Curious on something. Hunting a unit bordering a draw unit

[hobbes]

I would mark gps locations, and take lots of pictures to make sure everything makes absolute sense to any outside eyes. If you think the animal is fatally wounded and will die soon maybe give it a bit longer than normal and go in for recovery. I think the best person to answer this would be a warden… but it may vary from warden to warden. Same question could be asked of spots that border RMNP or preserves in other parts of the state that you can’t hunt.

There is no retrieving game from a NP, they don't care where the shot occured. You hunt the border with a rifle, you better anchor it on the legal side of the border. You shoot it with a bow, you better be far enough from the border that he can't make it across.

As far as unit boundaries go, I'd mark the shot location on OnX and go recover the bull. I also wouldn't worry about making phone calls to anyone.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Yeah best to steer clear of those grey areas anyways

 

[Gapmaster]

To add another wrench... do you bring your weapon across the border? What if you get to the bull and he stands up?

So if you trail him up and he’s still alive, gets up and runs and you shoot him, you didn’t “kill” him in the OTC unit. You killed him in the LE unit. I’m not saying I wouldn’t shoot him, I’m just saying what you’d be up against.

 

[svivian]

This should be pretty simple but i feel like shouldn't you just treat it as if you are hunting near private land? Asking yourself how am i going to recover this animal, is this going to be the best area to shoot one?

 

[Indian Summer]

If it were me, I'm taking some pics, marking some waypoints, running a track, and going to break down the elk. Even if I had cell reception, don't think I'm calling first.

Yep. Why would I call the cops on myself if I didn’t do anything wrong?

What if they’re bored and looking for something to do for fun like ruin my day.

I’d document everything but if I know I’m legal and ethical I’m going about my business. There are people in prison for crimes they didn’t commit! Lol

 

[Still Hunter]

All our resident Game Wardens, (which we have a few), enjoy threads like this.

 

[Gapmaster]

All our resident Game Wardens, (which we have a few), enjoy threads like this.

I wish one would chime in, be good discussion.

 

[sndmn11]

I wouldn't bat an eye, I'd get my animal, leave my weapon at the boundary.

 

[sndmn11]

I'm Colorado you can't shoot from the roadway. If you were smack dab in the middle of your unit 1/4 mile from the road and shot an animal that was also not on the road, but the thing died in the roadway, would you call the wildlife officer?

In Colorado you can't have a cartridge in the chamber of your rifle while in the vehicle. If you unload your chamber before getting in your vehicle, do you call law enforcement to let them know to come check you out?

That's how I view these things. When people call law enforcement it's because they think they are breaking the law, but want to get approval to do so. If you aren't breaking the law, let the wildlife officers handle calls for service about those that are.

 

[Billy Goat]

Part of the hunt is recovery. If you don't have a tag for that unit, then you can't hunt that unit, right?


Seems cut and dry to me, what an individual decides to do is on them.

 

[Indian Summer]

As long as you were completely legal at the time and place you made the shot why ask for a second opinion? Two sayings come to mind: Silence is Golden & Some things are better left Unsaid.

Oh and one more pertaining to calling the law on yourself: Nothing good can come of it.

 

[cnelk]

I know plenty of guys - including me - that hike/drive thru a LE unit to get to an OTC unit.

Not a problem

 

[sndmn11]

Part of the hunt is recovery. If you don't have a tag for that unit, then you can't hunt that unit, right?

I disagree. Have you ever packed meat or cut up an animal you didn't have a license/tag for? If so, did you think you were breaking the law by "hunting" by way of packing meat?

That's a lot moose violations when people get a gaggle of folks to carry out a load each.

 

[Billy Goat]

I disagree. Have you ever packed meat or cut up an animal you didn't have a license/tag for? If so, did you think you were breaking the law by "hunting" by way of packing meat?

That's a lot moose violations when people get a gaggle of folks to carry out a load each.

