Road hunting v/s spot and stalk

[tree_ghost]

To me this is splitting hairs; whether you have the intent to go out looking for deer or you just happen to come across one in a field. IMO this needs to be more clearly defined by TWRA.

Again I see an issue with the means by where you harvest a animal. If you harvest an animal because You spotted it 300 yards away and poked it at 295 with a rifle, one could make the argument it's too easy, or unethical. On the other hand if you spotted an animal at 300 yards and stalked 260 and stuck it with an arrow, one could make the argument it was a skilled harvest that was made ethically. there are to many what ifs with this scenario but without the right questions being asked a right solution can't be obtained.

 

[DIRTTRAX]

In TN, if you ride up to property you can legally hunt, see a deer, back the truck up, get out and go stalk down a fence row and kill that deer you are guilty of road hunting, or whatever the official term in the rules is.

Why is it seen as such a bad practice (ethically) in TN but perfectly acceptable in another state?
Is it just the mere fact that it is illegal?
If it were legal, would it still be "wrong"?

Just curious what everyone thinks.
I put it in here so maybe it can be discussed without all the bs.

The first scenerio as you described and from how it was answered by TWRA in a previous thread.... yes a person would be guilty of road hunting.... because they were on a road/in a vehicle when the person saw the animal.

As far as ethical.... that is up to the person and depends on your hunting style.

If it was legal and:

I were a meat hunter looking for freezer meat.... a chance opportunity presents a deer and I am going to capitalize on it. I have limited days to hunt and invest quite abit each year to hunt... to me, it's getting a return on the investment.

I were an antler/mature deer hunter.... again, a chance opportunity presents a huge deer, I am going to capitalize on it.

It were an average deer and no larger than what I have already taken.... and I don't need the meat.... I'd let it walk for more growing time.

Is is the same as sitting on stand in various conditions waiting on a chance encounter.... no. But I still pulled the trigger on a deer and I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

With everything we as hunters use today to hunt, scopes, stands, clothing, scent-free products, attractant scents, atv/utv.... how is that not taking advantage of something to kill an animal?

Everyone has their hunting ethics, to each their own. If my above statements offend anyone, I am sorry. If you think bad of me and despise my existance, again I am sorry. It is what it is....

100% Agree with grizz, well said.

 

[landman]

The kicker is so many ride around in the truck
with a loaded gun to shoot a deer from the truck,
Edge of road or across the ditch. Road Hunters

This is TN, TN Laws, just like I can drive 65 on
one part of Hwy 79 and only 55 on another part.

Let's face it GWs are trained to enforce laws
I really wonder if a GW saw me driving down
The road park at the gate, put my gear together
Walk 200 yards down a farm road and stop and
shoot a deer in the field what will happen.

We all know why this post started an the person
who got charged made it clear they left the house
they were going to ride around and look for deer.
And he stated he "dropped" the shooter off.
Too me in TN by TN laws they were "Road Hunters"
IMO

 

[catman529]

As long as you aren't shooting from the truck or public road I don't see anything wrong with it. If its illegal to get out and walk down into the ditch and shoot then I wouldn't want to do that either. But I might continue to a normal parking spot, get out and stalk through the woods back toward where I saw the deer. I wouldn't have a problem with that.

 

[CAW]

Easy solution to this little predicament! When driving to your lease, farm, etc. DO NOT LOOK into the woods, fields, clearcuts, etc. Keep your eyes solely on the road directly in front of your vehicle. As soon as you get out, THEN you can look as you are no longer "road hunting".

I'm sorry, but to say someone is "road hunting" because they spot a deer on their own property that they had the full intent of hunting when they arrived and then proceeded to hunt is a little much.

How many times have hunters pulled into their farm and spotted deer in fields, food plots, clear cuts, hillsides, etc. and then hunted them? With smaller and smaller tracts being the norm, that has to happen all the time. Personally, I probably would not put on a stalk, because that is just not my preferred method - I would rather hang a stand and hunt them that way. But I wouldn't call the stalk unethical. If they choose to hunt that way, what's the big deal?

In my opinion, this is a law that needs to be revisited.

