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First waterfowl ticket

2K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  dirtyturtle 
#1 ·
ive been hunting this spot on houghton lake for 7 years with no issues what so ever. its a cool spot that is privet and the land owners have given me the only permission. i have 20 years under my belt. and understand the rule to a tee. the issue is wheather i was in a saftey zone. i was 106 yards from a cabin (by dnr range finder) that is owned by the land owner. dnr states that the cabin is occupied by some other then the owner i need to get permission from the occupint and the land owner. the rules clearly state occupint or land owner. i may be stupid but in english or means either not both. the worst part is that ive known this guy for 30 years and am good freinds with his family. he checked every thing. we had shot 8 mallards this morning. 6 drakes and 2 hens. one of the drakes was eclipesed really bad. his comment was man your lucky on that one. i told him after 20 years luck no longer plays a part either you know what your shooting or we let them go. any way he wrote us up. after 45 min of checking we get a saftey zone vialation. in roscommon county its 250 buck. thats more the the baiting vialation. the owner of this property is not happy. and all leases are up nov 1st. that means ill be there on the 2nd blasting. and those people may not have a cabin there next year.

what do you think about the rule? do i need both peoples permission. the words need to be rewritten.
 
#2 ·
Yeah, ive never liked how the DNR words their rules. It soooo confusing sometimes. And sometimes rules on their website contradict what the book says. In your case i think the "or" means from at least on person, not "both." If you had to get both people's permission it should say "and," not "or."
 
#3 ·
DNR rules are "up to the officers Interpretation"

"Safety zones are all areas within 150 yards (450 feet) of an occupied building, house, cabin, or any barn or other building used in a farm operation. No person, including archery and crossbow hunters, may hunt or discharge a firearm, crossbow or bow in a safety zone, or shoot at any wild animal or wild bird within a safety zone, without the written permission of the owner OR occupant of such safety zone. The safety zone applies to hunting only. It does not apply to indoor or outdoor shooting ranges, target shooting, law enforcement activities or the discharge of firearms, crossbows or bows for any non-hunting purpose. "

Now did you have the "Written permission" on your person to show the officer?

If you had the permission slip to show him he should have let it go. but if not I can see why he ticketed you. I used to hunt a farm and got a new permission slip from the owner each year and kept it with my license just in case I got checked.

Hope it all works out ok as $250 is a tank of gas these days.
 
#4 ·
:huh:

How did the officer know that the owner was not the occupant of the cabin?

Or did the people in the cabin call in and report you?
 
#5 ·
no theres a cabin about 250 yards away and i woke her up at 730 am. the hunting guide and the waterfowl guide say diffrent things about permmision. the officer never asked for a written slip. hes said that the owner could give permission but i also had to have it from the occup. i had a hard time beliving that ive hunted there for 7 years with out a problem until this year.

the people in the cabins close in the past love us killing the duck the yard is full of duck and goose crap and their kids cant play in the yards.

no one in the close cabins ever complains. they usually ask if i cant kill them all.

you know its not that i dont like the dnr officers. i work side by side with them in clare county all the time. as a paramedic and the other guy a firefighter. he could of said not to come back with out talking to the cabins first. that seems practical to me. we didnt cause any damage to anything ever.
 
#6 ·
DNR makes me sick. Don't get me wrong, I believe in obeying the law but most officers now days don't even hunt and some are anti hunters. Now try to figure that one out. How can you regulate something you can't even comprehend? They all have their own interpretation of the law also. I think your right on this one though. I'd go to court on it.
I have gone round and round with them locally about target shooting in an abandoned gravel pit. I shoot there because it is SAFE. They are trying to tell me that it is zoned recreational state land not state game area land so I cannot shoot there.
In other words, I can go out and fire shells in the game area not knowing where they are going, but I can't do it in a safe dug in enviroment in the gravel pit! Idiots! What's really nuts is the county sheriff says it's ok with them?????
 
#7 ·
The DNR anymore is ridiculous. The way they have been the last few years is really going to discourage younger hunters.

Last year at Saginaw bay, my brother and bother in law both got tickets. My brother in law, was using one of my dads 12 gauges and noone checked to see if there was a plug (we use them for deer hunting too) so he got a ticket. My brother got his license at Walmart, and the girl didn't know what she was doing I guess and sold him small game but not waterfowl. He did have the stamp. So for a $5 license, which was obviously a mistake, he got a ticket (i think $150)

The thing is, the DNR doesn't realize, their crappy attitude may be making them lots of money now, but with the number of younger hunters declining, soon they will be out of a job.
 
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