Railroad tracks

B

Bob Peters

Well-known member
I'm just wondering about the history on hunting railroad tracks. It was legal back in the day, and now it seems it isn't? I heard it had something to do with 9 11. Is it a national law or state by state. Any info, history, or stories appreciated.
 
RR track right of ways are controlled by the RR, and understandably they don't want anyone other than their employees on their land for liability reasons.

It was never legal to hunt RR tracks, at least in Minn where I grew up and here in ND. It was just that nobody cared in the 60s & 70s, and even not so much in the 80s. Back in the day, RR track right of ways were the answer to a hunting prayer for kids whose only modes of transportation were foot or bike.

I moved to ND in the early 80s and never had an issue walking into private land on the tracks or hunting along the RR bed. By the 90s the RR was paying more attention to this issue. Where before if a work crew passed on the tracks they would just wave, by about 1997 or so they would actually stop and tell a guy to vamoose.

My response was to walk in on the tracks as quickly as I could, then make sure I was unquestionably on the adjacent private land where I had blanket permission to hunt or walk if a service truck approached. Not much anybody could do about that as it was obviously possible to get where I was going by walking on the private land, albeit much more work...
 
Last edited:
Labs said:
RR track right of ways are controlled by the RR, and understandably they don't want anyone other than their people on their land for liability reasons.

It was never legal to hunt RR tracks, at least in Minn where I grew up and here in ND, it was just that nobody cared in the 60s & 70s, and even not so much in the 80s. Back in the day, RR track right of way were the answer to a hunting prayer for kids whose only modes of transportation were foot or bike.

I moved to ND in the early 80s and never had an issue walking into private land on the tracks or hunting along the RR bed. By the 90s the RR was paying more attention to this issue. Where before if a work crew passed on the tracks they would just wave, by about 1997 or so they would actually stop and tell a guy to vamoose.

My response was to walk in on the tracks as quickly as I could, then make sure I was unquestionably on the adjacent private land where I had blanket permission to hunt or walk if a service truck approached. Not much anybody could do about that as it was obviously possible to get where I was going by walking on the private land, albeit much more work...
Click to expand...
Labs nailed it.
 
Agree with Labs. On a side note about RR tracks, my dad always joked that it would be a pretty great way to hunt if you could find and put one of those old manual pump style carts on the tracks and slowly ride your way down the tracks with your shotgun. Pheasants wouldnt know what hit them.
 
roosterrouster said:
Explain Nugent. I have been told (Iowa) that you cannot (legally...) even though I did in my younger days...
Click to expand...
Concur. Not legal to go on RR owned land in any state I've hunted or lived, and they will not give written permission.
 
I think some explaining needs to be done here. Are you guys talking about literally walking on the tracks and hunting? Pheasants don't live on wood and steel tracks. And if there's one there, they'll see you coming from way to far to get a shot off.
 
The ditches on each side of the railroad tracks can offer fantastic cover.

Long time ago you could walk railroad tracks (or the edge of the tracks) and let the dog work the cover ... If a train was coming you just moved down to the property line. (This was 30+ years ago and I only tried pheasant hunting a couple times where cover was heavy ... it worked). I pass shot geese off certain railroad tracks often (again 30 years ago or more).

There was one state (maybe MN) that thought about developing retired track as hunting areas ... similar to all the bicycle pathways now in place.
 
Typically RR either own the land the tracks are on or they have a easement to cross that land from the landowner. Either way it would be private land requiring permission to hunt the RR ROW. RR don't not grant permission because of liability.
 
gimruis said:
I think some explaining needs to be done here. Are you guys talking about literally walking on the tracks and hunting? Pheasants don't live on wood and steel tracks. And if there's one there, they'll see you coming from way to far to get a shot off.
Click to expand...
No, the land on either side of the tracks.
 
BRITTMAN said:
The ditches on each side of the railroad tracks can offer fantastic cover.

Long time ago you could walk railroad tracks (or the edge of the tracks) and let the dog work the cover ... If a train was coming you just moved down to the property line. (This was 30+ years ago and I only tried pheasant hunting a couple times where cover was heavy ... it worked). I pass shot geese off certain railroad tracks often (again 30 years ago or more).

