Water regulations

[DaveHawk]

Maryland Regs state: Deer may not be hunted while they are swimming or taking refuge in water.

Is this a common law and if so how do you interpret it. Can a deer or game be considered having taken refuge while standing in a creek drinking water ? Or must the water be so ? Deep?

[Hink]

It is illegal to shoot at a deer or boar while it is in water.

That is all the regs say so I guess it is illegal to shoot a deer if it is in the water.

I will wait until it exits the water.

I would assume this law is in place to prevent lost game, ricochets from bullets striking the water, or some other important reason as its always been on the books as far as I can remember.

I've encountered 3 deer "in the water" during hunting season. I was in a vehicle and it would have been illegal to get out and shoot and they were all in the middle of a ford on the Cherry River. It was a very pretty sight and I wish I'd have had a camera.

Now I've encountered a ton of deer crossing little intermittent streams and even small creeks and they were never in them long enough for it to be an issue. In fact the in the water part never even factored into the equation.

I was under the impression, until a few years ago, that the law also stated you could not shoot across a body of water which is incorrect.

[My buddy]

Although I have never had an instance where the law applied, I have always interpreted the law to mean some type of deep water. Water deep enough to restrict a deer retreat, thereby limiting his defenses.

Crossing a shallow creek, low flooded timber or a puddle is not what I would consider "in water" or "taking refuge"

[alan]

"Taking refuge" seems to be the key for Md. and I believe it is intended so "hunters" don't drve them off islands and shoot them as they swim away. "Standing in water" seems to be typical example of legislature's not having a clue about sport hunting and just painting with a wide brush regardless of how a$$inine the law is.

[GF.]

Not all states have this rule. Hell, up in MN, nobdy would ever shoot a deer! But it's easy enough to see where it must've come from. Put a good drive on a small island, and you'd have every deer that was on it swimming for it. Unethical behavior that's bad enough that they had to write a law to stop it. So first they probably outlawed shooting a swimming deer, and then somebody got busted and claimed that the deer was just coming out of the water, or it was on dry land at the shot and ran into water afterward....

So then how do you draw the line such that a defense lawyer can't weasel his client around it? Tighten it up until it reads: Feet wet, deer gets a pass. Under any other wording - or I might say lettering - of the law, the intent can be too easily thwarted. It's just like shooting hours and jacklighting (if everyone were guaranteed honest and ethical, I'm pretty sure we'd be allowed to hunt as long as there was 'safe and usable shooting light', otherwise), or the difference between hunting deer 'with dogs' vs. shooting a deer that somebody's bird dog had 'accidentally' jumped...

I tell ya, though.... If I hunted where that regulation is in effect, I'd be afraid to shoot a deer anywhere close to water without using an anchor shot; any warden that saw you with a wet deer could run you straight in to the judge and you'd be in a position where you'd have to prove yourself innocent.:eek:

[DaveHawk]

GF we have a worden just so here. I've shot 2 deer that have ran to water and crashed and died. I also had a good number of deer crossing a creek and for some reason, maybe the letter of the law I have always waited for them to step up on the bank. So I guess it depends on your interpretation of the law.

[GF.]

Alan types too fast for me! :D

But like I say - I don't think it's as much about clueless legislators as about eliminating excuses for those who will knowingly and willingly violate laws and ethical standards if that's what it takes to fill their tag(s)...

There's actually a law in South Dakota, I think it was, which states that ice fishermen are restricted to two lines with no more than two hooks attached to each and that the hooks must be attached to one end of the line within just so many inches of each other. :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:


Well, it turns out that one day a guy got cited for fishing 4 holes at once, but he went to court and pointed out that having a single line with a hook at each end was one line & two hooks. Two such rigs add up to two lines and 4 hooks, and there was nothing in the regs that prohibited that. :p

So the guy got off and the law got changed.:rolleyes:

It's pretty damn stupid, but that's how ML season regs got watered down to their current level of utter meaninglessness - except that in very few states did the regs change fast enough to keep up with the tech, and then the precedents had been set using the Loophole method. 40 or so years back, nobody thought to outlaw all the things that muzzleloaders weren't, (but in-lines are), because everybody already knew what a 'muzzleloader' meant, and the season was set up for those who wanted the (rather modest) limitations of 17th or 18th-century ML technology in order to make their hunts more challenging, not a way around the limitations in order to fill additional tags with the least possible inconvenience....

But don't get me started ;)

[GF.]

So I guess it depends on your interpretation of the law.

Like as not, it's not your interpretation that matters, but the Warden's....

So you've got to know what you're up against, locally. Good thing about a nice exit is that if you can show a blood trail from dry ground to wet, you've got a case. So long as he is willing to listen to it....

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I wish we had some water for a deer to take refuge in. It'd be mighty crowded. I've forgotten wha ta puddle looks like.

Alan

[southtexas]

I wish we had some water for a deer to take refuge in. It'd be mighty crowded. I've forgotten wha ta puddle looks like.

Alan

Amen, Alan!

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Amen is right brother! I went out to our place on Sunday aft. and all the rain we got out of this last little spell was only enough to wipe out the tire tracks from the last time I went out there to stir up the dust. It's comin though, every day we're one day closer to a good rain!

Alan

[ncboman]

I've seen herds of them swimming the Roanoke and Cashie Rivers here in NC.

One afternoon years ago, I bet my buddies and I saw over 75 deer swimming, groups of from 2 to 12. Seemed like every time we rounded a bend we'd catch more crossing. I'd guess the river varies from 80 to 200yds wide in that area. The width seems to make no difference to the deer. See at least some swimming almost every trip up into the wetlands.

The rule I grew up with was knee deep on the deer. I have no idea where this 'rule' came from, it's just something I remember being told. ... probably from the dog hunting club I grew up in. Like it really matters. I've killed a lot of deer, many at water's edge, and doan recall shootin but a few actually standing in water and it was only about 4" deep.

Swimming deer are very easy to drown. Just pick up on the tail, not even hard, and they go nose under. I've seen it done. The deer had no chance. Actually I kinda shot myself in the foot when I reamed the guy's arse about it, but that's another story. :rolleyes:

[bugsNbows]

Years ago I watched (on T.V.) a guy shoot and kill a buck in water. It was not "fair chase" IMO. I wrote to the show's producer and "star" airing my feelings. I never heard back. That being said, I would never shoot a deer in water...just wait until he gets out.

[Smokey]

Many a moose has been shot in the water. A stupid thing to do but it happens more than we think.

Eskimos frequently kill caribou in the water from boats with 22 caliber rifles during the migration periods.

[Rock Chuck]

Maryland Regs state: Deer may not be hunted while they are swimming or taking refuge in water.

Is this a common law and if so how do you interpret it. Can a deer or game be considered having taken refuge while standing in a creek drinking water ? Or must the water be so ? Deep?

Depends on the deer. Especially BIG deer. Only an idiot shoots a moose in water. Elk aren't much better. In ID, it's legal but very foolish.

[GF.]

Many a moose has been shot in the water. A stupid thing to do but it happens more than we think.

Eskimos frequently kill caribou in the water from boats with 22 caliber rifles during the migration periods.


The native hunters are doing it for subsistence; Sport has nothing to do with it.

Game laws are all about codifying ethical behavior for Sport hunting. And the most productive subsistence techniques have all been outlawed because, by their very nature, they are the antithesis of 'sporting'.