Just a friendly reminder about retrieving birds over the property line

KEOutdoors said:
Retrieve, but cant kill it on private land. Its written so you can follow a deer blood trail. If your animal is alive across the fence line, you cannot chase it down and kill it without permission. I suppose your dog going and getting a cripple then you killing it in the ditch is a gray area.
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Try reading the last paragraph on page 14 of the Iowa hunting regulations book, this might clear things up for you. Not any gray area here. If you're still confused, call the local game warden, they're usually very helpful.
 
Clear as mud, can I chase it down??? Bob's idea to ask a GW might be the best advice.....or retain the advice of your attorney! The rules will be subject the how the enforcers interpret them.


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Bob Peters said:
Try reading the last paragraph on page 14 of the Iowa hunting regulations book, this might clear things up for you. Not any gray area here. If you're still confused, call the local game warden, they're usually very helpful.
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It says you can pursue injured game onto private land, doesn't say you can kill it if you find it. Game warden is great advice, he is going to tell you the same thing i did. The regs say you can go after it and even catch it if its crippled, but you cannot kill an animal on private land even if you happend to wound it on public or land you have permission on. Like I've said a few times already though, i dont think many people will care if you do. Never know when you might accidentally send a runner across a bird lover's field and they call the law on you running out there and wringing its neck on their property. The bird made it to a safe area, you can go capture it unarmed but you cant kill it there. Its all semantics but thats how the law is written.
 
Iowa springerguy said:
Never said kill it on private land. You can retrieve a wounded pheasant and dispatch it at your vehicle. Dont know many people that ditch hunt deer.
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Well the ditch doesn't have anything to do with it honestly, is a property line. How many bow hunters do you know have a deer drop dead on the spot without running? If it crosses a property line you are in the same situation. You can track it (unarmed) onto private property, but if you find it alive you have to back out and contact the property owner for permission to finish it. Property owner can say no.
 
KEO you are reading way too much into the fine lines of the law. And you keep bringing up deer hunting which this is not. Deer hunting is the big one because in the past people have probably abused the law. Bottom line, I have talked to three different Iowa game wardens about this issue. I asked them, "If I'm on public property like a state wildlife management area, and I shoot a rooster over public land but he flutters over the property line and is crippled can I go get him?" They both said absolutely, leave your gun, but you can bring your dog, and go and get the bird. I was the one who started this post because I wanted to remind people to leave their gun on retrieving on private property. I follow the laws, really a stickler about them and safety as well. I read the reg books, I call wardens often on anything I don't understand. I am not going to hesitate on dispatching a wounded pheasant no matter where he is. I will not get in trouble for being ethical. I have talked to the wardens in the counties I hunt extensively about this issue, they have no problem with it. I'll go with their word over yours.
KEOutdoors said:
Game warden is great advice, he is going to tell you the same thing i did.
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See above, you are wrong here according to multiple game wardens interpretation of the law.
 
That is their discretion if they want to write a ticket on it if they encounter you doing it. When an angry property owner forces them to ticket, they will then tell you "well... technically......" And write the ticket, because that is how the law is written. Im telling you what the code says, if the wardens are saying different then that is on them. You may need a lawyer to hash this out in court some day, but I hope not because that sounds expensive and a waste of time.

I once had a game warden (I will NOT say who) tell me i could spread grain for dove hunting. It didnt sound right so i did some searching and found the actual law saying i could not, i then presented it to the officer and he said "well its my discretion and i would not write the ticket". I asked above him and was immediately told no and informed that the officer would be talked to asap.

Im talking deer hunting because the laws are for all animals, not just what you hunt. That seemed the most applicable way to open eyes and see it from a different viewpoint.. but i guess we are just stuck on pheasant hunting in a ditch for some reason. (The code says nothing about ditches or pheasants by the way, its property lines).
 
By the way you keep saying "go get him" that is exactly what the law says you can do. Retrieve your game, dead or injured. It does not give you permission to KILL IT on private land, and that is what i have been trying to tell you. You can go retrieve it, but you can't kill it on their property with your hands or your gun, without permission. Thats any animal, not just a rooster pheasant.

