Rules Concerning Hunting and Fishing

Fishing and hunting has been existent since the pre-historic times. It later evolved as a favorite pass time for the aristocracy and later developed into a highly restricted kind of sport. Today, it is not possible to hunt at anyplace you like. You need to get permission from the appropriate officials. Even if you get permission to hunt or fish, there are certain restrictions there too. For example, you cannot hunt an animal or a bird that is facing extinction. Despite such restrictions, even today, people see hunting as the best method to provide their families with some fresh food.

 

As far as hunting is concerned there are certain rules and regulations that every hunter needs to follow. These rules have been imposed in order to protect our environment and the ecological diversity that maintains a perfect balance between living and non-living organisms. The rules also help preserve the natural resources that people need in order to fulfill their daily needs. Each nation and every state has its own particular codes for hunting, which a hunter needs to follow. Failure to follow these rules might result in fines and jail sentences.

 

First of all, all hunters are required to carry hunting licenses. Every nation and every state will have its own Natural Resource Department, to which all hunters must be registered. Even if you have a written permission to hunt, it is not permissible to hunt anywhere you like. There are certain limitations when it comes to hunting, to which all hunters must abide by. The Natural Resource Department is the institution which grants hunting passes to individuals on a random basis. In addition to the rules concerning hunting, there are also certain safety regulations which hunters must follow as a means of protection from animals and other hunting related dangers.

 

Like hunting, fishing too has certain rules binding it. Since fishing is a very profitable commercial enterprise, there are people who try to enter the scenario illegally. For example a tuna fish could bring thousands of dollars for the person who caught it. This will naturally cause an increasing rise in tuna fishing, which is good as far as the consumer is considered. But there is a flipside to this, which is, when the rate of fishing increases, there will be a relative fall in the fish population in a particular location. It is precisely for the protection of fish population that commercial fishing laws were introduced.

 

The National Marine Services, which is the prime fishing body in the United States, have set forward certain rules which fisher folks must follow. There are rules concerning fishing permits, vessel permits, and rules concerning the particular type of fish that people fish for. In addition to the National Marine Services, there are also certain regional councils that have set up their own rules and regulations in fishing. The federal government too has imposed certain rules concerning sea limits for fishing and safety equipment that fisher folks should carry in case of accidents caused due to bad weather.

 

 

 

Hunting and Fishing – Is It Your Favorite Sport?

Hunting is the act of pursuing any living organism for the purpose of food, recreation or trade. Lawful hunting is different from poaching. The former refers to hunting animals that are legally approved, whereas the latter refers to killing, capturing or trapping animals that are contrary to applicable laws. Poaching can also include hunting in illegal areas or killing animals that are endangered and thus ought to be protected.

 

Hunting is also sometimes referred to as game. Trapping is a different terminology altogether and is quite different from hunting. While hunting can involve killing of the animal, trapping may be for other purposes like photography or close observation. The act of hunting has a very early history with the Paleolithic man hunting down his food. Initially, early men used to hunt down herbivores animals and consumed them as food. Later, they began to hunt down large animals and eat them too.

 

With the invention of fire, the flesh of animals were cooked and fried before consuming. This was a mammoth step towards civilization. In fact early men were often termed as hunters because they always hunt down animals for food and the skin of animals were used as clothes to protect them from cold. They also possessed many tools to help them capture animals.

 

This included spears, bows and arrows etc. later; they began taming and domesticating animals. Wild dogs were captured and tamed and were used as pets. Today, hunting and shooting has been regulated by many laws. Many people consider hunting as a recreation and choose places for hunting. Government specifies that only licensed pistols and rifles can be used for hunting. Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish.

 

There are different techniques for catching fish and these include hand gathering, spearing, netting and trapping. Fishing is a term applied to catching aquatic animals. Fishing too, as an activity dates back to the Paleolithic period. Primitive man used fish as a source of food. They also used its bones for paintings and creating small and attractive show pieces for their homes. A traditional method of fishing is by using a fishing hook or a rod. A fishing line is a long pole with a hook in its end.

 

Bait in the form of a small worm or a small fish is often attached to the hook and inserted into the water. This method of fishing requires patience as the fisherman has to wait until a fish gnaws at the bait and then pull the rod up. Today, fishing is done as recreation, livelihood and a commercial activity. Big fishing vessels are involved in large scale fishing.

 

Moreover, fishing industry also involves packing, storing, and canning of different variety of fishes. Big game fishing involves catching large and heavy fishes like sharks, and marlins. Fishing as a recreation is pursued by people more for pleasure and competitions. Such people often register with recreational fishing groups and fish in remote areas of the sea. There are many regulations that govern the activities of such groups.

What age to introduce hunting?

