General Guidelines for Where it is Legal to Hunt From a Boat Skagit and Snohomis

[anthropisces]

I live in Stanwood, near Kayak Point, adjacent to Port Susan. This is my second duck-hunting season. I've just gotten myself a duck boat.

I'm wondering what the rules are for where on the water I'm allowed to hunt.

I'm expecting to hunt skagit bay and I've seen some guidelines for hunting out there. What about Port Susan? Are there rules other than the obvious ones (such as not having one's shot heading toward human habitations) about where it is legal to hunt out there?

What about the rivers? Is it legal to duck hunt in the rivers? How can one know what areas it would be legal to hunt?

[h2ofowlr]

Pick up the waterfowl regs.  It will give you the details.  You have to be anchored up to hunt out of a boat in Port Susan and Skagit Bay.  OnXmaps will give you fairly accurate boundaries and has parks shown.  Use common sense around homes or you will be getting yelled at and have cops waiting for you at the launch

[Special T]

I highly recomend becoming involved with the NW chapter of Washington Waterfowl Association. Regs and land ownership is key. Out of a boat... only place that is a mo go is the refuges and they are listed.

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[Stein]

Some parts of some bays are privately owned, so if you anchor there you are trespassing.  As mentioned you will need some type of gps mapping program to show ownership boundaries.

[anthropisces]

Thanks to all. I'm looking into the OnXmaps and the Washington Waterfowl Association.

I joined Ducks Unlimited last week but I'm not sure how to get the most out of the membership.

[Special T]

Thanks to all. I'm looking into the OnXmaps and the Washington Waterfowl Association.

I joined Ducks Unlimited last week but I'm not sure how to get the most out of the membership.

DU is a conservation group. They have their place... However if you are looking for a community of active duck hunters WWA is your organization.  Additionally Twin City Sportsmen is a trap club in Stanwood. Annual membership is very reasonable. My father just joined and its $20 a year. They shoot Tuesdays 2:30-5 or 9pm depending $4 a round. My father and I joined recently. I tell Every new hunter to the area, you get out what you put in. Between the Archery Club that I belong to and the WWA  Ive had more offers to go hunting with folks. Why? because I volunteered and put in my time.  You are blessed to live close to the area where most of the ducks are killed on the west side.

https://www.facebook.com/waducks.org
https://www.facebook.com/TwinCitySportsmen

http://www.wwa.shuttlepod.org/
http://www.tcsportsmanclub.org/

[Platensek-po]

Some parts of some bays are privately owned, so if you anchor there you are trespassing.  As mentioned you will need some type of gps mapping program to show ownership boundaries.

You can’t trespass on federal waters. If it’s low tide and the land is exposed you would be. But being anchored and floating there is no way you could be trespassing.

[anthropisces]

Additionally Twin City Sportsmen is a trap club in Stanwood. Annual membership is very reasonable. My father just joined and its $20 a year.

Great to know thanks. I've been shooting out at Granite Falls on fridays

[Special T]

TCS is open 1st and 3rd Sat 10am-230

[Stein]

Some parts of some bays are privately owned, so if you anchor there you are trespassing.  As mentioned you will need some type of gps mapping program to show ownership boundaries.

You can’t trespass on federal waters. If it’s low tide and the land is exposed you would be. But being anchored and floating there is no way you could be trespassing.

That isn’t true.  Some bays and some rivers exist where someone owns the bottom.  Your anchor touching their ground is trespassing.  Many lawsuits and tickets have established case law.

Some places are only privately owned to low water, some are owned out way further. 

Even on high tide, if you are over private ground you can’t legally touch their ground with your anchor.  You can drive over it, but you can’t beach your boat, get out and stand on it or drop anchor on it.

There are several places I know which would instantly result in a call to LEO and a ticket.


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[Platensek-po]

Some parts of some bays are privately owned, so if you anchor there you are trespassing.  As mentioned you will need some type of gps mapping program to show ownership boundaries.

You can’t trespass on federal waters. If it’s low tide and the land is exposed you would be. But being anchored and floating there is no way you could be trespassing.

