What to legally do with a hen!

PTM said:
Their authority to randomly search is stronger on public lands, but not without suspicion.
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"Randomly search" sounds like a warrantless search to me.

PTM said:
You are protected against unreasonable search and seizure, don't be afraid to ask questions just because a TV show would lead you to believe that a Game Warden has super authority to do what he/she wants.
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If the wardens on "Wild Justice" could not do the warrantless searches they do, believe me, a defense lawyer would have their cases thrown out of court every time they went to trial. One of the people who got caught subject to a warrantless search tried that and was successful at the trial court level. The Calif. Supreme Court reversed the decision and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the plaintiffs case leaving the decision that wardens can in fact go through your stuff looking for fish or game without a warrant.

Here's the case description that you can use to find and read the details of the decision.

http://blogs.findlaw.com/california...review-of-game-warden-warrantless-search.html
 
wisturkeyhunter said:
I don't call the cops when I forget to put my blinker on and hold up traffic. I just try to not do it again.

I'm not going to call the game warden if I or my dogs ever kill a hen. I'll just try not to do it again.

I'm sure not going to do what I know is the wrong thing because I might get in a little trouble.
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Amen and well put.

It's surprising to me to read the posts of so many people that "throw it in the weeds" if their dog grabbed a hen or if they made a mistake. Tossing it away means you either don't value that bird at all or want to hide from a fine if you meet up with a warden.
 
519vx said:
It's also against the law to waste game. Do you make the call to the warden on the guy whose dog kills or who he himself shoots a hen and tosses it in the weeds?
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If you want to follow the letter of the the law, according to most CO's, you would turn yourself in. I don't find it any more noble to keep it when you know the odds are severely in your favor. I guess the question is would you keep it if you knew you would be caught. To me that is the only way to make it noble.
 
carptom1 said:
If you want to follow the letter of the the law, according to most CO's, you would turn yourself in. I don't find it any more noble to keep it when you know the odds are severely in your favor. I guess the question is would you keep it if you knew you would be caught. To me that is the only way to make it noble.
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Fair enough, but the questioned is answered when the hunter knows that hen possession isn't legal but puts the bird in his vest anyway do as not to let it go to waste. When the bird goes in the bag, that hunter knows they could run into a warden at anytime.

Sometimes you just have to do the right thing, even if there's the chance doing the right thing might get you the short end of the stick.
 
519vx said:
Sometimes you just have to do the right thing, even if there's the chance doing the right thing might get you the short end of the stick.
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Yep, it's not about the "letter of the law" for me. I'll do what my conscience dictates and let the other chips fall where they may.
 
wisturkeyhunter said:
I don't want to speak for 519vx but I personally took the original post as a situation where the hen is wounded or killed.

Tossing a wounded bird to avoid a ticket is a coward move in my opinion and yes I would call a game warden on somebody who tossed a hen but if they kept it and I thought it was an accident I'd let it go.
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You didn't speak for me, but our opinions agree 100%.
 
hens and waste

519vx said:
It's also against the law to waste game. Do you make the call to the warden on the guy whose dog kills or who he himself shoots a hen and tosses it in the weeds?
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interesting! it seems that no matter what or how, a hen in your hand is a violation and no way around it, yet, if you find a dead deer beside the road, you can make a simple phone call and then take the deer home, guess bigger is better. make sense??

cheers
 
wisturkeyhunter said:
I don't want to speak for 519vx but I personally took the original post as a situation where the hen is wounded or killed.

Tossing a wounded bird to avoid a ticket is a coward move in my opinion and yes I would call a game warden on somebody who tossed a hen but if they kept it and I thought it was an accident I'd let it go.
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What if your dog caught one that was shot by someone else?

I agree with you on if you or someone in your group shoots it that tossing it is wrong, but if I stumble upon one shot by someone else, I think I would probably leave it.
 
mustistuff said:
interesting! it seems that no matter what or how, a hen in your hand is a violation and no way around it, yet, if you find a dead deer beside the road, you can make a simple phone call and then take the deer home, guess bigger is better. make sense??cheers
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I guess it depends on the state. Here in Calif. I don't believe based on my experience that you can do that. Years ago I was hunting with a friend who was a DFG biologist. We found two deer that had been hit by a truck that morning and pretty much were blown up. He did a simple necropsy on the animals to determine if they were pregnant and then we took the carcasses up into the woods on a state wildlife area so any coyotes or bears could eat them w/o getting hit by a car. I took the left front legs from both deer as they were the only parts left that were edible from a human point of view.
I was stopped at the inspection station on entering Calif. again and because I had a visible ice chest I was asked to produce any game that I had in my possession. They were doing checks of all vehicles with hunters and fishermen. After some talk I received a ticket for having two deer out of season. I didn't complain or make an excuse and the warden and I agreed that he really had no choice to do anything else because he had no way to prove my story was true and even if it was it was still against the law. It cost me $200 at the time and I paid it w/o complaint. What I did was against the law but I don't know to this day if it was a crime but if it was I believe the old saying, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
By the way, the truck in front of me had a spike deer behind his front seat and the truck behind me had overlimits of kokanee. The warden told me that earlier that day they found a guy with a cut up horse. They'd taken the horse because he didn't have a bill of sale and there were no brands on it. Can't shoot wild horses.
Having a hen in most states is against the law but you have to decide if it's the result of a crime and if how you deal with it is also a crime. If you get a ticket, pay it w/o comment or complaint.
 
