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dry riverbeds are NOT public property

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onefireman

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Just a reminder for the giant party that hunts the Beaver creek bottoms. Walking along the creek (non-meandered) should check the regulations and laws before doing it again tomorrow. If you do not own, or have a landowners permission to walk in the creek bed, you will be prosecuted for trespass. It makes me sad to explain to a landowner that not every hunter plays by the rules. Next time hunters complain that there is less and less land to hunt, consider some of your own actions if you "think you know the rules". There are very few meandered streambeds that this would apply, and Beaver creek, is not one of them. It is illegal to ride your ATV's in them as well...
 
Where is this in the regs? What if it was not dry? What if it has some amount of water in it and was still walkable? Just curious I have never seen this in any regs before. Just looking to learn something not piss any one off.
 
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Could you have floated beaver creek for a 6 month period in the last 10 years. I bet you could have those years we actually had rain.
 
onefireman said:
Just a reminder for the giant party that hunts the Beaver creek bottoms. Walking along the creek (non-meandered) should check the regulations and laws before doing it again tomorrow. If you do not own, or have a landowners permission to walk in the creek bed, you will be prosecuted for trespass. It makes me sad to explain to a landowner that not every hunter plays by the rules. Next time hunters complain that there is less and less land to hunt, consider some of your own actions if you "think you know the rules". There are very few meandered streambeds that this would apply, and Beaver creek, is not one of them. It is illegal to ride your ATV's in them as well...
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5 posts since 2007, all complaining. Classic!!
 
onefireman said:
Just a reminder for the giant party that hunts the Beaver creek bottoms. Walking along the creek (non-meandered) should check the regulations and laws before doing it again tomorrow. If you do not own, or have a landowners permission to walk in the creek bed, you will be prosecuted for trespass. It makes me sad to explain to a landowner that not every hunter plays by the rules. Next time hunters complain that there is less and less land to hunt, consider some of your own actions if you "think you know the rules". There are very few meandered streambeds that this would apply, and Beaver creek, is not one of them. It is illegal to ride your ATV's in them as well...
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Does the creek in question divide two properties?
 
If everyone followed the rules, I would not need to complain. The same landowner on both sides, and plenty of boot tracks along the way. It is a safety issue more than me wanting to shoot Booner bucks. I would like to bring my nephew to hunt deer with his shotgun, but with people marching willy-nilly like they own the county, it makes it a little dangerous.
 
I am a little confused on this I thought the law read that you could as long as you where within the banks. I see nothing about how much water is in the creek/river/waterways whatever you want to call them you cannot enter the waterway by means of private ground without permission. But if you have a access point from somewhere else you could use it as you please.
 
Law actually states that the land owner doesn't own the water but the land under it. So if you can float it and nothing is touching the bottom, you are not trespassing. You touch bottom you trespass. This is the same for the Wapsi, Cedar, Iowa, Maq., etc.

This is a very tricky law. Dropping an anchor to go fishing is one thing, dropping a trophy whitetail is another. As worded the law would side with the landowner unless you prove you didn't touch bottom.

Hope this helps everyone.
 
Trenkamp79 said:
Law actually states that the land owner doesn't own the water but the land under it. So if you can float it and nothing is touching the bottom, you are not trespassing. You touch bottom you trespass. This is the same for the Wapsi, Cedar, Iowa, Maq., etc.

This is a very tricky law. Dropping an anchor to go fishing is one thing, dropping a trophy whitetail is another. As worded the law would side with the landowner unless you prove you didn't touch bottom.

Hope this helps everyone.
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Depends where youre at on those rivers you listed also.. down around me they are all considered meandered streams in which wet or dry, the river is public within the normal high water mark on its banks
 
AIRASSAULT said:
Depends where youre at on those rivers you listed also.. down around me they are all considered meandered streams in which wet or dry, the river is public within the normal high water mark on its banks
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X2. Talked to the local CO 3 days ago, and he told me the exact same thing.
 
MadisonB&C said:
Here's a good map. Basically if a river isn't shown here touching the bottom would be considered trespassing. http://www.iowadnr.gov/portals/idnr/uploads/riverprograms/meanderedmap.pdf
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Umm no that is not even close to all of them. Almost every backwater and stream in warren county or at least anything that feeds main channel is also. You should try to find a county map that shows it closer. There is no detail I'm this map.
 
kellyprymek said:
Umm no that is not even close to all of them. Almost every backwater and stream in warren county or at least anything that feeds main channel is also. You should try to find a county map that shows it closer. There is no detail I'm this map.
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That map shows Iowa's meandered streams. You're probably thinking of navigable waterways which are different. Navigable waterways are listed by county, and if you're going up or down them you need to be in a boat.

Sent from my iPhone using IW
 
madisonB&C has it right on the money. All of the legal opinions are here in the above links. Non-meandering if you float it and don't touch bottom you are good. Meandering if you stay within the high water lines touching bottom you are good. Zero meandering streams in Warren County! Only the Raccoon and DM rivers in Polk. If you fire a weapon at game beyond the water, non- meandering, or high water mark, meandering, you are a criminal. Does everybody understand criminal? Someone else can clarify criminal

Onefireman is totally inline to be burnt over these trespasser, criminals.
 
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The State of Iowa owns the beds of its navigable streams up to the ordinary high-water mark and holds them in trust for its citizens. McManus v. Carmichael, 3 Iowa (Clarke) 1 (1856). Thus, a riparian owner whose land abuts a navigable water body takes only to the high-water mark. McCauley v. Salmon, 234 Iowa 1020, 1022, 14 N.W.2d 715, 716 (1944)I
 
I am not trying to argue but to only understand it looks like to me I can use any navigable stream to float fish wade swim and the bed is owned by the state up to the high water marks within the banks. To be clear I don't use streams to hunt or fish on others land. I am not trying to argue. I would just like to understand. The way I read it I can use any navigable stream or meandering waterway and the bed is owned by the state into the high water line that is within the banks.
 
Another thing it seems like I remember reading in the laws somewhere or had a CO tell me is if you are in a non-meandering stream through private property via boat, kayak, or canoe, I believe you also have the right to get out on ones property to portage your boat, kayak, or canoe around any fence or obstruction put in place by man. Not sure about log-jams though.
 
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