Recently I was asked a question regarding waterfowl hunting and the interpretation of a law or regulation involving a duck hunt that may occur on a same day between two states. The question was logical the answer had zero logic. I have an answer, but I told the individual that I would first like to call the local game warden and get his view on the very convoluted law or regulation. Here is the scenario, if an individual owned property in one state and had the opportunity to hunt the same day in the adjacent state, could he in fact hunt both states on the same day and harvest a legal limit of ducks, in both states? Of course all the proper licenses and stamps for both states where in hand and the hunter would have been totally legal. Now to be even more descriptive explaining the event, one hunt took place early morning in one state and the second hunt took place late in the afternoon in another state, on the same day, over 4 hours away.
The answer I got back was no, they couldn’t. There was also some confusion on his part because it is a federal regulation and not a state regulation, but the state game warden must enforce the regulation. His initial response was, this is a very confusing issue. It is referred to as the Aggregate total of birds. I asked him to explain, he did his best but we were both confused at the end of the discussion because he said, it is all based on the flyway you are hunting in. For instance the Mississippi flyway or the Central flyway. I said okay, if that is the case, if I hunted in the Mississippi flyway in the morning than I should be able to hunt in the Central flyway in the afternoon. He didn’t have a answer to that question and was going contact a federal agent for a definitive answer. So, because there are different limits in each state, as he was trying to explain the very confusing regulation, there is an aggregate of the total number of ducks you could take in a day. So I set up another scenario with him, in Missouri you can shoot 6 ducks, four of which can be mallards, and two of those can be hens, plus you get two bonus ducks such as teal, wigeon, gadwall, etc… if I shoot my limit of 6 ducks in Missouri, 4 mallards and two bonus ducks, can I then move over to Kansas and shoot one more mallard because in Kansas you can shoot 5 mallards? Even though I have exceeded the aggregate of 6 ducks! Do I have the right to shoot the 5th mallard? No answer!
I, and many other hunters who hunt in two states, don’t see any logic in this regulation or law. If I have paid for all my licenses and stamps and I am totally legal to hunt in both states, haven’t I paid for the right to hunt in both states and shoot a legal limit in both. I understand there are regulations and laws regarding possession limits, but if I am well within the possession limits then I should, legally, be able to hunt both states on the same day. How about using a little logic here.
The Outdoor Quarterback