 

[JandSCattleCo]

How is driving a truck on a farm road etc any different than an atv or tractor? You can hunt from them as long as they are not capable of being registered for on road use and not in forward motion.

Heck, you can shoot a deer from the water in a boat as long as the motor is not providing forward motion.

Seems odd.

 

[redblood]

lets apply it to turkey hunting. i hunt a lot of farms in a local area, within say 5 miles via country rd, right around my house. lets say i struck out at farm one, but as i am headed home mid morning i drive another farm that I OWN or can legally hunt and see a tom strutting out in a field with several hens. would i be legal to pull in and put a stalk on him?

 

[CAW]

lets apply it to turkey hunting. i hunt a lot of farms in a local area, within say 5 miles via country rd, right around my house. lets say i struck out at farm one, but as i am headed home mid morning i drive another farm that I OWN or can legally hunt and see a tom strutting out in a field with several hens. would i be legal to pull in and put a stalk on him?

Exactly.

Just because you use a road to travel to your property does not mean you are a road hunter simply because you happened to see a deer or a turkey on your way in. That's ridiculous.

The law needs to be revised.

 

[tn droptine]

Guys drive up and down roads calling turkeys all of the time, especially on public land where roads cut through large tracts. I have seen and heard it numerous times. I always hated that practice but never realized it was not legal.

I don't think it is illegal, or shouldn't be... If so, I have broke the law many times and will continue to do so......I can see why a judge would throw it out and prolly have a talk with GW if cases like this showed up in court very often...

Are you not "chasing" birds from a vehicle if you are calling them? If you hear one and go after it, then you have used the vehicle to locate them?

This is getting tricky. :eek:

Borderline, non-sense.
I would think there is a grey area here where LE can use some descretion. I can't see how anyone could be prosecuted if they are somewhere they have permission and are not shooting from the vehicle. I think this law has been written in a way to close loopholes on true poachers/road hunters.
I am prolly wrong, tho.

The only thing I would be cautious on is the act of calling turkeys to locate would be considered hunting (just look at what happened to Spook Spann with his turkey hunting violation), therefore if you are driving around calling turkeys in order to locate them to kill, then you are technically hunting from your vehicle.

 

[landman]

Guys drive up and down roads calling turkeys all of the time, especially on public land where roads cut through large tracts. I have seen and heard it numerous times. I always hated that practice but never realized it was not legal.

I don't think it is illegal, or shouldn't be... If so, I have broke the law many times and will continue to do so......I can see why a judge would throw it out and prolly have a talk with GW if cases like this showed up in court very often...

Are you not "chasing" birds from a vehicle if you are calling them? If you hear one and go after it, then you have used the vehicle to locate them?

This is getting tricky. :eek:

Borderline, non-sense.
I would think there is a grey area here where LE can use some descretion. I can't see how anyone could be prosecuted if they are somewhere they have permission and are not shooting from the vehicle. I think this law has been written in a way to close loopholes on true poachers/road hunters.
I am prolly wrong, tho.

The only thing I would be cautious on is the act of calling turkeys to locate would be considered hunting (just look at what happened to Spook Spann with his turkey hunting violation), therefore if you are driving around calling turkeys in order to locate them to kill, then you are technically hunting from your vehicle.

Well if I was a betting man I'd say you'll soon see
more on Ole Spook in the news...calling and pouring
out corn are 2 things differently....

 

[blountcountyboy]

I don't really like this "law". I have to get my son on the bus and by the time I drive to my field and park it's usually day light.

So, in "theory" if there's a deer standing in that field when I park my truck I can't "stalk" it through MY property and kill it.


Now, I can drive my cab tractor or Rhino to the same field to feed hay or check cattle and shoot that same deer while setting IN the tractor or Rhino.

If I were to clear the trees that are down in the creek I could put my Jon boat in the water, motor up the creek, spot that same deer and shoot it from the boat.

