Does this look legal or more common sense needed

John L

John L

Well-known member
Does this look legal?
Today was the last day of duck season in NY and I guess this guy wanted his duck so he decided to hunt Wantagh Park in Nassau County. Notice the decoy on the beach and there were others in and around the beach front. He was also observed dragging his aluminum john boat onto his trailer pulled by a silver truck with of all things handicap plates.
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Hunting in state parks can be legal in MA (of all unfriendly to hunters states). Not possitive all state parks but I'm sure some.
 
Ive seen those guys hunting there a couple of times and i always say to myself why of all places?This is how we get a bad name,,with all the joggers,dog walkers and people feeding the geese bread ,see the birds falling and hearing the gunshots when a couple of yards away is a marsh to disappear into.just dosent make sense
 
but is it illegal?

one of my buddies was harassed by local cops and the guy he was hunting with was written a $1000 ticket for gunning in a legal spot over the weekend b/c they were in site of the public. the state police refused to write a ticket and told the locals they were legal, but that didn't stop the local police chief. pure political BS.
i have told my friend to file a hunter harassment claim against the city. i don't know what he will do.
 
If ur under the high tide mark your legal but u must enter by boat,carrying your boat in or walking in is not legal,Even though the spot is probably legal I think to hunt there is the dumbest thing going,with the attacks of our sport going on,just giving people more to complain about,go out to the marsh and hunt where we are away from the public,most people i tell i duck hunt dont even know there is waterfowl hunting,thats the way i like it
 
wantagh park is a county park on the south shore of the county and there is plenty of marsh a stones throw from that location, commonsense should of said not to set up there ,we all must be stewards of our sport ,it happens to be a passion of mine and i wouldnt do anything questionable to hurt my chances of enjoying it ,some guys dont think the same way
 
but is it illegal?

one of my buddies was harassed by local cops and the guy he was hunting with was written a $1000 ticket for gunning in a legal spot over the weekend b/c they were in site of the public. the state police refused to write a ticket and told the locals they were legal, but that didn't stop the local police chief. pure political BS.
i have told my friend to file a hunter harassment claim against the city. i don't know what he will do.
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Where was this? New Jersey?
 
the police cars are parked on a bike path in the county park on long island nassau county new york...... is it legal, come on guys
 
but is it illegal?

one of my buddies was harassed by local cops and the guy he was hunting with was written a $1000 ticket for gunning in a legal spot over the weekend b/c they were in site of the public. the state police refused to write a ticket and told the locals they were legal, but that didn't stop the local police chief. pure political BS.
i have told my friend to file a hunter harassment claim against the city. i don't know what he will do.
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Where was this? New Jersey?
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My friends incident was in New Jersey. They were hunting in a layout in the bay.

I didn't say the above was a smart place to hunt, but were they legal? If so, either change the law or leave them alone. Anything else is harassment. When did hunting ducks become something you have to sneak off and hide to do?
 
Is it legal. Not in my book.
There may be some gray area as far as waterfowling in this area but this guy was just pushing it and is just plan nuts for setting up and hunting where he did. As I was passing by the police waved me over and asked where I had been hunting and I told them I was on an marsh island across the channel from here and watched this guy since sunrise. They asked me if I saw him doing anything wrong and what I think they should do. I told them to throw the book at him because as a local hunter we don't need this kind of a$$hole out here giving all of us a bad name. They told me as far as they know he is within his legal rights to hunt there because he is at the high tide line and technically the paved road is actually a bicycle and walking path and did not count as a real road. I could not believe what I was hearing.
We first noticed this guy just before LST when we heard a shot come from the park and my partner said WTF that sounded like it came from the park. We chalked it up to someone loading there gun at the dock. Just after first light we see this guy walking in the park to retrieve a bird and thought we must have been mistaken and the shot must have come from behind us and he must have crippled a bird and it made its way over to the park. Then we watch him get back in his boat and start calling for ducks. I was dumbfounded. How can anyone hunt this park less than 30' from a road that people use to walk with their kids and take their morning runs. As we sat there people passed him by and I'm sure they could not believe there eyes either.
As far as I see it, he knows what he was doing. His boat was not set up like he was new to waterfowling and his calling was not bad. He is experienced and should know better. I know it was the last day of the season but come on, does someone really need to hunt like that when there are some many other places to go with less that a 2 minute run from there. It really just burns me up when I see this crap. If anyone know this guy tell him to get his act together. His actions are a reflection on all of us. In addition, when we got to the ramp ther guy was dragging his jon boat up onto his trailer with a truck that has handicap plates. Now I'm no doctor but he looked pretty agile to me as we watched him hump his crap around and drag his boat around.
Sorry for venting but guys like this just burn me up.
 
