is it legal..
- Thread starter jloop
- Start date
Upland Hunter
New member
I think as long as you follow the CDOW game laws and don't leave a mess, I don't think it would be illegal.
Be sure to leave evidence of sex attached to the carcass, etc.
Be sure to leave evidence of sex attached to the carcass, etc.
kansasbrittany
Banned
I was at a WIHA yesterday and saw 3 roosters that had been opened up and someone just took a knife and cut the breast meat out. They had nothing to show what sex their harvest was if they would've been caught. The biggest problem I have with it is they left the roosters by the driveway of the WIHA, visible to passing motorists w/ a keen eye
henhenROOSTER!!!
New member
N@KB - AMEN!!! Couldn't folks at least go to the trouble to stuff the leftover remains of the carcass in an obscure place far away from the road & out of sight - it also doesn't take that much extra time to leave a legal appendage attached to the meat while you're at it (personally I hate breasting-out pheasants/I eat legs & all, although I do have to admit I sometimes breast out ducks AT HOME)...The only thing worse than this is hunters leaving an unsightly mess in the hotel dumpster for some poor non-hunter or family to gross-out at (which is easily cured by a simple tightly cinched garbage bag)!!!
@jloop - IF I read you right, I don't think there would be any problem whatsoever legally if as you say, "you take the all the junk and the meat with you" (the extra proof is in the other bag & if you have done it correctly there is a legal appendage on the meat)...Keeping a few trash bags & freezer baggies handy in the truck will accomplish this quite easily & neatly, I don't like cleaning birds at home if I can help it either! :thumbsup:
@jloop - IF I read you right, I don't think there would be any problem whatsoever legally if as you say, "you take the all the junk and the meat with you" (the extra proof is in the other bag & if you have done it correctly there is a legal appendage on the meat)...Keeping a few trash bags & freezer baggies handy in the truck will accomplish this quite easily & neatly, I don't like cleaning birds at home if I can help it either! :thumbsup:
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I have had my dogs find breasted bird carcasses on numerous WIHA's in Kansas. Then comes the dog wrestling to get the carcass away from the dog in the group who thinks she should eat it. Shows a lot of class. I would vote to strip them of hunting priviledges for life. No respect for game, no respect for others, we don't need them, and they will never change!
Well, I learned my lesson. (Confession time)... This year I went on my first overnight weekend duck hunt. First day we limited out and got a few geese to boot. To keep the meat good I breasted them and kept all the junk and carcasses in a bag in the truck.
Guess you can see it coming... but the federal wildlife officers checked us the second day and informed me I was not within the law. My partner and I were looking at $600 and points apiece. Luckily, the officers decided that we had tried enough to stay legal... the breasts and carcasses all matched up... so they let us donate the birds to them and avoid the ticket.
It is easy to get lazy after years of not being checked... but I am going to focus on the letter and not just the intent of the law from now on... Keep a wing attached...
Guess you can see it coming... but the federal wildlife officers checked us the second day and informed me I was not within the law. My partner and I were looking at $600 and points apiece. Luckily, the officers decided that we had tried enough to stay legal... the breasts and carcasses all matched up... so they let us donate the birds to them and avoid the ticket.
It is easy to get lazy after years of not being checked... but I am going to focus on the letter and not just the intent of the law from now on... Keep a wing attached...
To the original poster
I've found a tried and true method of learning the rules is to actually take the time to read them in first place. While I have no problem with what you suggest, as far a cleaning your birds, a cursory look at the Colorado upland brochure, which I read, ( and I don't even hunt there), revealed a plainly stated policy of NO. I believe the regs have to be written to the lowest common denominator, which is the numb skull who breasts his birds and leaves the offal for the world to deal with. I have a question for you, since you didn.t read the rules, what else don't you know!