If its running around like a chicken with a broken wing and you chase it down and kill it with your dog on private property, and that person is a bird loving anti-hunter you are getting a ticket i can guarantee it. The officer is going to go to your defense, but that person is going to win because that is how the law is written. You can have your dog catch it and bring it back to the ditch/public property and kill it, if you can prove you did injure it first on public property and your dog isn't just catching birds on private.

Its a whole lot easier to ask permission and if they say no, call the warden to come and hash it out with you and the property owner.
 
KEO, you're really all over the map. You've been wrong enough where I really don't trust your opinions, or at least take them with a grain of salt. Instead of repeating the same thing over and over, why don't you post the actual statute, instead of repeating ad nauseum, "this is what the law says." When it comes to the game wardens discretion, I agree with you. But in this case 3 different wardens all had the same discretion, and let me remind you, none of them agreed with you. Me dropping a bird across property lines is rare, but when it does happen it's usually a barren ag field when hunting on the adjacent public. If I lawfully shoot one and it takes off running 5 feet over the line and my dog brings it back, I'm not going to tell the puppy "hold on let me call the landowner." Now if a wounded one beds down under a granny's bird bath behind the farm house, yes, I'll door knock and ask.
 
KEOutdoors said:
By the way you keep saying "go get him" that is exactly what the law says you can do. Retrieve your game, dead or injured. It does not give you permission to KILL IT on private land, and that is what i have been trying to tell you. You can go retrieve it, but you can't kill it on their property with your hands or your gun, without permission. Thats any animal, not just a rooster pheasant.

If its running around like a chicken with a broken wing and you chase it down and kill it with your dog on private property, and that person is a bird loving anti-hunter you are getting a ticket i can guarantee it. The officer is going to go to your defense, but that person is going to win because that is how the law is written. You can have your dog catch it and bring it back to the ditch/public property and kill it, if you can prove you did injure it first on public property and your dog isn't just catching birds on private.

Its a whole lot easier to ask permission and if they say no, call the warden to come and hash it out with you and the property owner.
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That's crazy.Call a warden over a pheasant? Nobody would do that.
 
gimruis said:
Retrieve a wounded bird and then dispatch it at your vehicle? What are you doing, blasting it again at point blank range? Wring its neck on the spot dude.
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No kidding. Like I'm going to torture the noblest of birds by carrying it a distance alive and afraid in my hands before ending it's misery . Never going to happen. The only guy doing that is the same one that calls the cops on himself when he accidentally shoots a hen or worse yet calls them when his dog catches one!
 
Kansas on the KDWP website:

Written permission is required to enter land posted with hunting and/or trapping by “Written Permission Only" signs, or land having trees or fence posts painted purple. Landowner permission should be obtained before pursuing wounded game onto private property. If you cannot find the landowner or get permission, contact your local natural resource officer.
 
westksbowhunter said:
Kansas on the KDWP website:

Written permission is required to enter land posted with hunting and/or trapping by “Written Permission Only" signs, or land having trees or fence posts painted purple. Landowner permission should be obtained before pursuing wounded game onto private property. If you cannot find the landowner or get permission, contact your local natural resource officer.
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Over a pheasant? Thats stupid dude.. go wring its neck on their property. 🙄
 
Bob, you already posted the code. But here it is. You can persue the game you injured onto private property (unarmed). Where in that subsection where i have "game" highlighted does it give you permission to kill the animal when your pursuit ends and you find it?

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MinnHunter said:
No kidding. Like I'm going to torture the noblest of birds by carrying it a distance alive and afraid in my hands before ending it's misery . Never going to happen. The only guy doing that is the same one that calls the cops on himself when he accidentally shoots a hen or worse yet calls them when his dog catches one!
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Damn right, some of us have more respect, ethics, and morals than others and it shows. Ill do me, you do you and we can move on.

I am not going to carry a rooster across the property to kill it in a ditch. Im going to do exactly what i suggested you all do earlier, im going to contact the land owner, get my bird, and often times make a new friend in the process. I am just telling you what the law says, and you can make fun of me for that all you want. I have thick skin and can take it, what you wont find me doing is sitting on my pc making fun of what rules others folllw on here.
 
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