There was one state (maybe MN) that thought about developing retired track as hunting areas ... similar to all the bicycle pathways now in place.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the old Milwaukee line is excellent.
 
I read today on the MN DNR webpage, when looking at a piece of public dnr hunting land, it is directly prohibited to cross the railroad tracks that cut through a corner of the property, even though it's public on both sides. I wonder if the game warden would give people a ticket for this on his own, or only if the RR called and complained.
 
Bob Peters said:
I read today on the MN DNR webpage, when looking at a piece of public dnr hunting land, it is directly prohibited to cross the railroad tracks that cut through a corner of the property, even though it's public on both sides. I wonder if the game warden would give people a ticket for this on his own, or only if the RR called and complained.
Click to expand...
Seeing how it says in the dnr publication not to cross I would say the game warden would be in his rights to write a ticket w/o RR complaint.
 
Bob Peters said:
I read today on the MN DNR webpage, when looking at a piece of public dnr hunting land, it is directly prohibited to cross the railroad tracks that cut through a corner of the property, even though it's public on both sides. I wonder if the game warden would give people a ticket for this on his own, or only if the RR called and complained.
Click to expand...
To me that's such a grey area that unless you were being a D-Bag to the warden, he wouldn't give you much more than a warning. I consider myself a pretty law abiding citizen (especially when it comes to hunting laws) but I would cross that RR track everyday of the week and not feel bad about it one bit. If I got caught, so be it.

Ive never trespassed knowingly or purposefully (I've realized after a hunt that "shit, I crossed into private" when there's no signage, fence, etc dictating a border) but I hate seeing public land that's inaccessible.

It reminds me of when I got into an argument with a land owner who thought I was trespassing once. It was a piece of public that met at a back corner with some private land. One of those "step over the corner" types. The landowner basically wanted to say there's an imaginary line going up to the sky and there's no way I could cross his fence to jump the corner of the boundary to the public. I would never go onto his land to hunt. But I will hop his corner.
 
Depending on state laws properties that only touch by corners you can not legally cross because of the "imaginary" property lines that do go vertically. Similar to a tree who's branches extend over your property but the stem is on your neighbor's property. Depending on your state laws you can trim the branches that hang over your property. By the letter of the law trespassing is trespassing whether you hop the corner or hunt the land without permission. Does it make sense maybe not, just like a speed limit, you make the choice whether or not to follow but don't bitch if you get a ticket for violating.
 
Munster927 said:
To me that's such a grey area that unless you were being a D-Bag to the warden, he wouldn't give you much more than a warning. I consider myself a pretty law abiding citizen (especially when it comes to hunting laws) but I would cross that RR track everyday of the week and not feel bad about it one bit. If I got caught, so be it.

Ive never trespassed knowingly or purposefully (I've realized after a hunt that "shit, I crossed into private" when there's no signage, fence, etc dictating a border) but I hate seeing public land that's inaccessible.

It reminds me of when I got into an argument with a land owner who thought I was trespassing once. It was a piece of public that met at a back corner with some private land. One of those "step over the corner" types. The landowner basically wanted to say there's an imaginary line going up to the sky and there's no way I could cross his fence to jump the corner of the boundary to the public. I would never go onto his land to hunt. But I will hop his corner.
Click to expand...
Yep.Me too!!
 
A older gentleman told me about pheasant hunting railroad tracks.On the pheasant opener,he and his friends would walk six miles of railroad tracks between two small towns that were 6 miles apart. They would leave rosters at every mile by the railroad crossing signs.Older people from these two owns would drive out and pick up the birds to take home and eat.
 
spoonbill82 said:
A older gentleman told me about pheasant hunting railroad tracks.On the pheasant opener,he and his friends would walk six miles of railroad tracks between two small towns that were 6 miles apart. They would leave rosters at every mile by the railroad crossing signs.Older people from these two owns would drive out and pick up the birds to take home and eat.
Click to expand...
There are places where the Milwaukee is real good.They dont care.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top