Game laws in the US??

[suttoman]

I was just wondering how strict your laws in the States are against guys who don't follow the rules.

All of our big game in Australia are feral, so we don't have any real laws against poaching or bag limits etc.  We can basically shoot as many as we want, whenever we want.  However I know that you do have strict laws in the States.

If one is caught poaching, or shooting animals without a tag, is there a big fine??  Does it differ from State to State.  Can one go to prison??

Sorry about the stupid questions but have a nephew who is doing a paper for school and asked me to do some research for him.  Any information would be appreciated!

Cheers - Sutto

[suttoman]

Sorry - one more question.  Can you give some examples of dudes you know who broke the law, what they did and what happened to them.

Cheers

[Tim Fishell]

Yes there are pretty steep penialties for breaking game laws.  If caught you can pay big fines depending on the sevarity of the crime.  The law enforcement can confinscate anything and everything you used to break that law.  And you can serve jail time.  

Some animals in the states are covered by federal law and some are covered under state laws.  The federal laws are the same for everybody.  The state laws are dictated by each state.

[mooseman76]

Sutto, I know a guy who was caught baiting Black Bears (illegal here in PA).  He lost his hunting privileges for 5 years, had the bear taken and had to pay a fine.  Not sure what the amount was.  I believe they may have also confiscated the firearm, but don't quote me on that.  I'll pm you a link for Pennsylvania's game commission, maybe some good info for your nephew there...Mike

[Ian johnson]

there is a limit of 3does and 3bucks here, I dont think I'll have to worry about getting more than that with a bow, the season runs from some time in oct to the end of Jan, you dont want to hunt after that, too hot and too many snakes and bugs, hogs, all year no limit

[wingnut]

I used to run a bear outfit in Washington back in the day.  The laws changed on baiting and I observed an individual blatently breaking them.  After talking with the Game Agent and relaying the info, the individual was caught, ticketed and went to trial.  The outcome as his third offense, was loss of his truck, weapons, all things in possession at time of arrest.  He also got 12 months in jail.

Another individual that I know was a taxidermist, he was running baits on both sides of the dividing line between eastern and western Washington.  The bear seasons started on Sept 1 in the East but Aug 1 in the West.  His east bait was doing well and he hunted it too early.  The game dept had a sting set up on the bait and he lost everything ( truck, bow, and business).

Mike

[trapperDave]

around here for poaching deer you can expect a $5oo fine + they take your weapon used to poach + they can take the vehicle used to get you there

[Swamp Pygmy]

Sure sutto. If it helps, rather than give specific examples you can go to "ldwf" website. which is short for Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fiseries.


Every state game laws differ, so to sort them out and pay licenses and tag fees to who-, every state has their own website with regs dealing with issues inside their borders. They usually have "wf" in their abbreviations if you google them for states.

When they catch poachers or various game law violations it makes their little news segment on the website. Our state does anyway. It would be good for your kids paper. He can cite references and everything. They are little newspaper summaries.  

In short they take your stuff (rifles, bows, whatever you were using) and confiscate them. You don't get them back. You have to pay big fines and can't hunt of fish from several years to ever again. Depending on what you did yes you can face jail time.

I read a thing a the other day that said we have depending how you measure it either 1 out of 100. or 1 in 130 american citizens is in jail, not on probation or parole- in jail. So yeah we don't hesitate if you don't have the cash its easy to end up in jail here. But you can pay fines out of most things if you have the $$$.

The website should come up if you google LDWF. or spell it out. If you can't find it I can post a direct link.

Hope that helps.

[Mark U]

The big kicker is usually loss of hunting privileges in the original state plus in all states that have reciprocating agreements.  A call-video maker got caught in Idaho a couple years ago after he killed an elk, but only had a Montana tag.  After the fines, I think he couldn't hunt in 23 other states for three years.

[Selfyewdave]

This is not hunting, but here in Louisiana we just had a charter captain with 19 other people on his boat catch 909 red snapper is one day.  The limit is 2 per person per day.  The Wildlife and Fisheries took his catch, and sold it for just under 10,000.  The fined his charter company 80,000 nad fined the 20 people 120,000.  They also took away the captains license for 7 months.

If you ask me, they should have taken his license away for life.  Our snapper population is hurting because of overfishing.  I think they got off light.

[pintail_drake2004]

feller i use to hunt with was on a youth duck hunt with his cousin (he was suppose to be the adult)on the way home, they saw a pheasant fly across the road, He stepped out of the truck with a loaded shotgun and went after it. He failed to notice the Game Warden pulling in behind him. between that incident and one for shooting a rabbit (which rolled up on some fellers front porch) he lost his license for 18months.

Couple years ago a waterfowl club got shut down and alot of people went to jail. They were shooting deer with rifles (illegal to shoot deer w/ rifle in IL),using lead shot for ducks/geese, too many birds in the bag, guides shooting birds for the clients, shooting swans, baiting, hunting at night, etc. The list goes on. There was 3 full pages listed in the newspaper. They lost everything-farm, business, all weapons, all vehicles, and like 3-4 people went to jail for a couple years.

As for the deer poaching, if one is caught in our area its a fine and loss of weapon. But since there are so many deer in the area (literally outnumber people) unless a warden is driving along and sees it first hand, not much is done about it.

[Jedimaster]

Sutto, I have a couple of specific instances you can reference:

1) When I was a teenager I was out rabbit hunting with my grandfather.  We were running beagles on our property.  My grandfather was caught by the game warden on the public road with a loaded shotgun (violation) and he had mistakenly loaded one round of buckshot in the magazine (deer season was closed, violation #2).  His shotgun was confiscated and he was issued a citation.  After appearing in court and paying a reduced charge his firearm was returned.

2)A friend and I were bowhunting on a military base back in the mid-1990's.  He had scouted a good location and cut some shooting lanes.  Cutting/damaging trees was a violation.  A warden discovered his stand and he was fined $1,500.  $100 per tree cut or damaged.  These were trees that were about as big around as your thumb.  Thankfully I was hunting another area and wasn't involved.  The moral is, not only every state, but different lands can vary quite a bit in regulations.

3)Outlaw rednecks down the road had been spotlighting deer for years.  They finally got too reckless and got caught with two does at night out of season.  More in the freezer at home.  Took the truck, the 4-wheeler, the firearms, confiscated items from home as evidence.  They did not get these items back and lost hunting priveleges for a period of several years.

4)Check this link out, it is a report on an illegaly killed alligator in my home state.
 http://home.mdwfp.com/license.aspx

[DBerrard]

http://www.walleyehunter.com/dnrmap.html

Here's a link for your nephew. If he doesn't mind spending a little bit of time researching there's no  better place to find the game laws here than at the source.

Regards,
  Dave