I've found a tried and true method of learning the rules is to actually take the time to read them in first place. While I have no problem with what you suggest, as far a cleaning your birds, a cursory look at the Colorado upland brochure, which I read, ( and I don't even hunt there), revealed a plainly stated policy of NO. I believe the regs have to be written to the lowest common denominator, which is the numb skull who breasts his birds and leaves the offal for the world to deal with. I have a question for you, since you didn.t read the rules, what else don't you know!
HeavyC
Member
Is that like guts and stuff.
Yep! ..sure sign they have worked in a packing house before!
im not talkin about just birds im talking about all small game rabbits and stuff like that.. and i did read the rules... they just where not to clear to me SORRY.
A few points:
1) As mentioned earlier, it's clearly stated in the Atlas that carcasses should not be left behind - although original question mentioned that the carcass would be taken along with, there are enough folks leaving carcasses behind that it certainly bears mentioning.
2) Law is clear that evidence of sex must be ATTACHED to the all birds - either wing, head or foot with spur.
3) One should treat small game no different that they would large game. My guess is that a large percentage of the idiots that leave pheasant carcasses behind would never do the same with a deer or elk.
4) It's friggin' rude to litter someone's property with dead animals of any sort, and it's especially friggin' rude to do so on land that has been opened up to the WIA program. It's yet another argument landowners have against opening their land to hunting, and it's a sound argument.
5) With pheasants in particular, you're not doing yourself any favors by cleaning immediately if you intend to eat the meat. In England (where they've been shooting roosters a heckuva lot longer that we have here), birds are always hung whole for a few days before cleaning. It freaks Americans out, cuz we're all accustomed to filthy, cage-raised chickens and the diseases they carry, but wild birds are not exposed to these conditions. Three days hung by the neck (at 40 degrees or less!!!) will tenderize and flavor up the meat beautifully. I've always done this, have always gotten comments as to how tasty my pheasant is and have NEVER made myself or anyone else ill. Of course, there's the occasional bird that leaks intestinal or stomach contents - these are goners and it's evident when you open them up.
1) As mentioned earlier, it's clearly stated in the Atlas that carcasses should not be left behind - although original question mentioned that the carcass would be taken along with, there are enough folks leaving carcasses behind that it certainly bears mentioning.
2) Law is clear that evidence of sex must be ATTACHED to the all birds - either wing, head or foot with spur.
3) One should treat small game no different that they would large game. My guess is that a large percentage of the idiots that leave pheasant carcasses behind would never do the same with a deer or elk.
4) It's friggin' rude to litter someone's property with dead animals of any sort, and it's especially friggin' rude to do so on land that has been opened up to the WIA program. It's yet another argument landowners have against opening their land to hunting, and it's a sound argument.
5) With pheasants in particular, you're not doing yourself any favors by cleaning immediately if you intend to eat the meat. In England (where they've been shooting roosters a heckuva lot longer that we have here), birds are always hung whole for a few days before cleaning. It freaks Americans out, cuz we're all accustomed to filthy, cage-raised chickens and the diseases they carry, but wild birds are not exposed to these conditions. Three days hung by the neck (at 40 degrees or less!!!) will tenderize and flavor up the meat beautifully. I've always done this, have always gotten comments as to how tasty my pheasant is and have NEVER made myself or anyone else ill. Of course, there's the occasional bird that leaks intestinal or stomach contents - these are goners and it's evident when you open them up.
henhenROOSTER!!!
New member
Fellas, fellas, c'mon now let's chill here, all come clean & find some kind of middle ground...I have grown up in the outdoors for 3 generations & been roaming water, woods & fields 50+ yrs now - Almost EVERYBODY I have ever known has ALWAYS cleaned game in-the-field. There is a way to do this without making such a "stink"...Elsewise, every backyard, dump or dumpster (guts, head, hide, feathers, fins trashbagged or not) in the country would be filled with rotting filth for hordes of non-hunters to smell & see!!! The stuff has to end up final destination somewhere...Is a pheasant all that different or more royal than any other game animal? Do I have to start dragging my elk & deer out whole/ungutted for miles off PUBLIC state or forest land too (not even quartered)??? So where do you propose I put all that mess when I get home??? I completely debone my big-game & bring out nothing but the meat w/proof-of-sex attached and cape/horns if it's a trophy - and it's all LEGAL, CDOW even has a video explaining how to do it!
