Possible Lead shot Ban

It would seem natural for Game and Fish to change law and require non-tox all land with public access. What about Walk-Ins and other private lands open access programs? This proposal certainly has farther reaching implications.

I don't see where enforcement would be an issue.

I just looked up in game regs and you may currently use lead on walkins and CREP CRP ground

"Nontoxic Shot is required to hunt small game on most public lands. Lead shot may be used on private lands including private lands leased by GFP as Walk-In Areas and land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). See "Nontoxic Shot" under the General Laws section for more information."
 
UGUIDE said:
It would seem natural for Game and Fish to change law and require non-tox all land with public access. What about Walk-Ins and other private lands open access programs? This proposal certainly has farther reaching implications.

I don't see where enforcement would be an issue.

I just looked up in game regs and you may currently use lead on walkins and CREP CRP ground

"Nontoxic Shot is required to hunt small game on most public lands. Lead shot may be used on private lands including private lands leased by GFP as Walk-In Areas and land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). See "Nontoxic Shot" under the General Laws section for more information."
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What if a group of your hunters just got done hunting an area on private land using lead shot and on the way to the next location they see a group of roosters in the ditch. Do they pass them by or reload with steel?
 
haymaker said:
What if a group of your hunters just got done hunting an area on private land using lead shot and on the way to the next location they see a group of roosters in the ditch. Do they pass them by or reload with steel?
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Haymaker, I see no difference than if they were leaving private or road ditches now and going to hunt a public area. They got to reload and be compliant.
 
UGUIDE said:
Haymaker, I see no difference than if they were leaving private or road ditches now and going to hunt a public area. They got to reload and be compliant.
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I meant going from one private area to another private area and in beteen they come across a group of roosters in the ditch. They are just driving down the road a mile or two do they skip it, reload, or what.
 
Haymaker, If a tree falls in the forest and you have your gun loaded with lead shot, Can you here it fall? Apologies to Camus. I hope the answer to the ditch riddle is, that the hunters in question were not driving around with loaded guns in the car, surely illegal even in SD, whether they load up with steel or lead, would make little difference. If I happened to be those hunters,I'd slow down and watch the birds, and then proceed to my next hunting area, as I have done countless times in many states. For one thing a rooster in the ditch which sees you, is not often a rooster in the bag, for another I think it's poor form. Now if I pushed that rooster across a section and he seeks refuge in the ditch,in the last bit of cover between the open road and flight, with my dog on point, then I see that as entirely different.
 
IMO road hunting in any form isn't hunting anyway. That is unless you are disabled and can't get out and actually hunt. In my experience most road hunters are lazy and more interested in driving around drinking beer than actually getting out and hunting and working dogs. If I offended any one I didn't mean to, but this is my experience.
 
I am not saying it is smart or safe, but in SD you can have a loaded gun in your vehicle. My shotgun is never unloaded during the season. There isn't one in the chamber, but there are still shells in the gun. It is true with most SD residents. The majority of people hunting ditches/section lines in SD are residents. They are hunting the ditches because pay to play operations have left them with little other options as far as hunting. When someone is walking ditches and hunting behind their dog it is still hunting. Road hunting and walking ditches are two seperate things, although both are legal is SD. I would argue that walking a section line/road next to a fence line is almost perfect for a single hunter and dog. When the crop is gone on the field side, roosters will hold pretty well in the cover provided by the ditch. Big areas are hard to hunt with one guy and a dog.
 
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oldandnew said:
Haymaker, If a tree falls in the forest and you have your gun loaded with lead shot, Can you here it fall? Apologies to Camus. I hope the answer to the ditch riddle is, that the hunters in question were not driving around with loaded guns in the car, surely illegal even in SD, whether they load up with steel or lead, would make little difference. If I happened to be those hunters,I'd slow down and watch the birds, and then proceed to my next hunting area, as I have done countless times in many states. For one thing a rooster in the ditch which sees you, is not often a rooster in the bag, for another I think it's poor form. Now if I pushed that rooster across a section and he seeks refuge in the ditch,in the last bit of cover between the open road and flight, with my dog on point, then I see that as entirely different.
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I have seen that happen many times a year. Like wirehairs said my shotgun has shells in the magazine all season long and then some.
 
Well Boys now I'm speechless, I can understand shells in the magazine, Brownings have a cut-off just for that purpose, but actually loaded, with a shell in the chamber? legal? Gives all new meaning to road hunting, hell why even get out of the car and risk a wild flush, just shoot out the car window. Cradle your bottle of "old stump blower between your knees, (surely if you can drive around with a loaded gun, what does a open container hurt) cradle your shotgun on your lap, no need for a dog, if there's two of you, you can hunt both sides of the road at the same time, and point your loaded guns at each other! Might want to put cotton in your ears. If the road is muddy, a guy could rut hell out of the road while he's at it, sure to endear himself to the locals. I shudder to think. No wonder we have landowner-hunter problems.
 
