In general, normal hunting regulations apply on private property, with the exception of cases like self-defense and (to some extent) protection of your property. For instance, in Pennsylvania farmers could apply for deer damage permits, which would allow them to shoot more deer than a regular hunter was allowed to kill. I don’t really know the details of this process, but there was a bureaucratic process involved that your average gardener would probably not bother with.
Groundhogs, and other varmint species, generally have loose or no restrictions. For instance (from the PA game commission ):
(There are similar “limits” for sparrows, starlings, crows, coyotes, weasels, skunks, and possums)
In response to the OP’s other question, at least growing up in PA we did have game wardens. You didn’t have to report every kill to them directly (you just sent in a tag with information on it), but they would travel around and check on hunters in the field to see if they were properly licensed. I have no idea what the laws are about them going on to private property, though.
I found this after the edit limit passed, but in PA game wardens can definitely legally go onto private property if they need to in the pursuit of their job (especially if, say, they hear a lot of shooting). Obviously there are not going to be a great number of game wardens in an area compared to the amount of land to cover, but the chance exists that someone authoritative may be nearby if you shoot that turkey.
I haven’t hunted in several decades, but I’m sure that laws vary widely. There are states that allow private hunting preserves where all kind of surprising acts are permitted by “members”. There are other places where the owner/resident of the land may be exempt from hunting/fishing regulations. I would also guess that wildlife laws are changing rapidly as the population grows and people encroach on previously rural/wild land. There’s no way to generalize on this subject, you’d have to investigate your local laws to determine what’s allowed. The only exception might be protected species, which may only be killed to protect human life.
In my native Louisiana, game wardens are the law enforcement officers you least want to fuck with. They have enhanced powers over regular police officers and they can move around private property mostly at will and can do personal, weapons, and vehicle searches almost at will as well. Many of them are mean as sin but they need to because their job requires them to confront people in the middle of nowhere and many of those people (the hunters) are going to be armed as well. There are some real bad guys in the woods as well. Poaching can a penalties as bad as regular murder and the people that engage in it might think making the warden himself disappear is a good risk to take.
Unfortunately, the 1918 Migratory Birds Treaty Act has some unusual constructions in it, AIUI. There was a case a few years ago, where a New Englander shot, and killed, a red-tailed hawk that had been feeding off his small flock of chickens.
The story made the news because the guy was going up on Federal charges for killing what was emphatically not and endangered species. The fact that he was trying to protect his livestock mattered not at all to the court that he found himself before. This was back in 2003, so all my references to this case have long since expired.
I would really check with your local game officials about what you can and cannot legally take on your own land. Even if you think you’re asking about vermin species. I’d rather risk asking a stupid question than risk having to pay for an attorney.
The old rule was that you may own the land, but the King owns the wild game. This has mutated into the current rule that the state, or “the people” as represented by the state, owns the wild game. This has been extended to the plant world, some states issue licenses for wild ginseng collectors.
Same as how weird water rights are. THAT’S a tough subject. I am not legally allowed to wash my car, or water any outside plants from water that I pump from under my property. That water goes to Denver. But it’s OK for people in Denver to REGULARLY WASTE WATER ON BLUEGRASS from water that is drained from the mountains.
Heh. Until the Govs in the front range start putting some realistic goals for new developments (zeroscape), I’ll do what I wish with the water that is under my property and I pay to pump out.
[sub]Can’t legally wash my car or water a flower bed…while blue grass blooms in the desert that is Denver…grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr[/sub] I understand that water, like air is everyones commodity. But don’t try to keep it from me just so you can waste it.
I don’t mind the odd skier sno-shoer or lost snow boarder that comes through our property.
That’s ok. I help them out. Even give them rides.
Pull up a truck and start collecting my trees, and I’ll have a different opinion.