Taking kids hunting is a great thing, but thats how you should look at it: “I’m taking junior hunting”, not “Junior is going hunting with me.” They set the pace, and when they wanna go home, go home. If you head to the field with the expectation that you are going to have a typical day’s hunting, you are going to have a bad attitude and a budding anti on the way home. I taught my son how to shoot at the age of four (air rifle) and took him deer hunting at six, him with his own .357mag carbine with custom stock. The day he really first totaly enjoyed hunting, all day, no complaints, no wanting to go home, he was nine and we were squirrel hunting.

 

We both got the limit, and he shot about 200 rounds of 22′s and we had a real ball, laughing and cutting up while we hunted. We were at the Jeep, cleaning the tree rats when he looked up at me with a bit of blood on his cheek and said : Dad, it doesn’t get any better than this . Well that was 14 years ago and when I think of it ,I get this good felling inside of that day. He has never been in trouble and I believe its because of that one day, when he truly feel in love with hunting. Now he makes a good living in the hunting industry and hunting is only second to his wife (who Hunts with him) and his step child.

 

I’ll never regret teaching him when he was very young about the hunting sport. Last year my 4 year old daughter wanted very much to go deer hunting with me. I tried to explain that we (my cousin and I) hunted all day and she might get cold and very tired. She was not easily dissauded – in fact she would not be talked out of it – not no way – not no how. Fact is she asked Grandma if she would watch her “’cause Dad says I can go hunting for a couple hours but all day would be too cold and too tired for me.” So Opening Day was cool, windy and generally unpleasant and she stayed in with Grandma all day (we did not see a single deer anyway which is way depressing on Opening Day).

 

The next morning my cousin and I went out early again whilst she slept in a bit. After seeing some deer I went back up to get her and thus fulfill my promise to let her come hunting with me for a couple hours (so she would not get too cold nor too tired). She was so very happy and excited she could not keep from asking a jillion questions despite my prior instructions to be perfectly quiet when we got close to the woods and in the woods. Inside of a half hour on stand (sitting up but snuggled down inside a sleeping bag to keep warm) she got to witness my cousin and I both fill our anterless tags inside of a minute of each other. She loved it and remains excited about hunting.

Which Choke Tubes to Use for Duck Hunting?

This will be my first duck hunt with interchangable choke tubes (used to have a Remmington 870 Express). I have upgraded to a Benelli M1 Super 90, 28″ barrell with several choke tubes. The hunting situation will be as follows: 35 yards maximum distance between the ducks and my gun, and no-lead shot is required.

 

Also is there a recommended size shot (ex. BB, T’s, 2, 4, etc.) with this gun that anyone might know of? I hunt in Southern Michigan FWIW. I would definitely use your modified choke. I assume that you are hunting over decoys and you will get a great shot which will call for a pattern that will not put too many bbs in the meat but will drop the bird. I always use modified and have never had any trouble. It might be a different situation if you have passing shots at a greater length.

 

Just make sure that you wait long enough for the ducks to cup in to your decoy spread. Steel shot patterns much tighter then lead so I like to use improved- cylnder for ducks and modified for geese. I use 1 & 1/4 oz. of 2′s or 1 & 3/8 oz. of 1′s for ducks. T’s only have about 56 pellets per shell which is way too few for ducks IMHO. I don’t even like them for geese because too often you only put 1 or 2 pellets in the bird and it flies off to die somewhere.

Things to Consider While Renting Hunting Land and Equipment

Anyone who is so poor a h unter he has to resort to baiting ought to just go buy a sheep and shoot it in the backyard. Better tie it to a tree first. I have been reading all this stuff about Texas land leasing and I have a question- Does the state of Texas give any incentive to land owners to allow people to hunt? Here in Wyoming the state pays land owners for each animal taken from their property. The state applies some pressure on land owners if they are filing large property damages and not letting people hunt by limiting the damage claims that they can file for.

 

Also find it interesting how this topic works in other parts of the country. Here where there is alot of public land (1/2 the state, about the size of NY state) there is quite a bit of leased land. But most of this is by private out of state clubs. I personally don’t know of anyone who has paid to hunt as most of the hunting I do is on public lands, but I have hunted on private land and have not paided anything.

 

One thing though is that land owners will charge out of state hunters a “trespass” fee, but when they see that you are a resident (see the bucking bronco on the licence plate) they will let you on their land for free, (just make sure that you give them your land owners tag which they can turn into the state for money). I guess this happens because there is only 450,000 people in the state and as a result everyone knows everyone else to some extent- “do you know so and so?” or “shoot the bull” about whats going on in the state. So how do I feel about land leases for hunting? I personally wouldn’t do it, but then again I have options.