 

[Winchester]

Ruger is right, its legal and a highly used method in MANY states, as is baiting! That said, yes Im sure if it were legal here many of the ones calling names on here would be doing it themselves and then saying its ethical because its legal!! ;)
I don't see the fun in finding a deer to kill from the road, that said there are WAY too many things that could come in to play to say anybody that shoots a deer they first saw from the rd is rd hunting!! If im driving the last 1/3 mile along my property preparing to park and hunt when I see a deer in a field?? Then once I park and start hunting am I not allowed to shoot that deer because it was within sight of the rd earlier??? WAY too many things can happen for this to be black and white!

 

[TNDeerGuy]

WHY don't we do something about it, if so many of us don't like it???? Instead of all this bantering around with my land and my vehicle stuff, why don't we work together as a group and come up with language for a new re-written law? It will allow us to do what us law-abiding citizens do in regards to land we own, while still holding teeth to the law and eliminating loop-holes for road-hunting�to what the law was originally intended to do? Then we could submit it to one of our hunter-friendly law-makers and have it changed? We need to restrict it to landowners I believe, because if we don't Bubba the Road Hunter/Poacher will say that he has permission, or it's his uncles place, etc... Just an idea. I'll start it (in red) and let someone that is a wordsmith run with it. :)

70-4-109. Hunting from aircraft, watercraft or motor vehicles unlawful -- Exception for persons confined to wheelchairs -- Penalty.

(a) It is unlawful to chase, hunt, or kill any wild birds, wild animals or wild fowl in the state of Tennessee from any craft propelled by electric, gasoline, steam or sail power, or airplane or hydroplane or from any automobile or motor vehicle, unless otherwise provided by law, rule and regulation or by proclamation; provided, that under no circumstance shall this subsection (a) be construed as authorizing the legalization of hunting from an automobile or motor vehicle while under power. [color:#FF0000]Unless the property in question is the landowner's property and then only the landowner and immediate dependents may be exempt, but not park on the roadway, or the right-of-way and cannot shoot from the vehicle, nor from the roadway or right-of-way of said road. [/color]


70-1-101. Title definitions -- Construction of dates and provisions.
(19) "Hunting" means chasing, driving, flushing, attracting, pursuing, worrying, following after or on the trail of, searching for, trapping, shooting at, stalking, or lying in wait for, any wildlife, whether or not such wildlife is then or subsequently captured, killed, taken, or wounded and every act of assistance to any other person, but "hunting" does not include stalking, attracting, searching for, or lying in wait for, wildlife by an unarmed person solely for the purpose of watching wildlife or taking pictures of wildlife;

 

[Winchester]

I think it would have to include anyone with written permission for said land, as leasing land is far more common than owning for the average hunter.

 

[TNDeerGuy]

I completely agree, but my reasoning behind the landowner owner part is that will be easier to prove on the spot, unlike Bubba the Poacher saying that he has that land leased. The whole reason for this law in the first place is because of scum like Bubba, and that is what we need to focus on. Just thinking out loud here.

 

[Mike Belt]

Just thinking out loud here...but what if you were driving up to your lease and didn't see a deer standing off the road, parked and headed out before you saw him, and then stalked and shot him. Who's to say you saw him from the road? What if you were walking down the road from point A headed to point B and saw one off the road before you got there and put the stalk on him. Still illegal?

 

[TNDeerGuy]

Just thinking out loud here...but what if you were driving up to your lease and didn't see a deer standing off the road, parked and headed out before you saw him, and then stalked and shot him. Who's to say you saw him from the road? What if you were walking down the road from point A headed to point B and saw one off the road before you got there and put the stalk on him. Still illegal?

According to how the law is currently stated, none of that is illegal. However, you cannot shoot from the road, right-of-way or across a road.

 

[landman]

Just thinking out loud here...but what if you were driving up to your lease and didn't see a deer standing off the road, parked and headed out before you saw him, and then stalked and shot him. Who's to say you saw him from the road? What if you were walking down the road from point A headed to point B and saw one off the road before you got there and put the stalk on him. Still illegal?

According to how the law is currently stated, none of that is illegal. However, you cannot shoot from the road, right-of-way or across a road.