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I guess we answered this question as it was posted. LEAVE IT, if you shoot it, I would try not to retrieve. I do that with wounded waterfowl I come across, reason, I am not using steel shot! There is an assumption here that there is legal remedy to excuse errors. It is a case of apparent fact. It is not testimony, or here say. You have a hen in your processing, post facto, your guilty, period. Your good intentions are meaningless. So to respond to the original question as posed , leave it, or teach to dogs to only catch and retrieve roosters. I am amazed buy the questions which the answer has been drilled into everybody since they took up a gun. I have seen hens shot, I shot one myself many years ago, I still see it, ashamed about it, regret it, pointing a rooster, in an eruption of flushing birds, and was unaware of the hen behind, missed him, not that fortunate with the hen. I doubt any fine would make me feel more regrettable. If you are worried about LEGAL procedure, take a dead hen up to a game warden, and asked him! Sam Brownback, Gov. of Kansas, shot two turkeys with one shot, only problem is he was permitted for 1, ( he could have bought two tags, but did not). Called the game warden and had him site him for the illegal harvest. Fine $250.00, game warden said it was an "honest mistake". you might get the same thing if your convincing, or the gov. ....or you might have your guns, auto, impounded, your hunting rights revoked, have the relatives scrounge up bond, be shunned by your hunting buds because they got arrested too, because you put the hen in their car, and last but not least, be signed out to custody, by what is now your belligerent wife! :eek: ( I am sure it would not be that bad, but before you proceed, know what a guilty plea penalty might mean. Confession might be good for the soul, but might be hard to live with! As an aside, I read that some with take it with them attitude and IF they get ;)caught will own up to it? Does that mean if you get home Without getting caught, then it's fair game? Or are you willing to find a warden and plead guilty? My theory is that if you keep it you are benefiting from the harvest, without providing a compensating value, (ridicule, fine). Now what?
 
F.C. and I might be obtuse. But I'll still leave it, I also kept my head down in the foxhole, drive sober, with lights on, and not born last night either. I'll come give you cookies between the bars, take notes for your book,while you recount the fact you are innocent, ( after all, everybody else is)! :cheers:
 
wisturkeyhunter said:
I don't want to speak for 519vx but I personally took the original post as a situation where the hen is wounded or killed.

Tossing a wounded bird to avoid a ticket is a coward move in my opinion and yes I would call a game warden on somebody who tossed a hen but if they kept it and I thought it was an accident I'd let it go.
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oldandnew said:
F.C. and I might be obtuse. But I'll still leave it, I also kept my head down in the foxhole, drive sober, with lights on, and not born last night either. I'll come give you cookies between the bars, take notes for your book,while you recount the fact you are innocent, ( after all, everybody else is)! :cheers:
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No one is claiming innocence. Wisturkey, me, and a few others put more value on a pheasant than just tossing it in the weeds.
 
Is it illegal to kill a hen if you don't carry it out?

Is it unethical to waste game to avoid a ticket?

Is it ethical to realize a mistake and make the best of a bad situation?

I say yes, you guys don't have to agree. Ethics trump the law for me and although this situation hasn't happened to me I know what way I'll go.

Have a good Christmas guys, and hopefully we all get out and do some more hunting before the new year.
 
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captaincoot said:
My experience with hunters is their not real bright:eek: Thats why theres no wiggle room in the laws. You give a hunter an inch they'll take a mile. I'm a land owner I know this for a fact. Sad but true:( My dog is alway catching pheasant but they've alway been roosters:) He got three one year:eek: Think its because I hunt after heavy snows in heavy cover.
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Sure a good share are ignorant of the laws. This is an issue for those that hunt just a few days a year. ND saw this as a deterrent to keeping occasional hunters in the sport, thus they simplified laws where they could. Example: all game birds (waterfowl, upland, etc) have the same hunting hours. They were close to going all steel ....

Waterfowl hunting is especially complex to the new or infrequent hunter.

On the flip side there is a subset of hunters that know the rules well and do everything they can within the laws to get their limit. They will push the envelope on the basic inference of these laws to increase their success rate, get caught and win in court ... thus the government (ie FWS) has to create more laws .... guess it similar to the tax codes. ;)
 
pheasanthunt said:
I don't think this thread is for people that go out and shoot Hens for sport. I think its about people that shot one by mistake. And if you have never done that great. But after you hunt for 30 years, i am sure you will answer this question differently. Guys aren't advocating for the shooting of hens on this thread, some are just saying they have, and wish for some understanding. Rather than leaving the Hen in the field. Most hunters feel bad enough after they shoot a hen.
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It started as what to do with a hen your dog( CAUGHT ) ! Lol
 
goldenboy said:
Sorry boys, you have gotten way off track on this post! I asked about hens that were caught by the dog. Not shot by me or anyone else. Just flat out live wild birds, that dogs do catch from time to time. Sorry pointer guys that is the facts from us flusher guys. I know it is wrong to shoot wild hens and all the banter about that. I was just asking if someone has ever asked a warden if they had a hen, caught by a dog question and what they heard. I might look mister green jeans up soon and put the question to him.
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Yes golden boy it's a sad fact.......some of these pointer boys just can't read!:eek: Hmmmm maybe that's why the dogs have to show them exactly where the birds are?:rolleyes::cheers:
 
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