The only reason I can see to have a shell in the chamber inside the truck is if you are intending to shoot out the window or to jump out and shoot as soon as your feet hit the ground. That really sounds like a lot of fun.lol
I do a lot of pheasant hunting by myself and almost all I hunt are big patches of grass. I actually do better in big patches than small ones as they get less hunting pressure.
The only shooting I do out of my vehicle or off of the road is with my camera. I don' t have a problem with guys parking their vehicle and walking road ditches and hunting them if thats what they want to do. I do have a problem with road hunting slobs. I caught an old guy pot shooting quail out the window last winter. I am sure he wishes I didn't have the sherriff on speed dial in my phone.
 
haymaker said:
I meant going from one private area to another private area and in beteen they come across a group of roosters in the ditch. They are just driving down the road a mile or two do they skip it, reload, or what.
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Good question and my initial thought is that when their feet hits the ground to legally shoot the bird they better have all steel on their person and in their gun.
 
oldandnew said:
Well Boys now I'm speechless, I can understand shells in the magazine, Brownings have a cut-off just for that purpose, but actually loaded, with a shell in the chamber? legal? Gives all new meaning to road hunting, hell why even get out of the car and risk a wild flush, just shoot out the car window. Cradle your bottle of "old stump blower between your knees, (surely if you can drive around with a loaded gun, what does a open container hurt) cradle your shotgun on your lap, no need for a dog, if there's two of you, you can hunt both sides of the road at the same time, and point your loaded guns at each other! Might want to put cotton in your ears. If the road is muddy, a guy could rut hell out of the road while he's at it, sure to endear himself to the locals. I shudder to think. No wonder we have landowner-hunter problems.
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Do you want to read that again? Wirehairs stated not one in the chamber, I stated the magazine. It is not quite right to make things up.
 
Haymaker, I did read the post quite literally! I didn't make up anything. It was stated that "Carrying a loaded gun in a car, is legal", not smart, but legal. It did not say there couldn't be a round in the chamber. The fact that you and Wirehairs are smart enough to refrain from that is a given. I doubt that sense is shared by everyone else. So what is the law? Loaded means loaded, if the law says limited to magazines only, that's different and not what was said. I have not researched this, but I would guess the law is silent on the issue, leaving definition of "loaded", both figuratively and literally to the interpretation of some folks with the IQ of a turnip. Sounds like lead shot or steel, to road hunt or not, are just a few of the challenging issues involved.
 
Curiosity compelled me to look up the citation of SD law for firearms transported in cars. The assumption of legality is based upon an "unofficial" opinion by the SD attorney general, on Sept. 17, 2004. Which says briefly, that it is legal to carry a loaded gun, meaning ready to fire, in a vehicle, as long as the gun is not concealed. As was stated maybe not smart, but not illegal. I stand by my previous statements.
 
I see cops driving around with loaded guns all the time! One in the chamber too:D:D
--1pheas4
 
oldandnew said:
Curiosity compelled me to look up the citation of SD law for firearms transported in cars. The assumption of legality is based upon an "unofficial" opinion by the SD attorney general, on Sept. 17, 2004. Which says briefly, that it is legal to carry a loaded gun, meaning ready to fire, in a vehicle, as long as the gun is not concealed. As was stated maybe not smart, but not illegal. I stand by my previous statements.
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I have always believed that it was not legal to have a shell in the chamber. I can not find anything that says I am right on that. I will ask our local game warden and see what he has to say. I suppose that would be tough to enforce as it would be easy to remove the shell if the situation would arise. You are talking about the law, Wirehairs and I were talking about personal policy. Shooting out the window is illegal.
 
A gun without one in the tube is nothing but a worthless pipe. At least that was what the old crusty sheriff taught us.
 
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Shooting out the window at pheasants and big game is illegal, but it is legal to shoot out the window at coyotes, badgers, raccoons, rodents, jackrabbits, and fox.

I know some of you on this board know what the section lines in some parts of SD are like. For those of you who don't, you would never guess it was a road. They are just a path in the clay between sections. I have taken many guys down section lines and they think we are just driving across a pasture or going between fields on a field road. Basically the 66 ft where sections meet are public right of way if there is a trail there. This is where banning lead in the right of way becomes a problem. Example I am hunting private land and own both sides of the right of way. As I am walking to the food plot planted on the other side of the right of way, My dog points some rooster in the right of way. I shoot the birds with lead shot. Still on my property that I pay taxes on, but in the right of way. If lead shot is banned in the right of way, I have now broken a game law. So I would then own 66 foot wide strips of land that I would have to use steel shot on. Doesn't make much sense to me.
 
Wirehairs said:
Shooting out the window at pheasants and big game is illegal, but it is legal to shoot out the window at coyotes, badgers, raccoons, rodents, jackrabbits, and fox.

I know some of you on this board know what the section lines in some parts of SD are like. For those of you who don't, you would never guess it was a road. They are just a path in the clay between sections. I have taken many guys down section lines and they think we are just driving across a pasture or going between fields on a field road. Basically the 66 ft where sections meet are public right of way if there is a trail there. This is where banning lead in the right of way becomes a problem. Example I am hunting private land and own both sides of the right of way. As I am walking to the food plot planted on the other side of the right of way, My dog points some rooster in the right of way. I shoot the birds with lead shot. Still on my property that I pay taxes on, but in the right of way. If lead shot is banned in the right of way, I have now broken a game law. So I would then own 66 foot wide strips of land that I would have to use steel shot on. Doesn't make much sense to me.
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Bingo. That pretty well sums it up.
 
haymaker said:
Counter offer. How about if we agree to start hunting at the road and walk away from the road so that we are shooting in the other direction. That way we won't hit the road hunters that are waiting for the ones we miss.
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I have thought this over, in this situation, rather than a road hunter, I prefer the term "unotherized blocker". It would not work for me anyway, seeing as how I like my pheasant, on the ground, standing still.
 
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