 

What if I lived in (gulp) Texas, (no flames, just a little humor) well I guess I would do what is normal there to do, and if I didn’t like the quality of the hunt experience I would probably quit. I wouldn’t blame the land owner, I feel that if you own the land you should be able to control who is on it for whatever reason.I have been reading about lease hunting and am reminded of one farmer I know. In the lease for agricultural land it is spelled out in writing that “neither the land owner nor the tenant shall give permission for hunting nor shall either part permit any hunting to occur”.

 

Furthermore the state game officer has seen the lease and knows this restriction will be enforced by both the landowner and tenant. The land incidentally is rolling pasture, woodland, and general cropland and is 1/4 mile from a state park. I have seen as many as many as 16 deer jump the fence in a group. What are the reasons for this restriction; fear of liability should a hunter hurt him or herself, damage done by inept hunters, value of the registered cattle, and general poor attitude of hunters with respect to landowner’s right.

 

The landowner has said that hunting will be allowed when the deer do more damage than the trespassing hunters have done. The latest incident involved a neighbor who was first seen climbing on top of large round bales (it breaks the thatch and allows water in to spoil the bales) and jumping from one bale to another with a loaded shotgun. Twenty feet from him was the herd of registered cattle. He was talked to and said he was chasing a deer he had shot on land he had permission to hunt. He was ordered off the bales and off the property (this was via a hunting partner with a radio).

 

The deer had been seen by the landowner in binoculars. The deer was unable to jump fences because of the wounds and the deer was two fields away from the land he claimed he was hunting. Only because it was a neighbor prevented the game warden from being called. The trespassers was ordered off the land. Another hunter in the area (in his 70′s with arthritis) who had not gotten his deer yet was called and euthanized the deer. He was the one who tagged the deer and kept the meat. The landowner was offered some meat but was so angry about the whole situation that refused any. What does lease hunting do.

 

Does it provide written records of who has permission to hunt the land for game officers? Does it lay out standards of behavior and liability of the parties ? Does it provide some compensation to the landowner for the hassles of hunters and lost cropland being preserved for gameland ? Does it make up for the hassles of the landowner for having to own blaze orange clothing even if they do no hunting nor allow any. Remember the landowner is the one who pays the taxes on the land. On the question of who does the game belong to once it jumps the fence, I’ve seen that landowner order people off the land who were unarmed but were just across the fence from people hunting adjacent land. The game belongs to whatever land it is on at the time and not to the landowner. However the landowner owns the land and he can restrict access in any way the landowner desires including total barring.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Hunting Leases

If you really want to end up with no hunting for anyone except the well-h eeled, the way to do it the fastest is to allow hunting leases. Pretty soon th ere won’t be any other kind of land available, and only clubs and people with m oney will be able to hunt. That’s the way it is in England and Ireland and Ger many, thanks to hunting leases. Want that here? Then keep on allowing and enco uraging the selling of public property for private gain.

 

If you want to have a ccess to hunting for your kids and grandkids, the way to do it is to tell lando wners they can’t charge lease fees for hunting native game species, and more th an they can go out into the public parks, pick flowers, and sell them at the fl orists shops. WRT to the TP&WD’s charging of fees for hunting on some land, I have no problem with that. They are the appointed stewards of the game, and they can set what rules they think best in given areas.

 

They are most certainly NOT a “private agency” in any sense of the word. They are authorized to make some money to su pport their operations, which benefit all of the state’s game populations. Nor does my censure extend to people who sell exotoc games, e.g., the Y-O Ranch . Exotics are livestock, like cattle, which native species are not. And to pr ove that that is the case, most exotic game ranches have some sort of control t o keep their herds from wandering away.

 

Exotic game ranchers pay out of pocket for their kudus, blackbucks, and so forth, and they charge whatever they want to shoot them, with my blessing. But they don’t put a single darn penny into n ative game species beyond what everyone else does in tax dollars and license fe es, and it’s indefensible to allow them to get the value of those deer and put it into their pockets. People who have put up with the lease hunting scam all their lives are so brain washed they can’t see the truth: they’re being robbed.

 

Hunters in other areas had better wake up before it happens to them. If you really LIKE spending the price of a new rifle EVERY YEAR to go deer hunting, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to tell you about. Okay, enough on that subject. Here’s another one to get you riled up: the wide spread practice in Texas and many other Southern states of shooting animals ove r baits is not ethical hunting. In fact, I would argue that putting out an oil drum full of feed with a clockwork mechanism to dump it on the ground and then shooting the critters when they come for their evening meal is not even huntin g. Baiting is illegal in most states, and here in Virginia will get you a stif f fine and/or a jail term, which is as it should be.

