, because guys know if they get caught by the law they can be ticketed on the spot. It would be the same if it were state wide law. If you guys as hunters think that it puts you out too much to seek written permission, you are the type of guys I don't want on my place anyway. It avoids confusion on who does and doesn't have permission, it's make it cut and dry. Written permission can also specify a date, which keeps guys I tell can hunt one day from assuming it gives them free run of the place.
As far a being able to sell a tag to nonresidents, we feed the deer. I lose thousands of dollars of corn a year on the outside rows to deer eating the corn. I can legally get nuisance tags from the state and shoot any deer, bucks or does to use or let lay. I don't see a problem with selling my tag to recoup some of the money I lose to the deer. I will not sell my tag personally, I enjoy using my tag myself, but I don't have any problem with letting landowners do it. I would think you guys would rather have that than me leasing my ground and you not being able to hunt it at all. If I am selling one tag that just gives the guy access to my ground and my tag not sole access like if I were to lease it.
 
Last edited:
fsentkilr said:
I can speak as a landowner, I and my brother own 6500 acres in east central Kansas and I own 2 half sections in west central Kansas. I have no problem signing written permission, nor do I know any of my neighbors that would. A lot of us are posting our ground no hunting without written permission only, and there are more of us every year, because guys know if they get caught by the law they can be ticketed on the spot. It would be the same if it were state wide law. If you guys as hunters think that put you out to much to seek written permission, you are the type of guys I don't want on my place anyway. It avoids confusion on who does and doesn't have permission, it's make it cut and dry. Written permission can also specify a date, which keeps guys I tell can hunt one day from assuming it gives them free run of the place.
As far a being able to sell a tag to nonresidents, we feed the deer. I lose thousands of dollars of corn a year on the outside rows to deer eating the corn. I can legally get nuisance tags from the state and shoot any deer, bucks or does to use or let lay. I don't see a problem with selling my tag to recoup some of the money I lose to the deer. I will not sell my tag personally, I enjoy using my tag myself, but I don't have any problem with letting landowners do it. I would think you guys would rather have that than me leasing my ground and you not being able to hunt it at all. If I am selling one tag that just gives the guy access to my ground and my tag not sole access like if I were to lease it.
Click to expand...


I understand and agree with your point. Most people don't view farmers as business owners but I do, and I can see the frustration with lost revenue. I just feel the bill will cause more loss of WIHA ground, which is already on the decline as it is.

I believe in getting written permission. I go to each of my landowners every year and sign a waiver of liability and get written permission. The landowners who give me permission have said on multiple occasions that they respect that I choose to do things the right way. If more people did things the right way, maybe it would be easier to get permission on private ground.

I know my average is about 10 asks to get 1 yes. Most of the reasons for No's are due to deer hunters being on the property. The year before last I asked 23 farmers (give or take) and got 3 yes's. One of my best spots I only got to hunt 1 time this year because deer hunters were on the property bow hunting all year long.
 
Would everyone have to get written permission or just one of the hunting party? If everyone one has to have it then the state needs to give you a pack of permission cards when you buy a license. The farmer will get writers cramp signing them. My wife made up some on card stock for my son and I with our names year a line for counties and a line for the farmer to sign. Warden said they were sketchy so I quit using them. I guess because they look all alike. As a farmer the last thing I would want to do is fill out several cards for each person I allowed to hunt. One card should cover a group.
 
I will inquire to the landowners I hunt on this year about written permission, and the waiver of liability.

The area I hunt, I get a very positive response from land owners on granting permission, as I think they let several people hunt. Like I said I always make it a point to visit with landowners to make a proper introduction, and make sure there aren't pieces of their property off limits. We cooked up a dinner our last day hunting this season and had one of the owners over for fried pheasant and quail. I enjoy the relationship aspect, and it just adds to the enjoyment of the opportunity to hunt. If I find that owners appreciate the signed permission document, then I am all for it!
 
I have emailed written permission to guys in Finney County who have called me to ask in the past. With today's technology it isn't hard to get written permission, being to hard to do in no excuse. You can put "I give written permission to Joe Blow and anyone who is with him hunting" if you want to as a way to address everyone in a group needing written permission.
 
Fsentkilr thanks that was kinda what I wondered. Have a good spring. Hope to get over in your area soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top