Anybody ever heard of a coyote - they are a very efficient clean-up crew, long as you know how to put things in a proper place well OUT-OF-SIGHT & easy for them to access without encouraging them any more than they already do to enter deep cover in search of live birds. If they can remove entire wild-hog & deer carcasses/entrails without so much as a trace (seen it 1000 times 1st-hand - usually overnite be4 next day, never more than two or three) - then little ol' pheasant remains are easy pickins in comparison!
Having said all that, the problem on public property is with sheer volume of hunters & birds bagged/possibly "cleaned" - whatever that word may mean to some. This ain't rocket science here - if novices and/or long-time-slob dumb-@sses are willing to learn or take the time to do it right instead of in the parking area beside the truck, along roadside ditches, close to a house or smack-dab in the middle of a good field for a hunter or dog to have to stumble over...GEEZ, UGGH, GRRRH - either way is fine, just do it right!!! Anyone who can't figure it out shouldn't be hunting in the first place until they do...BTW, if a feller can't train his dog not to chew/shred/eat bird-remains old or new - the pup is in need of a little more work too! :cheers:
The stuff has to end up final destination somewhere...Is a pheasant all that different or more royal than any other game animal? Do I have to start dragging my elk & deer out whole/ungutted for miles off PUBLIC state or forest land too (not even quartered)??? So where do you propose I put all that mess when I get home??? I completely debone my big-game & bring out nothing but the meat w/proof-of-sex attached and cape/horns if it's a trophy - and it's all LEGAL, CDOW even has a video explaining how to do it! Anybody ever heard of a coyote - they are a very efficient clean-up crew, long as you know how to put things in a proper place well OUT-OF-SIGHT & easy for them to access without encouraging them any more than they already do to enter deep cover in search of live birds. If they can remove entire wild-hog & deer carcasses/entrails without so much as a trace (seen it 1000 times 1st-hand - usually overnite be4 next day, never more than two or three) - then little ol' pheasant remains are easy pickins in comparison!
Having said all that, the problem on public property is with sheer volume of hunters & birds bagged/possibly "cleaned" - whatever that word may mean to some. This ain't rocket science here - if novices and/or long-time-slob dumb-@sses are willing to learn or take the time to do it right instead of in the parking area beside the truck, along roadside ditches, close to a house or smack-dab in the middle of a good field for a hunter or dog to have to stumble over...GEEZ, UGGH, GRRRH - either way is fine, just do it right!!! Anyone who can't figure it out shouldn't be hunting in the first place until they do...BTW, if a feller can't train his dog not to chew/shred/eat bird-remains old or new - the pup is in need of a little more work too! :cheers:
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HHR - your point is well taken with regard to my comparison of big game and roosters needing to be treated the same... My point was not that no animal should ever be field-dressed, it was that most ethical hunters wouldn't leave the head/hide/legs of a deer laying along a public road or on public land, and they shouldn't do the same with roosters, either.
Yes, there's a happy middle ground. The coyotes absolutely will clean up those carcasses - but why give them that delicious thigh meat?
I'm with you that some will always choose to breast out their birds and nothing we say will change that behavior (wasteful as it may be, in my opinion) - I'd just like it if everyone would at least toss the remains 10 yards into the deep grass where coyotes will certainly find it but passers-by and farmers would not.
Yes, there's a happy middle ground. The coyotes absolutely will clean up those carcasses - but why give them that delicious thigh meat?
I'm with you that some will always choose to breast out their birds and nothing we say will change that behavior (wasteful as it may be, in my opinion) - I'd just like it if everyone would at least toss the remains 10 yards into the deep grass where coyotes will certainly find it but passers-by and farmers would not.
henhenROOSTER!!!