And in most places the fence allong the road
is not the right of way, many times it's on the field
side on the fence. Just like if you live in a development
Your property doesn't start at the curb, some state
roads may be 50' or 90' right of ways

 

[mike243]

here in Tn it use to be 21' from the center line of the road, you owned up to the road bed & pay tax on it but the county or state could take your property to that limit for road or utility improvement's is what we were told when in the construction business ,it may vary from county to county too as seems like nothing is standardized these days as politicos want to make up their own rules as they roll along

 

[landman]

here in Tn it use to be 21' from the center line of the road, you owned up to the road bed & pay tax on it but the county or state could take your property to that limit for road or utility improvement's is what we were told when in the construction business ,it may vary from county to county too as seems like nothing is standardized these days as politicos want to make up their own rules as they roll along [/quote
TN is what I was talking about , utility easements that your
Talking about are different

 

[348Winchester]

This is just another example of too many laws and too much government.

 

[Orion6]

Another thread has had me thinking alot the last couple of days.

From everything I have read from law enforcement this is what I understand to be true.

In TN, if you ride up to property you can legally hunt, see a deer, back the truck up, get out and go stalk down a fence row and kill that deer you are guilty of road hunting, or whatever the official term in the rules is.


Now, in many states "out west" this is a perfectly acceptable means of hunting.
Ride around, scout, spot then stalk.

Why is it seen as such a bad practice (ethically) in TN but perfectly acceptable in another state?
Is it just the mere fact that it is illegal?
If it were legal, would it still be "wrong"?

Just curious what everyone thinks.
I put it in here so maybe it can be discussed without all the bs.

Is this technically illegal? To drive by a spot on your property, see deer and go park, stalk back up and take a shot? I bet a LOT of people here guilty of this, more than would admit. I can't recall anything in the book saying this is not legal. Shooting FROM a vehicle is, but not outside the vehicle, especially if it's parked and you're not using the vehicle as a rest.

 

[scn]

Just passing through, but there are a whole lot of misinformed opinions in this thread.

But, because it looks like we could possibly have some inconsistencies in the enforcement of road hunting, we have put it on the agenda for our next major's meeting to air it out.

Thanks, and have a great evening!

 

[jlmustain]

So let me get this straight ,the law states if I driving down the road by my property that i own or even lease and there is a buck standing in the field I can't pull up to the gate and sneak up behind my barn within range and kill that buck ?

Amen! I'm not against dogging the TWRA if they need to be dogged. This site isn't North Korea. I'm glad they're going to talk about this and be more specific because if it's deer season and the opportunity TENN.BOY just described presents itself, that deer's going to fall. I realize that the fellow who most likely sparked this thread is a story-changing airhead, but there really are some extents to which this law's wording is insufficient, nearly impossible to enforce, and leaves far too much to interpretation.

 

[jlmustain]

Also, where there is mass misinterpretation, there is poor wording, which leads to poor enforcement.

 

[AT Hiker]

So what about driving around a public parcel or any place you have permission for really during turkey season, you park your vehicle and get out to locate call. A turkey answers and you then go after him, is that hunting from the road?

I hunt out West every year and can tell you one thing, there is ZERO difference from "road hunting" here or out West. Driving around looking for a animal here is the same as out there. Just as getting out and going for a hike here looking for a deer is the same as out there. Yes there are subtle differences, but when it boils down to actually hunting I just dont see it...not saying it is right or wrong, just adding my 2 pennies to those comparing the two.

 

[jlmustain]

So what about driving around a public parcel or any place you have permission for really during turkey season, you park your vehicle and get out to locate call. A turkey answers and you then go after him, is that hunting from the road?

I hunt out West every year and can tell you one thing, there is ZERO difference from "road hunting" here or out West. Driving around looking for a animal here is the same as out there. Just as getting out and going for a hike here looking for a deer is the same as out there. Yes there are subtle differences, but when it boils down to actually hunting I just dont see it...not saying it is right or wrong, just adding my 2 pennies to those comparing the two.

x2

Hunting from the road is hunting from the road. If you leave the road, you're not hunting from the road.

Let's be honest. If you get a ticket for this, it's because you've made someone mad.