New to WA - access laws question

[cb1989]

Hello - new guy here, this will be my first season in Washington. Moved from Michigan, grew up there so I went from being very comfortable with my grouse/duck/deer spots there to completely lost here. This board has already been an incredible resource as I start an uphill battle. Plan on easing into it, I like to just get out and walk or paddle, looking forward to seeing some cool new country, and maybe a little success in there somewhere.

That said, one thing I haven't been able to find here, or really anywhere online is specific wording on hunting on water adjacent to private land. In Michigan, if a lake or stream bank was privately owned, you could not hunt on the water in front of the privately owned land. The land needed to be public to hunt the water in front of it, as landowners have rights to the lake or river bottom for hunting purposes, but not for fishing (we could fish out in front of private land, like most states). Here, it seems like maybe you can, with the exception of some coastal tidelands being owned, so unless I'm wrong you would need to be outside the low tide line in those places.

If anybody has some info on this, or links to regs where that stuff is covered, I'd be really grateful.

Thanks

[X-Force]

@bigtex

I believe you are good to access areas as long as you are below the high water line on navigable water or if you are on the water. I know there are some areas where beaches are owned in Puget sound so even the low water marks are private.

[Special T]

If you can float a boat on it you can hung out of it. Walking and wading is a separate issue.
The best course of action I've found is to use county assessor maps online to figure out tidal lands situations. The big issue you will find is if there is some kind of aqua culture. Clams, oysters etc.. stay out of those areas without lots of research.

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[Stein]

Our access laws for water are a mess.  Generally, you can fish or hunt out of a boat, but as mentioned there are some marine areas where the bay is privately owned and at least one river I know of that the bed is privately owned so you can't anchor or get out.  Then there is the question of how to determine if a waterway is navigable or not.

The most frequent issues come up when you get somewhere that is good hunting or fishing and landowners will try to boot you out or intimidate you into leaving.

[Special T]

This is why I think good research and knowledge is important. I've printed out land boundaries before from the ancestors office and brought them with me before just in case I had a sherriff to deal with, or a Warden.

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[cb1989]

Ya my concern is having to prove myself to a landowner or cop, and without any specific guidance to point to I feel like Ill end up saying something like "well i read online..."

and I can imagine the way that argument would end. Printing out plat maps is a good idea. Ive dealt with excited landowners back home, and unfortunately even if they are wrong they always seem to have the upper hand. To their credit, they deal with a lot of dudes who ruin it for the good guys out there.

[bigtex]

If you can float a boat on it you can hung out of it. Walking and wading is a separate issue.
The best course of action I've found is to use county assessor maps online to figure out tidal lands situations. The big issue you will find is if there is some kind of aqua culture. Clams, oysters etc.. stay out of those areas without lots of research.

Most landowners don't know this, some do but still will try and kick you off the water.

Essentially, if you can legally access the body of water (public launch, private launch open to public with a fee, etc) then the entire body of water is free game, just don't start wading/walking around.

[X-Force]

If you can float a boat on it you can hung out of it. Walking and wading is a separate issue.
The best course of action I've found is to use county assessor maps online to figure out tidal lands situations. The big issue you will find is if there is some kind of aqua culture. Clams, oysters etc.. stay out of those areas without lots of research.

Most landowners don't know this, some do but still will try and kick you off the water.

Essentially, if you can legally access the body of water (public launch, private launch open to public with a fee, etc) then the entire body of water is free game, just don't start wading/walking around.

Is that because if you start wading around the water gets muddy?



Haha

[Widgeondeke]

Also, I believe there are a few areas that counties have No Hunting/Shooting Zones. That's another area you need to verify.
Clear as mud 

[92xj]

If you can float a boat on it you can hung out of it. Walking and wading is a separate issue.
The best course of action I've found is to use county assessor maps online to figure out tidal lands situations. The big issue you will find is if there is some kind of aqua culture. Clams, oysters etc.. stay out of those areas without lots of research.

Most landowners don't know this, some do but still will try and kick you off the water.

Essentially, if you can legally access the body of water (public launch, private launch open to public with a fee, etc) then the entire body of water is free game, just don't start wading/walking around.

Will my anchor get a treaspassing ticket? Even if I'm hunting in the boat that is floating clearly below the ordinary high water mark on inland rivers or lakes.
Land owners own to the ordinary high water mark, so walking or wading below this magical line should still be legal.

[KFhunter]

That depends on the body of water 92xj

[Stein]

Yep, in some places, the land under the water is privately owned.  Anchoring or getting out of your boat would be trespassing.

[92xj]

Roger that.
I'm familiar with east side stuff, big waters with plenty of public launches and no real private land going into the water.

[AWS]

County assessors plot maps are easily accessible on the internet or you can stop at your county assessors office and view their plat books, some are very nice and will make copies of specific pages.  Down here on Greys Harbor you will see lot lines that extend into the bay and others that end at the high water mark.  I do a lot of coyote hunting all across the west and keep a small laptop in the truck to verify land ownership.  I also have a ten state public lands chip in my GPS and a loose leaf binder of BLM maps of the areas I intend to hunt.  If I hit a place that looks like it is being farmed I check the assessor maps to see if it is public or private as ownership from public to private is fairly common.

It is surprising how many land owners gain a little respect for you when you can show them that you are very concerned about their property lines and that you are intent on respecting them.  In NM I gained a very large ranch when accosted by a rancher while I was hunting on his leased BLM land, when I showed him that I knew exactly where his land ended and the BLM leased land started, he gave me permission to hunt all his deeded lands also.

[dwils233]

2 exceptions that I know of to the navigable water/ high water mark are the little Spokane and kettle river- those are both ones where the landowner owns the river bed- definitely want to keep your feet in the boat on those and expect some pissy and entitled land owners no matter what