Crossing property lines

[Buckmark]

The other thing is that once the WDFW knows about it they will keep their eye on the carcass and make sure the landowner doesn't take the antlers or the meat for his own use.  It won't go to waste there are a ton of scavengers that will benefit from the dead animal.

Given the option of letting you retrieve the animal or having it sit and rot, stink and attract a bunch of scavengers to the area most of the time the landowner will give in and let you retrieve.

Just my 

Actually this is not entirely correct, as a property owner i would not be able to possess the animal or any parts of it for personal use, but i do have the right to dispose of the animal after contacting the WDFW or State patrol communications office.. So i don't have to just watch it sit and rot. 

If you ask me and it is determined the animal made its way to my place and died (was not shot on my place) i would let you retrieve it, heck i would help you. If you just trespassed and i caught you depending on how the initial contact goes (your attitude etc) you may or may not be retrieving it, if you rolled up and shot it on my place im calling you in...

[Jonnyjammer]

   and if it happened to happen to me sir you would get your choice of meat.

[Rainier10]

The other thing is that once the WDFW knows about it they will keep their eye on the carcass and make sure the landowner doesn't take the antlers or the meat for his own use.  It won't go to waste there are a ton of scavengers that will benefit from the dead animal.

Given the option of letting you retrieve the animal or having it sit and rot, stink and attract a bunch of scavengers to the area most of the time the landowner will give in and let you retrieve.

Just my 

Actually this is not entirely correct, as a property owner i would not be able to possess the animal or any parts of it for personal use, but i do have the right to dispose of the animal after contacting the WDFW or State patrol communications office.. So i don't have to just watch it sit and rot. 

If you ask me and it is determined the animal made its way to my place and died (was not shot on my place) i would let you retrieve it, heck i would help you. If you just trespassed and i caught you depending on how the initial contact goes (your attitude etc) you may or may not be retrieving it, if you rolled up and shot it on my place im calling you in...

So after being contacted by the WDFW and telling them the hunter couldn't retrieve the animal and the WDFW officer saying okay but you know you can't keep it either it is now going to sit and rot you would then make a request to the WDFW or State Patrol communication office to exercise your right to dispose of it so it wouldn't rot on your property?  It would just get disposed of somewhere else and the guy that shot it doesn't get it either?  I guess that is your right as a property owner. 

[Jonnyjammer]

Exactly  and that is how it should be.I dont think any hunter would play it out this way with their property unless the hunter was an, well you get it.Look at it like this,right or wrong if an anti hunter owns the property that the animal died on they have these rights,if the animal died on some vegans property they have these rights.So on and so on.remember the mentality of some like the Peta founder kill them all before they are killed because she loves them so much............................

[ghosthunter]

This question has been beat to death in Hunter education classes throughout the state for years. It keeps coming back because the only clear policy you will get from WDFW is You May Not Trespass.

They will tell you call a Game agent. And it is at Game agents discretion how its handled. And that depends a lot on where you are in the state.
If you are in Winthrop and your animal enters private property. And you cannot secure permission on your own. You are out of luck. Because the Game Agent which was over there until recently would not help you.
We were told that he was so over run with Trespass complaints about hunters that it wasn't worth his time to get involved because in most cases the property owners would not allow access. And it was counter productive to his mission to force land owners to allow access.

You will get a different story in Whatcom or Skagit County you might have a chance over here.

If you are looking for a absolute positive answer on weather you will get your animal that crosses into Private Property where the land owner has refused you access that applies across this state you are going to be disappointed. There is no absolute policy.

This question is in every Hunter Ed manual in the state. What do you do if your animal enters private property? I have asked  in my 28 years as instructor over 25 game agents this question. Not once, did I ever receive the same answer.

[fireweed]

You can get the animal without specific permission IF
1) the land is apparently unimproved and unused
2) the land is NOT POSTED,
3)the land is not fenced
4)there are no crops other than TIMBER
5) the landowner has never told you personally to keep out

...and 6) and the landowner knows this law and you trust they won't shoot you anyway

" A person who enters or remains upon unimproved and apparently unused land, which is neither fenced nor otherwise enclosed in a manner designed to exclude intruders, does so with license and privilege unless notice against trespass is personally communicated to him or her by the owner of the land or some other authorized person, or unless notice is given by posting in a conspicuous manner. Land that is used for commercial aquaculture or for growing an agricultural crop or crops, other than timber, is not unimproved and apparently unused land if a crop or any other sign of cultivation is clearly visible or if notice is given by posting in a conspicuous manner. Similarly, a field fenced in any manner is not unimproved and apparently unused land. A license or privilege to enter or remain on improved and apparently used land that is open to the public at particular times, which is neither fenced nor otherwise enclosed in a manner to exclude intruders, is not a license or privilege to enter or remain on the land at other times if notice of prohibited times of entry is posted in a conspicuous manner."