legal ?

[Machias]

There is bait all over the place. If you can't hunt bears just because someone might have bait in an area, that means you can't hunt bears anywhere. Dumb. Hunt bears wherever you want. And I do have faith in most game wardens. They're not out there looking to pinch someone for walking in the woods with a rifle and a best tag in their pocket, when they happen to be near someone else's bait.

You might want to have a conversation with one, might be a bit eye opening to you.  I did just that a couple of years ago as well as the lady who prosecutes for the state, they were more of a mindset of charging and let's see where this goes.  Most guys do not have the resources and plead down.  It's just the reality.

[Jonathan_S]

  even if most wardens are reasonable, I'm not going to put my record in their hands and find out who the abusive minority are.

[bobcat]

I'm not too worried. I've never seen a game warden out in the woods anyway. Ever seen Rugged Justice? 

[Jonathan_S]

I'm not too worried. I've never seen a game warden out in the woods anyway. Ever seen Rugged Justice? 

   Gotta agree with that too.  I have never seen one in the woods either.  Then again I don't hunt with BH45

[bobcat]

So for those of you worried about hunting near someone else's bait, you better not even buy a bear tag, because there's no way to know where someone might have bait. Even if you're 10 miles from it, tha could be considered hunting over bait. 

[KFhunter]

There is a certain risk in hunting even following all the laws to the letter, sucks.


A guy can't really know what's just over the knob, is there a barrel full of doughnuts and dogfood 100 yards away?   

[JimmyHoffa]

I'm not too worried. I've never seen a game warden out in the woods anyway. Ever seen Rugged Justice? 

Only seen one during bear season, and I really think the guy was having an acid trip. 

[rtspring]

I'm not too worried. I've never seen a game warden out in the woods anyway. Ever seen Rugged Justice? 

   Gotta agree with that too.  I have never seen one in the woods either.  Then again I don't hunt with BH45

It only takes that 1 time to really mess up your life! It can and does happen. 

I'm not into taking chances.. 

Like always people talk tough on here! ( not directed at anyone in particular) but until you have dealt with these gamies in a bad way you just wont ever understand that it CAN HAPPEN.   

[Bob33]

So for those of you worried about hunting near someone else's bait, you better not even buy a bear tag, because there's no way to know where someone might have bait. Even if you're 10 miles from it, tha could be considered hunting over bait. 

There's a difference between hunting an area you know is baited, and hunting an area without any known bait.

[MtnMuley]

I wouldn't hunt it but because somebody else is and not because of the bait 

That's what I'm talking about right there.

[vandeman17]

I still find it odd that lots of you guys would hunt even in the general area of someone else's bait site. Like bobcat said, I am sure there are way more around then we ever see out hiking around but that is not gonna keep me from hunting. Besides, the likelihood of actually killing a bear in that location AND getting caught AND ticketed is extremely low so if for some dang reason all the above happened, I would just deal with it accordingly. I am an ethical hunter and follow all the rules so I have no problem hunting an area with salt out from someone else's camera. Now if it was my camera or if it was more of a "bear bait" that is a totally different story.

[vandeman17]

I wouldn't hunt it but because somebody else is and not because of the bait 

That's what I'm talking about right there.

You wouldn't hunt bears close to it since someone else might be hunting elk there later? Not me. If I was elk hunting and thought they would be too I would find a new area but not if I was hunting a different species in a different season. 

[bobcat]

So for those of you worried about hunting near someone else's bait, you better not even buy a bear tag, because there's no way to know where someone might have bait. Even if you're 10 miles from it, tha could be considered hunting over bait. 

There's a difference between hunting an area you know is baited, and hunting an area without any known bait.

True, but I'm not sure why you'd tell a game warden that you knew about someone else's bait in an area that you were hunting bears.

[Woodchuck]

Integrity?

[bigtex]

"bait" means a substance placed, exposed, deposited, distributed, scattered, or otherwise used for the purpose of attracting black bears to an area where one or more persons hunt or intend to hunt them. RCW 77.15.245

The officer and the prosecutor would have to prove that the salt was placed there for the purpose of attracting bears to an area where someone intends to hunt them. And this is always the sticking point for successful prosecution.

If someone is putting apples out for deer and it's the opening day of archery deer season and a bear walks in can you then legally shoot the bear? Well by the law you did not place the apples in the area for bear, but rather for deer. Now if you shoot the bear and around the corner walks the WDFW Officer are you going to have some explaining to do? You betcha.

In 2012 all fish and wildlife crimes became mandatory court appearances. But even before then bear baiting was already a mandatory court appearance (one of the few F&W offenses that at that time was a mandatory), it wasn't a ticket with a fine.