Hunting on a private land

You wishing to hunt on private land or a hunting lease is you wanting to legally trespass on the land in question. The landowner is not selling anything but the right to trespass on the land under his(her) control. In effect you are paying a trespass fee, nothing more. The issue of the landowner owning or selling game or hunting rights is moot. The landowner does not own the game or hunting rights, just the land.

 

All of the arguments in favor of lease hunting are based on the idea that the l andowner owns the game on his land. If that’s true, are you prepared to argue that when it moves off his land it’s no longer his? Whose is it then? The next landowner’s? Our Texas correspondent says Texas law asserts the deer belongs to the state, and he’s correct. If that’s the law, how can the landowner own i t? If he doesn’t own it, how can he legally sell it?

 

The idea that TP&W suppor ts lease hunting is ludicrous; they don’t actively oppose it because it’s so lu cratuve to so many people that they would instantly lose their authority and fu nding if they argued against it. They are an arm of the state government, and the Texas government isn’t about to make enemies of really rich and powerful l andowners. TP&W (and in other states, the equivalent agencies) keep their mout hs shut because they know what will happen if they don’t. Sure, there are hunting leases in other states, and the spread of them is evide nce that the practice, because it means income, is going to continue to be popu lar.

Hunting in the Past Time

In much of America, up until recently, hunting was a popular pastime for all classes, from blue-collar manufacturing workers in the Rust Belt to aristocratic land-owners in the West. That tradition is under attack now from all sides. Forces in the government regularly propose eliminating non-hunting arms and disarming of the “unwashed masses.” Animal rights activities prey on the misconceptions of a public ignorant of hunting.

 

The lack of inexpensive, public lands, with quality hunting experiences available for all, does great damage to America’s hunting tradition. As hunters, we are engaged in a political struggle to maintain our sport. We are a minority, albeit a strong one thanks to the NRA. However, we should attempt to increase the participation of the general (voting]) public in our pastime. The way to do this is not to restrict quality hunting experiences to the upper classes, as has been done, with disastrous effect, in Europe.

 

Whether or not you can afford leased hunting–even if you are a land-owner who makes a good profit off of leased hunting–as a hunter, you have a vital interest in protecting the egalitarian tradition of hunting in this country. If we don’t promote hunting for all, powerful political forces in this country may just achieve their goal: Hunting for NONE. As it relates to hunting, lease hunting or hunting on private property is not the landowner selling game or the right to hunt game on his(her) land.

Hunting as an elitist tradition

In most of Europe, hunting has an elitist tradition. (No offense to European hunters, but the fact remains that the non-affluent population has virtually no chance of hunting as a frequent pastime, right?) Also in Europe, firearms ownership is generally a privilege extended by the State to the individual at the State’s discretion. I have also noted anecdotally that animal rights activists have enjoyed more success against hunting in Europe than in America.

 

I believe there is a common thread here, and I’ll even go out on a limb and suggest that there is _causality_ here. First, hunting is limited to a select group of people, the upper classes. Next, draconian gun control comes along to limit the access of the lower and middle class to firearms, to some extent under the guise of: “The only legitimate use of firearms is hunting and God knows the unwashed masses can’t do that anyway.” (Is this starting to sound familiar to anyone?)

 

Finally, with the politically insignificant hunter constituency hoisted by its own petard, the AR people come along and start on the death blows. Viola, hunting as a sport is endangered in Europe. Our European friend, Mr. Spencer, has posted to this effect in this forum before, if I’m not mistaken. America’s hunting tradition is egalitarian. The gun and the hunting license are available to all, under the management of the State but seldom at its discretion.

Demerits of Lease Hunting

There are 3 million or so deer in Texas; they are, on the average, much smaller than East Coast deer because the range is seriously overgrazed and the forage can’t support maximum growth size. I have had the experience of showing pictures of Eastern whitetails to Texas hunters and having them refuse to believe that they were, in fact, whitetails, because “…whitetail deer don’t get that big. Them’s Mule deer!.” I’ve seen an 11-point buck shot near College Station that couldn’t have weighed more than 110 pounds; by contrast, the AVERAGE Virginia DOE is about 130 pounds, and buck considerably larger.

 

An 11-pointer here would go at least 180, perhaps more, on the hoof. This is directly the result of the mismanagement of game and deer herds that’s traceable to treating public property as if it were private property to be exploited. Lease hunting for native species harms game populations, and it’s true whether you believe it or not. By your argument, people in Texas ought to be charged fees for birdwatching because the landowner owns the birds.

 

The game is not the landowner’s to sell. Selling something you don’t own is theft, whether it’s legal or not. Something can be legal and still be corrupt. I agree that lease hunting has a valid and beneficial place in the overall scheme of wildlife management. However, let me present a _political_ argument for making quality public hunting land, with game managed as carefully as on leased land, increasingly available for all hunters in all states.