Limit/Possesion Limit/State boundaries

LoneRooster

LoneRooster

New member
I was wondering how possesion limits and daily bag limits are measured when you are potentially hunting in 2 different states one day. Does anyone have any insight to this? I will be in South Dakota next weekend and will likely hunt some public land in MN on the way out and the way back. .What happens if I get some birds in MN..does this effect my daily limit in SD and my possession limit?
 
We've had this discusson before on this site but I don't remember what the concensus was. It's probably not a bad idea to bring it up again. Might take a call to the MN DNR and SD GFP to clarify it.

I frequently hunt on the MN/SD border. So if I have 5 freshly harvested pheasants (2 shot in MN and 3 in SD) and I'm able to produce both a MN and a SD license am I okay??? :confused: Not that I would do it as I wouldn't want to take the chance.
 
I was thinking this very thing today as we are making similar plans. I was thinking of calling a CO when leaving a state to notify him of my bag.
 
We did this many times between Kansas and Nebraska. If you can find a weigh station, have the state employee give you a ticket for the number birds you are exporting into another state. Multiple crossing back and forth can cause trouble. I and my friend transported 24 sage grouse in the coolers into Nebraska from Wyoming, we got a surprised look from the game ranger at a check station. I assume he though we got them over the hill, another ranger I hunted with before, arrived and got a good laugh.
 
From my understanding of what I was told way back in the day, that you may have the higher number in your possession. I had asked a Federal GW about this when I was in college as we were chasing waterfowl on the border of MN/SD. That is what I was told. It may have changed but doubt it.

For example, SD 3 birds vs Mn 2 birds. I believe you are only allowed the 3 if traveling back and forth. Unless you got them on a preserve and they were tagged. Then those do not apply to your limits.
 
I can see where this could get to be a difficult situation for any CO that would stop you. It's putting a burden on the CO to determine when and where your birds were taken.

I called the GPF office here in Watertown this morning and talked to one of the CO's. I gave him the scenario of me driving over to Minnesota and shooting my MN limit of 2 birds and upon returning to Watertown I stop and shoot my SD limit of 3 birds. I now have 5 freshly taken birds in possession. His inital response was that while I was still okay on the possession limit I would still be considered over on the "daily bag limit". But to be certain he was going to talk to his supervisor and some other folks in the GFP and get me a better answer.

Might not hurt for someone from MN to call the DNR and ask the same question. What if you come over to SD and a one day hunt. You shoot your 3 birds and return to Minnesota. You get stopped in a game check and you have 3 freshly harvested roosters in possession and the MN daily bag limit is 2. How will they know where you shot the birds??? I think you could be in trouble for being over your daily bag limit.
 
Okay, got a call back from the CO here in Watertown. After he did some checking he said the conclusion was that as long as you are properly licensed in both state you could possess a daily limit for each state. We did not get into possession limits, just the daily bag limit.

This opinion is coming from the South Dakota GFP. How the Minnesota DRN would handle it has not been determined.
 
Good info George. I think if it was me I would call the local CO of what ever county I would be hunting in after I shot birds in another state and tell them what I was doing.
 
I have the same issues because I often hunt MN and IA on the same day. It was once mentioned to me that it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy something, (gas, soda, whatever) in the first state and get the receipt so at the very least you have some proof that you were indeed there prior to hunting in the 2nd state.
 
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I hunt along the ND/SD border every year. To clarify, I contacted both state's GF&P to get their opinion. If licensed in both states, you are allowed to take daily lmits in both states as well as posesson limits when going home. HOWEVER, both dept's recommended labeling the freezer bags with the date and state of the kill. As long as the bags were all dated/labeled, there should not be any problems.

Another way to avoid problems is to shoot the ND birds in the morning, clean/bag/label, and shoot the SD birds in the afternoon. That way, the birds shot first will be cold and easy to distinguish.
 
I also hunt both ND and SD in the same day. SDGFP told me to also add state licience # to each bird tag. Love mornings in ND.
 
thanks for all the information.. I thought of another good way to do this. If you have an Iphone you can take a picture of the bird.. the picture file holds the time and GPS location of where the picture was taken.. so technically you could take your picture of your game and have the information there to prove to an officer when and where the bird came from. Good to know you can have a limit of 2 MN birds and 3 SD birds in the same day. Thanks again everyone!
 
I used to take my daughter to North Dakota during MEA days off from school. ND usually opened the weekend before, so we would hunt those two days then swing down to South Dakota to hunt their opener on Saturday and Sunday. We bagged and marked our ND birds and did the same with our SD birds. Keep your licenses handy along with gas, motel and cafe receipts. We were checked only once and the CO was very wary of the situation, but let us go. He pressed me very hard about the siuation, but standing there was my 12 year old daughter. What could he really do? There is no black and white answer to doing this, but other than getting drilled with questions, it probably will not get you any tickets.
 
I used to do this quite a lot. Hunt pheasants in North Dakota for a few days then off to Montana. The birds I got in ND I cleaned and put in the cooler on ice. Then to Montana. I was checked a few times, with a valid ND license and and MT license there was never a problem.
Having over a limit of warm birds in either state even if it were all legal would most likely be a problem.
So clean and cool your birds before going across state lines to continue hunting the same species would be advisable.
 
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