# Accidental ducks



## DuckDog (Feb 10, 2004)

Anyone who has hunted ducks very much has seen an accidental bird shot. Not all of our guests are the avid duck hunters that we are. It does take some experience to identify birds in flight, especially in foul weather or low light conditions. What is the proper thing to do if someone in your party accidently shoots two hen mallards, or the out of season pintail? 

Last year while duck hunting, I gave my dog a break to relieve himself. When was done he brought back a duck another hunter must have shot the day before, or possibly a cripple that died there. This was not a duck that I shot at. Possession of this duck would be illegal (pintail out of season) My first instinct was to get rid of the bird. So I throw it back into the weeds as far as I can, but of course the dog couldn't wait to go retrieve it again, so I went out of sight of the dog and hid it. He found it again when I was picking up decoys. I did not intend to possess the duck, I left it there to rot. If I am checked by the COs and they find the bird, or while they are checking me my dog goes and gets it, am I in possesion of an illegal bird? It could be extremely tough to convince the CO that you did not shoot it, and do not intend to take the bird home. What should I do in this situation? This has happened more than once, my dog is pretty good at this type of thing. 

Thanks,
Duckdog


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

The first part of your question, accidentally shooting an illegal duck, the only answer I can give is you must know for sure what you are shooting at or don't shoot.

As the the second part of you dog finding an illegal duck you did it right, get rid of the duck and do not keep it. Besides if it was shot the day before and you have no idea how long it has been dead you should not want to keep it anyway.


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## DuckDog (Feb 10, 2004)

If the unwanted duck is hidden near where I am hunting, am I in possession? If my dog brings it to me is it in my possesion? Did I posses it while I was getting rid of it? My dog has brought back both live cripples, and warm ducks like this. (nasty rotten ones too)
I heard of someone getting a ticket for a duck they did not shoot. They let their dog run will the CO was checking their licenses, and the dog brought back an illegal duck. 

Too bad I have to worry about stuff like this, but we try to be as legal as possible. We have alot of money tied up in boats and equipment, and it would suck to lose my license or equipment. 

Thanks again,
DuckDog


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

I hear a lot of stories about people getting arrested that turn out not to be true or all the facts provided. CO's are not dummies and they are very aware of what goes on not just by poachers but what happens to hunters too as COs also hunt. I don't know anyone who obeys all the laws and gets into trouble or accused of something that they didn't do. Maybe a possibility would be to have your dog stay with you and only fetch when you shoot a duck so the dog doesn't bring back a bunch of ducks that are not yours.


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## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

> _Originally posted by DuckDog _
> *
> I heard of someone getting a ticket for a duck they did not shoot. They let their dog run will the CO was checking their licenses, and the dog brought back an illegal duck.
> 
> *



I vote for the CO getting the ticket--he was the only human in possession of the bird...


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## Butch (Aug 29, 2001)

Duck dog, I used to hunt some walkin state land with heavy cattails(lots of lost cripples by guys that often didn't have dogs) and my dog then was a cripple finding machine. I taught him early on, not to bring back the cold ones(when I later tried to do some training with some guys that used old frozen birds for some of their dog training, this led to some problems, lol). 

If we didn't get any shooting for a while, my dog would try to sneak off to hunt up cripples lost by others. Even if I kept him with me, when I shot a bird and he went to retrieve it in the cattail stands, he sometimes found another bird in his search before the right one. He also found birds as we slogged back from hunting, where the heavy cover and difficult wading made it hard to keep him at heel. A few years I even took him in there after opening day without a shotgun and 1 time he picked up a limit(3 then), then he found another woodie after I turned him loose from heel when we were almost back to the car.

I asked a local CO about this later and he told me that whether or not I was carrying a shotgun, if the dog found an extra bird I should stomp it into the mud. He told me that he probably would not have given me a ticket, but he wouldn't speak for any other CO's. Still, I would hope any CO would exercise discretion under similar circumstances.