I have packed meat when it wasn't my animal, but that animal was still harvested legally. I suspect if it wasn't, everyone involved could be charged in some fashion. In CO can you just pick up roadkill? I don't know, in my state it still needs a tag. Once it's properly tagged, you can do what you want with it, like transfer possession.


It ain't harvested til your sitting on it. Just cause you shot it way over yonder don't mean that's actually where it was harvested. Otherwise you could go onto private to retrieve, or other places that don't allow hunting. Your tag allows you to hunt in that unit, once you cross into another unit, you don't have permission to hunt there.

 

[sndmn11]

I have packed meat when it wasn't my animal, but that animal was still harvested legally. I suspect if it wasn't, everyone involved could be charged in some fashion. In CO can you just pick up roadkill? I don't know, in my state it still needs a tag. Once it's properly tagged, you can do what you want with it, like transfer possession.


It ain't harvested til your sitting on it. Just cause you shot it way over yonder don't mean that's actually where it was harvested. Otherwise you could go onto private to retrieve, or other places that don't allow hunting. Your tag allows you to hunt in that unit, once you cross into another unit, you don't have permission to hunt there.

When you packed legally harvested meat of a friend's were you illegally hunting?

Is a hunter illegally hunting if he packs his legally harvested meat across a different unit back to his truck parked in his original licensed unit?

Private property is just that, it's germane to the topic.

 

[Bubblehide]

To add another wrench... do you bring your weapon across the border? What if you get to the bull and he stands up?

You can not legally hunt outside the unit you have a tag for. You however can take your weapon through it. The issue is that you want evidence you are not hunting. As such, I have always kept my rifle unloaded and taken the bolt out storing it in my pack along with the ammo in a location not so easy to access.

A couple years ago I reported a poached buck (not a legal buck) that the poachers hid and left to rot. I called the warden and met her a few miles away on a dirt road. Prior to her arriving, I unloaded my rifle and took the bolt out and stored them in my pack. She commented (as I rode in her truck trying to catch up with the poachers) that that was the first time anyone had done that and she was very appreciative. My point here is that little things like that go a long way.

 

[Billy Goat]

When you packed legally harvested meat of a friend's were you illegally hunting?

Is a hunter illegally hunting if he packs his legally harvested meat across a different unit back to his truck parked in his original licensed unit?

Private property is just that, it's germane to the topic.

No I wasn't hunting, nobody was hunting. Even the hunter who killed the animal wasn't hunting once his tag was notched.

I just packed in beer, carried out meat.


Maybe I'm wrong, I ain't going to find out. I was worried about it a few years ago being in a limited unit. I was getting up against an otc where my tag wasn't valid, 100 more yards and my tag wasn't legal.


There was a time I wouldn't have e thought twice about corner hopping in CO too.

 

[sndmn11]

No I wasn't hunting, nobody was hunting. Even the hunter who killed the animal wasn't hunting once his tag was notched.

That's the point.

 

[Billy Goat]

That's the point.

So you notch your tag before you cross into that unit? Or you wait til you sitting on it?

Like I said recovery is part of the hunt, but packing meat ain't recovery.

 

[sndmn11]

So you notch your tag before you cross into that unit? Or you wait til you sitting on it?

Like I said recovery is part of the hunt, but packing meat ain't recovery.

It's a carcass tag in Colorado, you sign it when you have a carcass. It isn't a "I shot at something" tag. FYI it doesn't have to go on the carcass while packing; just on arrival at camp or the vehicle, and the tagged piece is the EOS piece.

"Recovering" isn't hunting. Trying to kill is hunting. What matters is where the hunter and game are both located when the act of killing happened. Like I said above, one cannot hunt in the roadway, but if an animal was legally shot off the roadway and died in the public roadway, it's location of death doesn't mean it was illegally hunted. One cannot control an animal's path of travel after the shot.

Similarly, one cannot shoot an animal outside of their licensed unit and try to chase it over the border into their unit before it dies. By your logic, if that circus were successful, that "harvest" would take place in their unit but the actual hunting and wrangling wouldn't.