Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! Yes, you can challenge the citation but get your wallet out. When it comes to interpretation of the laws it is really simple to call up your very own gamewarden and hear it from their lips. That is a heck of a lot cheaper than going to court.

I've been hunting a long, long, long time. Been my experience if you treat the GW with respect you will be respected in return. And, don't wait until opening day to give them a call. They're a little busy dealing with the folks that solicited bogus advice on internet forums.

So the order here seems we are to ask the game warden to grant permission to hunt our own property? 600 yards from a feeder and the general answer is to ask the game warden's permision for fear of a citation?

If it involves "Baiting"...you're dang skippy.

NP if I ever seen an NP

Unfortunately yes I believe. It is possible (not right but what are you going to do) to hunt in another part of the property if there is a feeder within sight. Like I said, I'm more worried about a feeder you can't see and have no way of avoiding.

"A hunter may not
hunt migratory birds with the aid of bait, or on or over any baited area"

Its pretty easy to see if your hunting a flight path to or from a baited area than the baited area is aiding you in killing those birds.

For the record I would hunt if I was the OP. A GW would really have to be an a-hole to give you a ticket for hunting 600 yards from feeder. I have hunted within 80 yards of mine before because they were hitting the goat weed that was near it.

But, what she told him, as far as being able to get a ticket for it, is accurate. Will he? Very doubtful. Very very doubtful.

I got checked in Wise county yesterday. Had my ten year old with me. She was very nice and respectful to both of us. She checked both of our licenses. I offered to let her check our guns for plugging and she politely declined. They are human so you're going to get the good side and the bad side depending upon the luck of the draw. Many years ago a friend and I were plinking with 22's when there was no open season. I had a license but my friend did not. He gave him a ticket for hunting without a license. Said rabbits (no closed season) were known to be in the area so we were technically hunting. We were shooting cans and it was very obvious. He just wanted to be a jerk. Took it to the Johnson cty Justice of the peace and he laughed. Said he couldn't believe what a waste of taxpayer's money it was and immediately dismissed it. still a pain in the arse.

It sounds like you should be careful. She is probably trying to fast track herself up the ladder from Crappie Cop all the way to Dove Detective.

That is stupid was her name Fife

If you have to ask the government permission, you're not free.

That isnt even logical. With that thought process, every bird we shoot would be illegal. They are all flying to bait at one time or the other.

The point of all this is to say, it is.nkt.uo to a game warden to make law. Their interpretation sucks but thank God and a lot of dead soldiers that they are noy the decision makers. LAW IS NOT THEIR BUSINESS, INTERPRETATION IS NOT THEIR BUSINESS, ENFORCEMENT IS THEIR BUSINESS. Bringing violators to justice is all they are hired to do.

You do as you please. I am going hunting. I am going to follow law. If i get a ticket and the GW is wrong, no problem. I will be polite and kindly let a jury hand him his arse, politely of course😁

I am sure the dove is flying to food somewhere. I think the dove like to fly to Oklahoma and I know someone there has a feeder so I guess we are all in trouble.

Thank you for getting my point. This outlaw bit has done got out of hand.

Okay sorry long day under the helmet laying money, beads. I did ask the question for a couple reasons. I knew she knew the feeder was down there. Two, I knew she would be back to check me if I was hunting. I asked the exact question of, "How far away from a feeder do you have to be for it to not be considered baiting?" Her response, "Theres really no judgeable distance cause it could be said that the dove your shooting is flying to the feeder, therefor that is baiting." She followed that up with, "After having a positive run in with someone, Id hate to give that someone a ticket the next time I see them." So I told her id shut the feeder off. She also asked what I was feeding. I said corn. She scolded me for feeding corn when its 90 degree days cause it makes the deer sick. First time I had heard that. But I, like most of yall, love hunting. Each time I am in the woods is like a vacation. Reason I asked is cause I would hate to have my first ticket from a GW because of something that is avoidable.

Your right Wal. You can't get ticketed for hunting on a flight path close to a baited area. I tell you what... Go ahead a dump 1000 lbs of corn in a pile in the middle of a 50 acre field better yet make it 100 acres... hunt the edges and shoot birds as they come in. By YOUR INTERPRITATION that would be completely legal as you wouldn't be directly over the bait. But, I guarantee you your arse would be fined so hard your head would pop off.

Hey udamdan, you can't eat popcorn...That would be considered baiting. Sorry, I couldn't help myself...LOL

He is baiting for trolls totally legal LOL.

Corn makes deer sick? I wouldn't listen to a word she says.

Yup,
If I understand her correctly: my anti-hunting neighbor could put up feeders on their property (where it is illegal for me to trespass and investigate,) to intentionally stop me from hunting dove. But then wouldn't the "hunter harassment law" come into play there. Then my anti-hunter neighbor would get the ticket!

TPWD regs have a ton gray areas. We jokingly make fun of the different weak description of laws it has, they need to brush up and define things better. We just do our best to do what is right.

welcome

And then some wonder why GWs have a hard time only "enforcing" the laws instead of interpreting them. IMO, it is up to the GW to interpret the gray areas and base the enforcement on that. Then the courts can sort the rest out. In many cases, LEOs do the exact same thing. It requires a certain amount of common sense approach, but also gives them the chance to stick it to an arse that doesn't like the law in the first place and decides to blame them .

I would venture a guess that a select few on this thread in particular don't get along very well with GWs....

As far as the OP goes, I would still hunt and deal with it if I received a ticket. My

Ive been checked by 3 different GW on Fort Hood all were very nice checked me to make sure I was up to date on license and area access pass and let me go on my merry way. I think if they get a bad vibe off of you then you got a good chance of quickly getting on their radar and bad side.

Yup,
Nothing wrong with studying the rules, and questioning different scenarios, it is a great way to get educated on hunting laws. Something too many make too little or no effort doing.
If in doubt, we just don't do it, whether we agree with them or not. If their is a gray area, we simply won't stretch the rule to fit our situation. That is asking for trouble.