John,
From going over the laws recently as long as the road or bicycle path is not in his direction of shooting, and he is below the high tide mark. So legally he can be there. However it would have been smart for him to move further into the marsh. As for the handicapped license plate, it could be for a child or wife. I have been dealing with guys pass shooting with 3 1/2 inch shells with houses 700 ft away in the direction they were shooting. Again legal yes, smart no. They have peppered the houses a few times causing problems in the area for other hunters.

Joe
 
Not to split hairs, but the bow of the boat was above high tide and so were some of the decoys. As to the direction of shots fired. He was waiting for geese to come down the flyway (in his words) which is right next to the Wantagh Parkway and I'm sure if the shots were taken as he planned, the parkway and or park would have had shot raining down on it. At one point he was walking above the high tide mark on park grounds with a ( I can only assume) loaded firearm. I agree he may be within his legal rights if you don't want to split hairs but if you know how busy this park is on the weekend I'm sure you would not want your wife and kids walking past this guy as he taking shots. I live and hunt in Wantagh and there are so many other places to hunt I just can't understand why someone would hunt in this manner. It's just poor judgment and can only lead to problems for the rest of us.
Again, it's just my opinion.
 

With the additional details he was skating the law. I fully agree with the safety issue with people in the park.

If thats the area you've been hunting, it's no wonder you've had the feather problem in your garbage.
I've been trying to figure out where to launch and hunt from down there. Every drive home I always see birds, then I get out here and now it's all ice.
 
Ya dont need me... ya need the pot and pan lady! Man oh man.... just finished up sunday, so Im back on the net a little. Good Lord. Who cares if he's legal? Even if he might be legal by a technaility, he won't be for long, because the law will change and he'll loose his place, and real good chance the rest of ya'll will too. Its not hard for any muncipailty to stop the hunting there... closing ramps is a lot easier than changing laws. Then it will be up to everyone who uses the area to fight to get it back. Glad he got a ticket... legal or not, let him have the fight instead of everyone else who is fixing to be effected by his elmer fudd routine. Hope it costs him thousands.

We can church it up all we want. The tradations, the sunrises, the hand made decoys and boats, the dog work, whatever you choose to be YOUR passion about this sport. But make no misteak, it IS a bloodsport. And the majority of people who witness it by accident, aren't happy about the encounter. Every single person who was effected by this guy sunday, now has a reason to stop hunting in that area. And when they do, it wont be the beach, itwill be the whole freggin area. Why not? In their minds the elmers are going to spill out of the hunting area and into their park. So when an effort is made, it'll be to close the whole area. And bet there is someone right now working on it.

I had an interview with a potiental client for me to train his dog about 3 weeks ago. Sunday afternoon we where going to meet, and I was going to demo a couple dogs for him and show him what dogs can do. We got in from hunting, and tj and I both showered, collared shirts, and I shaved my neck. Dug thru all the hunting stuff for some bumpers... unloaded ducks out of the back of my truck, for bumpers. I'm showing a HUNTING dog, to a man who has been HUNTING all weekend, for me to train his dog to HUNT, yet I chose bumpers. Because 15 minutes into our discussion and demo, his wife, and 4 kids of various ages showed up. Guess what, she wouldn't been too impressed to see her little 16 week old puppy with blood and feathers on it. She wouldn't have been too impressed to see the belly split open on a duck during my demo. In her mind, she was coming to see what the family pet was going to be doing, and who she would be doing it with. She didn't want to see elmer fudd and blowed out intestines. She wouldn't have went for that, at all. I'd been legal to come in from hunting, and toss the days shovlers for my dogs... but instead using a little common sense, I made sure the impression I left was the one I wanted. I live in memphis tn... they're are lots of places I can train with dead birds. They're lots of places I don't use dead birds because it is not worth the impression I will leave with people who didnt leave the house that day to see that. The only impression most people have, is the one we give them. Every encounter you have a chance to make that a bad, or good impression, and everytime someone makes it bad, it makes us one step closer to all bloodsports being over.

