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Party hunting law?

Rutty

Member
I’m not a big shotgun hunter and elect late season muzzleloader over shotgun. I am considering shotgun hunting this year. I have read the regulations and am trying to find clarification on this issue. Here is an example of a question I am trying to find an answer to. Say I will be hunting a farm and I have a county doe tag and my buddy will be hunting a different farm within the section and he has a buck tag. Can I shoot a buck and have him use his any sex statewide tag on him? The way I read it there is no law on proximity of your party of hunters to you as long as the buck gets tagged? Am I right? Just want to make sure I will be legal and don’t want to break any laws. Anybody have any input?
 
I’m not a big shotgun hunter and elect late season muzzleloader over shotgun. I am considering shotgun hunting this year. I have read the regulations and am trying to find clarification on this issue. Here is an example of a question I am trying to find an answer to. Say I will be hunting a farm and I have a county doe tag and my buddy will be hunting a different farm within the section and he has a buck tag. Can I shoot a buck and have him use his any sex statewide tag on him? The way I read it there is no law on proximity of your party of hunters to you as long as the buck gets tagged? Am I right? Just want to make sure I will be legal and don’t want to break any laws. Anybody have any input?
I was told by a CO you had to be in direct participation in the same hunt. His take was even on the same farm, in two different stands hunting was not considered dual participation. You had to be together, doing drives or still hunting the same parcel with the intent to help each other make a harvest.

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Sitting in two stands, even on the same property would not legally cut it. I'm sure it happens because it would be hard for a CO to prove one guy did not push it to the other without witnessing the hunt. But like described above, party hunting is intended to be in assisting each other harvest. This can be as small as a two man push/still hunt.
 
I thought you still had to be licensed to kill the animal even if you didnt have the tag. So then you would only be able to shoot a doe because your license is antlerless only. I know some guys that do this but I dont think it is legal. I could be wrong, but that's the way I understand it.
 
I thought you still had to be licensed to kill the animal even if you didnt have the tag. So then you would only be able to shoot a doe because your license is antlerless only. I know some guys that do this but I dont think it is legal. I could be wrong, but that's the way I understand it.

You can shoot a buck if you have an antlerless tag but a member of your party has an unfilled buck tag. Shotgun is the only season one can party hunt legally.


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Same parcel would be almost ridiculous. I don't party hunt. But when a large group pushes there is no way that would happen.
 
Same parcel would be almost ridiculous. I don't party hunt. But when a large group pushes there is no way that would happen.
They mean same tract, not every individual parcel with a tax ID number on the same tract. All the above comments must also be followed.
 
As already stated why don’t you guys sit together or do small one man pushes. Done. The overall goal of the party hunting idea is to achieve harvest goals. Period
 
I think it will be interpreted differently depending on the officer. I was told we could sit in our blinds on the same farm and use the other's tag if needed. The other tag holder needs to be close enough to be able to tag the deer in the allotted time.
A Transportation Tag with the date of kill properly shown shall be visibly attached to the deer or turkey within 15 minutes of the time it is located after being taken or before the carcass is moved to be transported by any means, whichever occurs first, in a manner that the tag cannot be removed without mutilating or destroying it.
I know there are people who push the limits but shotgun seasons and party hunting has always been about controlling the deer numbers filling tags that have been purchased.
 
I was told by a CO you had to be in direct participation in the same hunt. His take was even on the same farm, in two different stands hunting was not considered dual participation. You had to be together, doing drives or still hunting the same parcel with the intent to help each other make a harvest.

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So if you are saying that hunting in two different stands on the same parcel or even lets say the same owner may have multiple parcels... that would not be "party" hunting. I have never heard that, seems like a stretch to me. I was told by the DNR you must participate in the hunt and should be close enough to meet tagging requirements.
 
I have been told if you are sitting you must be in the same blind/stand. If you are pushing, you must be in the same group.
This is the reason terry drury is sitting with a relative or friend in the same blind during shotgun. He's "party hunting"
 
I have been told if you are sitting you must be in the same blind/stand. If you are pushing, you must be in the same group.
This is the reason terry drury is sitting with a relative or friend in the same blind during shotgun. He's "party hunting"

It would have to be specified in the rule book, I found nothing that states you have to be on the same parcel or the same stand.
 
It would have to be specified in the rule book, I found nothing that states you have to be on the same parcel or the same stand.
Like a lot of the rules it is interpreted by the CO. What I stated above is what is the interpretation of one of them.....

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I understand what you are saying. Not trying to say “no you are wrong”... but it would be tough for an officer to cite a person for something that’s not specific in the law.

They can do it, but the hunter could challenge it. I can tell you thousands of hunting parties do not sit in the same stand nor do they worry about parcels or whether they are on this 80 or this 40. Some “push” entire sections and they may be on 4 different owners land at different times.
 
Ya I hear ya. I dont think anyone would get cited for what you described in the push area. Stand hunting... not sitting in same blind. Now that's pretty hard to argue about being a part of the hunt and I could easily see that being written up. Just my understanding on how it was explained to me. I'll say this.... I don't like ambiguity in any law.....

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Ya I hear ya. I dont think anyone would get cited for what you described in the push area. Stand hunting... not sitting in same blind. Now that's pretty hard to argue about being a part of the hunt and I could easily see that being written up. Just my understanding on how it was explained to me. I'll say this.... I don't like ambiguity in any law.....

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CO here told us he would not consider stand hunting in different areas of the same farm party hunting. Right or wrong that was his interpretation and i dont deel like fighting it as i can see his point. To me, sitting on different fields even on the same farm on different stands would not really be participation in the same hunt. You are on your own hunt. Cant pic and chose. Party hunting is a group activity. Ban it, or enforce it best as you can. I know i always sit directly with whoever comes to hunt with me and my tag for gun, no chance we can both shoot at the same time by accident

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CO here told us he would not consider stand hunting in different areas of the same farm party hunting. Right or wrong that was his interpretation and i dont deel like fighting it as i can see his point. To me, sitting on different fields even on the same farm on different stands would not really be participation in the same hunt. You are on your own hunt. Cant pic and chose. Party hunting is a group activity. Ban it, or enforce it best as you can. I know i always sit directly with whoever comes to hunt with me and my tag for gun, no chance we can both shoot at the same time by accident

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This is exactly how I understand it as well.

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Ambiguity of it is part of the problem, both in practice and enforcement.

Not supposed to use electronic devices in a hunt; how do you contact Joe to tell him you just filled his tag if he is clear across the “farm”? What if he has a deer present itself?

Seen too many cases of people buying tags for people that don’t hunt, either to “host” nonresidents or for personal use.

For those saying that the main reason is for deer population control reasons, do we really have that problem after shooting the herd back to 1970’s level with tons of tags? Now EHD?

Obviously, I’m not a fan of party hunting and haven’t been since starting deer hunting back in the ‘70’s.


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