Permission vs. letter of the law, an ethics question

Canuck223

Canuck223

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A thread on another forum got me to thinking about a hunting access question.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but am I correct in my understanding that collecting a wounded game animal is a defence to trespass?

Consider the following scenario.

Hunter A has permission to hunt Property A. However, Property A is not particularly active with deer, being hay fields and rocky scrub.

Property owner B's land is a deer highway, but he without exception bans hunting and hunters from his acreage.

Hunter A sets up his tree stand on the one wooded corner of Property A, overlooking a ridge that abuts Property B. He regularly is able to fill his tag by spotting and shooting deer from that corner of the property, but regularly has to enter Property B to recover the animal.

For the purposes of this scenario, let's assume that the blood trail can be shown to start from Property A.

Is Hunter A within the letter of the law as you see it?
Is it ethical to continue to hunt in this manner?
 
IMO, you should still see the property owner for Property B and notify him that you have tracked an animal that you wounded (killed) and has fallen to your knowledge on thier property, ask if you can retrieve it. If the Owner says no then I think you have a right to call the local CO and then get him to go and retrieve the animal with you if its that much of a hassle.

I wouldnt make a habit of it however, if it happened once a year or less then it shouldnt be a problem.
 
I have heard many stories in the past where a wounded animal goes into a piece of land where the owner does not allow hunting and refuses access for you to retrieve your animal. FS
 
You are expect to do what you can to recover any shot animal. You still need owners permission to be on their land. You can/should contact MNR to recover your game if land owner is being anal. they will usually act as referee with the land owner.

Mind you if the landowner decides to keep the animal it is within his/her right to do so and you would be #### out of luck
 
Fassteel said:
I have heard many stories in the past where a wounded animal goes into a piece of land where the owner does not allow hunting and refuses access for you to retrieve your animal. FS
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has happened to me with a friend of mine. We found out long after the fact that if we called f&g, they would send an officer to escort us onto the property to recover our game.
 
In AB you still have to get permission to tresspass and get wounded game. I had a similar scenario with a moose that died 20 yards on the wrong side of the fence. The people didn't allow hunting on their land but after a polite request, allowed me to pull the moose out on their side.
 
sjemac said:
In AB you still have to get permission to tresspass and get wounded game. I had a similar scenario with a moose that died 20 yards on the wrong side of the fence. The people didn't allow hunting on their land but after a polite request, allowed me to pull the moose out on their side.
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Same in Ont...NO permission to enter property= you are SOL.

As per the OP...I think it is unethical to continue to hunt that small corner, given the high chance of an un-recoverable animal.
 
Put your stand a little further onto the land you have permission to hunt, use a good buck lure(assuming you're after deer) and load up with a premium bullet like a Nosler Accubond or Swift in a rifle that has a little more energy than needed. Hit'em thro the shoulder not the soft spot behind the shoulder. Hitting the shoulderblade will throw bone meal thro the throaric cavity destroying the heart, lungs and likely spinal function. End result: a deer that is dead right there.

This method is good for elk in hilly country too, keeps you trophy where you want it not 50 meters over and 400 meters down.

JT
 
Some years back I read (where I can't remember) that according to English common law, game animals, when alive, belong to the Crown. Dead, they belong to the landowner. Don't know if this is true or not. If it is true, not even a CO could retreive the animal legaly, unless there was an offence involved, in which case it could be seized.
 
bearkilr said:
There is no such thing as private ownership of wild, free ranging animals in Canada. He would need a tag.
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Just for the sake of argument, maybe, maybe not. Like I said, an interesting court case. English Common law can have lots of strange stuff in it, and unless a province passed a law that expressly overrode that issue, common law would still be in effect I suspect. (Quebec, being subject to the Nepolionic civil code, is an exception)
 
In Alberta you can get a permit for found dead wildlife. You must have the permit before taking posession of the animal. You must always have permission before going onto a property. A dead critter is not an excuse to tresspass.
 
tjsudbury said:
Just for the sake of argument, maybe, maybe not. Like I said, an interesting court case. English Common law can have lots of strange stuff in it, and unless a province passed a law that expressly overrode that issue, common law would still be in effect I suspect. (Quebec, being subject to the Nepolionic civil code, is an exception)
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I had a fairly large buck poached on my property some years ago. Called MB Conservation and told them I wanted to keep it, about a mid-150's 5x5. They told me I needed a permit to possess dead wildlife. Then they saw the deer and took it, claiming they needed the antlers for their roadside attraction, ie. dummy deer. :)

I'm not sure what would have happened had I taken this to court. All I can say is that private property rights in Canada are pretty limited as it is.
 
bearkilr said:
I had a fairly large buck poached on my property some years ago. Called MB Conservation and told them I wanted to keep it, about a mid-150's 5x5. They told me I needed a permit to possess dead wildlife. Then they saw the deer and took it, claiming they needed the antlers for their roadside attraction, ie. dummy deer. :)

I'm not sure what would have happened had I taken this to court. All I can say is that private property rights in Canada are pretty limited as it is.
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True enough.
In this case, though, even if what I have been saying is true, the fact that it was poached allows the CO's to seize the deer.
If coyotes had killed the deer instead, would you have considered the deer yours to do what you wanted with it, and not called the CO's?
 
Seen a situation a few years ago , when a really nice buck ran into a no trespass property after being shot . The landowner was sitting ontop of a hill , watching for just this moment ...stopped us from finding the buck with some very strong language before we were able to cross the property line.
20min later, I seen the landowner dragging that buck out behind his tractor.
Lazy SOB
 
Wrong Way said:
I believe that in ON, you do NOT need permission access land, posted or not, to recover a shot animal.....I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. If anybody has a link to the actual regs I'd like to see it.
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I have asked that question to a CO here in Sudbury, and was told that you definitly do need landowner permission. As to wether or not he was correct, I have no idea, but I know he thought he was correct, and would charge people accordingly. Sort of like the police charging people with what they think are firearms act infractions. Let the courts sort it out.
 
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