Hunting wont end over us losing our guns. Or even our right to hunt. It will end over access. The same way all bloodsports will eventually end, or become the game of the ultra elite only. travis
 
Hunting wont end over us losing our guns. Or even our right to hunt. It will end over access. travis
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Yup!


P.S. For those of you who never saw it, the craziness of the "pot & pan " lady is a good example of what John is talking about.
 
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I am not defending this guy, but the question was over legality. a few last thoughts.

What is right is not necessarily legal (and vice versa).

John you said you watched this guy all morning. Which means that those children / moms etc. walking in the park can see you also, even if you aren't 15 feet of the path. What if someone decides they don't like where you are hunting? Should the police write you a ticket or arrest you?

Just something to think about. With the amount of suburban sprawl in NJ and NY there are fewer and fewer spots that are out of site of the public, and at least in NJ you are stacked on top of the next guy in alot of these places.

I agree that limiting access / resources is where the fight against hunting is going. There is talk to discontinue the pheasant stocking program in NJ (for financial reasons). No pheasants, no small game season, and fewer hunters.
 
It's just poor judgment and can only lead to problems for the rest of us.
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I'll bet your neighbors loved the feathers flying out of the garbage truck...I'll also bet more than one of them made the connection to you, their local duck hunter. Like Travis said, ethical or not in the field, the feathers is their impression of a duck hunter. Some day, you may be trying to convince them to vote to preverve your hunting priviledges (or vote for an official who will help to preserve these privileges), and they will look at the duck hunter in front of them and just see feathers. JMHO
 
My oldest and I were taking a walk in one of our public parks in RI... this one is particularly beautiful, it borders the bay and has a great marsh and an old bridge... it's truly a magnificent park... Well, you guys are gun appreciators... it's called "Colt State Park", so guess who used to live there a billion years ago?

Anyway, we hear shots. We look and there is a lone duck hunter sitting on the edge of the marsh hunting. He was 200 yards away, he was zero danger to the public. Remember we live in RI, which by all accounts is one of the most liberal states and possesses a huge anti-hunting population.

We heard more shots and more shots. The poor guy was shooting at anything and everything that passed him by, especially the high stuff. I glassed him several times and I didn't see any bird connects...

Anyway, I see a lot of people looking as well and shaking their heads. My first thought was "cool, a duck hunter"... and after watching the people - watching him, my second thought was "go away and find a less public spot because you're turning these people off". Colt State Park is a very busy place and many people witnessed the duck hunter.

Sure, it's cool to say, especially on a public duck forum, "screw the public, we have rights, blah..." but it's not reality, i.e. it hurts our rights in the short and long run. Travis is correct, duck hunting is first a blood sport and the general public knows this better than we do. Save the energy to preserve open space where duck hunting can occur without disturbance by the Public. Now that's a noble cause in our activity. Blatantly shooting ducks in full view of antis at a public park is self centered and short sighted.

A.
 
Travis, well said and that was my point. Maybe I should have change the subject to something like "common sence needed"

Chuck, I hear you. You can't go to this park during hunting season and not hear shots. As far as someone seeing me, I'm sure they could if they were looking with binoculars as I was doing with this guy or watched me come in at the ramp. My point is simply we as hunters we need to exercise some common sense if we want to continue hunting in the area.
The feather situation has been resolved. They are now being placed in smaller plastic bags, double bagged and marked accordingly.
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I think they were just pissed off that I had not given them their Holiday tip yet. No problems since then.
As for my neighbors impression of the feathers, I see your point but it's not like I'm plucking birds on my front lawn and letting the feathers fly down the block while everyone was out in their yards watching me. I was bagging and disposing them in a garbage pail.

I have seen first had what happens when you don't use good judgment around here. You loose access. I am also a diver and have seen beach after beach and town after town close access to some great spots because of the actions of some people who just don't care to respect the area. I don't want to see my own town shut me down from hunting. I purchased my home here because I liked to close proximity to the water and all it has to offer. I scuba dive, surf, fish, clam, train my dog and of course hunt 5 minutes from my home and I don't want to loose that privilege because of the actions of a few guys that don't exercise common sense.
 
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