New member
@jflewis88 - AGREED!!! And the coyotes ain't ever gettin nothing off me other than a few tiny scratchins/shreds of meat off bones & feathers - not to worry, a tasty pheasant thigh will never go to waste! :thumbsup:
I clean my birds at home half the time anyway, cook/eat them whole like a cornish hen most of the time & one guy I hunted with last year even saved the entire feathered-skins in a separate trash bag for fly-tying (I'm still beggin him to take me trophy trout-fishin with a piece of one of my roosters)!
But I still do often leave a few guts, bones & feathers behind, well-hidden for the song-dogs of the prairie & most of the time on private property just to keep things LEGAL! (I meant one of the privates I have access/permission to - not just random/willy-nilly on any old private next to a WIHA)! GEEZ, a feller sure has to watch his P's & Q's on this forum and make sure to cover every base or else...
I clean my birds at home half the time anyway, cook/eat them whole like a cornish hen most of the time & one guy I hunted with last year even saved the entire feathered-skins in a separate trash bag for fly-tying (I'm still beggin him to take me trophy trout-fishin with a piece of one of my roosters)!
But I still do often leave a few guts, bones & feathers behind, well-hidden for the song-dogs of the prairie & most of the time on private property just to keep things LEGAL! (I meant one of the privates I have access/permission to - not just random/willy-nilly on any old private next to a WIHA)! GEEZ, a feller sure has to watch his P's & Q's on this forum and make sure to cover every base or else...
The original question was if it was legal on state land. In Colorado at Walk In Areas (WIA) and State Wildlife Areas (SWA) you're not to leave anything behind.
National Forest, BLM, and other lands are of course a different jurisdiction. Most National Forest Managers here ask that you scatter the remains or bury them at a depth that discourages scavengers.
That's the way it is here in Colorado. An issue that will eventually face us are the toxic lead fragments left behind in gut piles that are poisoning the scavengers. Particularly effected are Golden and Bald Eagles. During necropsies performed on eagles that have died from lead poisoning, bullet fragments and lead shot have been found in their digestive tracts. A day may come when lead bullets will be unlawful on all federal lands.
National Forest, BLM, and other lands are of course a different jurisdiction. Most National Forest Managers here ask that you scatter the remains or bury them at a depth that discourages scavengers.
That's the way it is here in Colorado. An issue that will eventually face us are the toxic lead fragments left behind in gut piles that are poisoning the scavengers. Particularly effected are Golden and Bald Eagles. During necropsies performed on eagles that have died from lead poisoning, bullet fragments and lead shot have been found in their digestive tracts. A day may come when lead bullets will be unlawful on all federal lands.
I don't know the answer, but I cant imagine that it's illegal. I hunt private property and I always clean my birds in the field. Its just easier to leave the mess in the field than at my house. Like another post said, the DOW requests that you don't leave stuff all over the road and in sight of other people. Just like you wouldn't shoot a deer and throw it on top of your ski rack for the drive home.
As far as lead shot, you're opening another bag of worms. The only way to keep scavengers from ingesting lead shot is too ban it. I'm sure they eat more lead from wounded and lost game than they ever will from finding someones gut piles. I can't count how many birds I've dusted and made feathers fall but the bird keeps on flying. I guarantee you these birds ended up as a coyote chicken dinner later that night. I know lead is bad for everything, but I'm in no hurry to stop using it.
As far as lead shot, you're opening another bag of worms. The only way to keep scavengers from ingesting lead shot is too ban it. I'm sure they eat more lead from wounded and lost game than they ever will from finding someones gut piles. I can't count how many birds I've dusted and made feathers fall but the bird keeps on flying. I guarantee you these birds ended up as a coyote chicken dinner later that night. I know lead is bad for everything, but I'm in no hurry to stop using it.