In alaska the occasional bear is taken “in defense of life or property.” what you can then do with the carcass is regulated:
“Sometimes people feel they have to shoot a bear that may be threatening life or property. Use your best judgment. If you do kill a bear in defense of life and property you must immediately bring the hide and skull to ADF&G for sealing and make a thorough report on why you killed the bear. If you take the bear with legal methods and means, have a valid hunting license and tags (if necessary) and the season is open, you can keep the bear. Otherwise, you will have to forfeit the bear. It is not legal to shoot a bear and claim defense of life and property if the bear is feeding on the carcass of a game animal that you have shot. The carcass is not considered property in this situation. Read the regulations for more details on this before you go hunting.” from the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation.
Farmers can generally get a permit to cull deer that are damaging crops. Middle Class Suburban Man may have trouble getting permission from the game authorities to rid pesky deer from gnawing on the backyard begonias.
In Georgia I was on a site that had restricted access due to the manufacturing processes on the property. The lack of hunting pressure created a nuisance population of feral pigs. (The gators weren’t able to control the population, although they did make a dent in the little piggy population). The pigs were a nuisance. Imagine stepping out of a building right in front of a browsing razor back. Sometimes they felt that you insulted them in someway and you had to beat a hasty retreat back into the building. The facility manager had a permit from the state to take so many pigs per year.
Best white meat ever.
BTW - small game is usually rabbits, hares, squirrels, possums, and other small furry critters not trapped for furs. small game can also include small birds like grouse, ptarmigans, and snipes. Small game is not wild turkeys, deer, and black bear. YMMV by state.
Meh. Learn to bowhunt and you could take pretty much whatever you wanted without all the noisy gunshots to alert the nosy neighbors and authorities. Of course you should observe all local and seasonal laws and regulations.
Following the implementation of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act (1976), private owners of pumas and other such beasts were faced with the problem of what to do with their exotic pets.
A friend recently had a cougar show up on their back porch and start nosing around the screen door! :eek:
They did shoot it, and I advised them that though it wasn’t in season, I was fairly damn sure killing a non-endangered big cat trying to get into your house was probably an option. If I recall, they were within their rights to kill it but forfeited the carcass.
I always wondered in an off-hand sort of way, if I owned a farm that included a large piece of wild land–say, two hundred acres–could I stock it with deer and call them livestock? I’m not interested in killing domestic animals in a pasture like the trophy farms where you plug gnu from fifty yards with a high caliber rifle, but I’m a falconer and one of my wild ambitions is to, someday, hawk a golden eagle on coyotes and deer. The only catch about hunting deer with a hawk is that you can only get a very limited number of tags and have a limited time frame in which to do it, so “entering” or training them to hunt that species would be really difficult. If they are my animals that I put on the property, can I kill them?
AFAIK in Virginia, you can’t fish on your own property without a license, and game wardens can and do demand to see licenses. Of course finding you is a big problem, I’d imagine most of their enforcement happens in larger lakes and ponds frequented by the public.
In `1959 in Oklahoma, guy heard a racket in the pig pen. Took gun and went looking. Black bear killing $500 Blue Ribbon hog and going for other Show winners. Man kills bear and then makes a big mistake. He calls Fish & Game man. F&G man comes and says, (para phrased) ‘Man, I wish you had either just buried this thing or pulled it up to the porch and said it was trying to get in. I have to cite you.’ Cost him $2500 Plus the loss of 3 hogs for a total of about $3500. Back then, could only kill Black bears in defense of human life.
Here in Arkansas, we have a lot of Fish and Game enforcement guys in green pickups and they are tough dudes. Know one guy pretty good and his stories are not for the weak of stomach. Kind of like my friend who is ‘criminal IRS’ agent. You would be surprised at what happens out there.
I Arkansas, no ‘shooty’ game animals out of season and you need tags. You can shoot dear from your kitchen or bed room (the deer processing plant is less than one half mile away) as some do who are hunters who live in good places for that. He always get all the deer he gets tags for. Bow, Black powder, modern firearms, also we can hunt with cross-bows here.