Butch


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## Butch (Aug 29, 2001)

Boehr-

I was thinking about some past days where my dog retrieved 1 or more cripples lost previously by others, and I have another question. If I'm hunting with other hunters and my dog retrieves a duck that none of us shot, can we decide which hunter gets the duck? Can we change our minds later about whose duck it is? For example, 1 day hunting was slow so we let the dog hunt for lost cripples and he found 2 hen mallards. There were four of us, and we didn't shoot any other suzies. I find it personally unethical to waste a duck in hand so it never even occurred to me at the time to leave 1 of the suzies in the field. 

On one hand, this seems like party hunting(which I realize is not legal). On the other hand, if my dog is the only dog with the party, he will retrieve all ducks we shoot but the ducks don't all become "mine" just because my dog brought them back. 

This is not a hypothetical question. My dog loves to hunt up cripples. It's good practice for him finding birds. My buddies and I hate to see ducks wasted, even if they were lost by another party. However, if I have to count all lost cripples retrieved by my dog, I won't let him hunt for cripples most of the time.

Thanks for your help.

Butch


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

If one of the hunters wishes to include the bird in their possession limit, fine. If you change what duck belongs to who in order to ensure nobody is over limit or it will allow all to continue to hunt I don't know of a CO who would have a problem with that. Bottom line, you know what is right, you know what the limit is, 99% of the time you will be guided by you own conscience because a CO is not going to be there to check you.


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## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

This is an interesting thread, now I would like to take it a step further.

Your dog or somebody else's---heck, dog or no dog---you come into possession of a bird you may or may not have shot.

For what ever reason you determine that you are not supposed to have this bird so you get rid of it (stomp, fling when the dog isn't looking, whatever...).

Now, while all this is going on, guess what--you are in that 1% zone where LE has an eyeball on ya.

While we are not talking odds here--don't you think that you would be cited for dumping the game, especially if the bird was still warm?


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## William H Bonney (Jan 14, 2003)

This is very interesting,,, not to long ago, Fred Trost talked about a similar case that was hired for. 

A duck hunter was out hunting, and a "resident" on the lake called the local law enforcement and stated that the hunter was shooting ducks "illegally". The law enforcement met the hunter at the boat launch, when he was done hunting and checked for the appropriate licenses and checked his birds that he had shot,, EVERYTHING was legal.
After the hunter left, the law enforcement went out in their boat to the "area" where this guy was hunting and found a pile of feathers and guts from a hen mallard.( I forgot to state, that when the guy was checked at the launch,, he had 1 hen.) The law enforcement then sited the hunter for being over the limit on hen mallards, (by mail, obviously, cause this guy was long gone, by that time). Trost, was hired by this hunter, to dispute the ticket/fine. Trost said, the case was thrown out, before the defendant even said one word. I've also had my dog find cripples, on numerous occasions,, the best advice is, leave 'em where they lay.


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

Yep, in some cases, half of that 1% might be cited. The officer might believe the story from some and not believe the story of others. That's why they have courts to hear your story and make that decision. Remember, just because your are issued a ticket doesn't mean your guilty. Only three can say your guilty, yourself, a judge or a jury. Officers, including any law enforcement officer, don't find people guilty.


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## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

> _Originally posted by William H Bonney _
> *This is very interesting,,, not to long ago, Fred Trost talked about a similar case that was hired for.
> *



Lets just say that I have met and hunted with the guys that were involved in that deal. Things were slightly different than you just depicted. That is not my point though--like my granpappy used to say, don't believe anything ya hear and only half of what ya see. While Fred may have won this particular battle in court--there were some different circumstances they way I heard it--straight out of the horses mouths...

Thanks Boehr for your additional insight...


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## William H Bonney (Jan 14, 2003)

LOL, I'm sure there was, A LOT more to the story,,, I was kinda "paraphrasing" from memory. My depiction, was the actual gist of the story though, wasn't it??? Something to that effect?? Any chance of you "correcting" or collaborating, any parts of the story?? I'd love to hear the "whole story"!!


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## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

You got it pretty close.

Somebody mad about somebody else hunting "their" lake.

Both parties had dogs out and about, retrieving what was around.

CO found the duck alleged to be the one that put them over limit after they left.

Not a whole lot of proof that they ever were in possession.

and, I just don't remember, the rest of the story...


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