That isn’t true.  Some bays and some rivers exist where someone owns the bottom.  Your anchor touching their ground is trespassing.  Many lawsuits and tickets have established case law.

Some places are only privately owned to low water, some are owned out way further. 

Even on high tide, if you are over private ground you can’t legally touch their ground with your anchor.  You can drive over it, but you can’t beach your boat, get out and stand on it or drop anchor on it.

There are several places I know which would instantly result in a call to LEO and a ticket.


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Except that there is a Public Trust Doctrine in WA that states that we are allowed to use the navigable waterways for recreation and fishing and hunting. The washington supreme court has never ruled one way or the other to say if you can or cannot access those lands while doing those things. I cant find a single case where someone was given a notice for trespassing while on navigable waterways. They may own the land under the water but while it is covered with water the Feds actually own it.
https://www.stimmel-law.com/en/articles/legal-rights-inland-waters-and-applicable-law-lakes-bays-and-rivers
Even though Washington sold the rights to the land beneath the waters the public has RIGHT to use all federally navigable waterways. I would anchor and if the sheriff was called you could literally quote the common law stating that that water and the land it covers is technically public. Unless you can show me the case where the Washington supreme court settled one way or the other.

[Stein]

WA has never established which waterways are navigable.  Sure, we know the Columbia is, but what about smaller rivers, creeks, bays, etc?  Nobody knows and WA has not established any sort of test to verify.  It's a huge mess from what I can gather, I tried to figure it out and gave up as it's impossible to determine for many waterways.  The way it works is someone gets in a beef, they go to court and a couple years later some type of judgment comes down and establishes a certain waterway as navigable or not - of course there is always an appeal if the person has the ability to pursue.

The important thing beyond navigability is that there is a distinction between the surface of the water and the land under the water.  You can navigate over the water if the waterway is "navigable" (again, hard to determine in many cases but I agree with you if it is navigable you can float over it), but you can't impede on the dirt under the water if it is privately owned.  You can quote whatever you want to the Sheriff and it will end up in court and pretty much a slam dunk against you. 

I think of it like flying - you can fly a plane over public land without any problem, but as soon as you land or jump out, you are trespassing if it's on private ground.  It's the same with water.

Hunting rules are tricky as well, some require anchoring and some require you aren't under "forward progress (or similar)" of a motor - which is most often established by either anchoring or beaching.If it's not navigable, you can't float or anchor over it, at least in WA, probably, assuming the waterway has already been established as not navigable.

From your link:

Some bodies of water may be subject only to the local state law or even sole private control. Each state has variations on the law and if Federal law does not preempt, be sure to check the local law.

It's even semi-difficult to determine whether a certain water is federal or not, this comes up when determining if you need certain registration, licensing and safety equipment on a boat or not.  In WA it's easier than the navigable question, but for small waterways and bays, it's not easy.

It's remarkably easy to run afoul of the law, particularly in Western WA where land rights are defended very strongly, sometimes even further than the law allows.  It's up to the hunter to know the laws which in this case can be very muddy.

[Platensek-po]

The fed has established that all waters influenced by the ebb and flow of the tide are US waters. Pretty sure the sound falls in that category. Also they establish that those lands under the high water mark are part of the waterway as you can’t have one without the other. It is confusing in Washington but if you are in the sound there is no way they could ticket you for being anchored. They could ask you to move in which case I would submit that my legal permission to hunt while on public waters was being taken away. I’ve actually talked to sheriffs about this while fishing. They just told me, and I agree, that it’s not worth the hassle and money to
Take it to court. But there are no cases establishing prior law on this.

[Stein]

When WA became a state, the Federal Enabling Act and the WA constitution (approved by USG upon statehood) granted all tidelands within the state to the state in trust - the feds have zero control over the dirt under any tidelands in this state.  WA's lobbying efforts got this into law, few other states tried or succeeded.

WA began selling off tidelands in 1890 up until 1971.  Right now, 73% of tidelands are privately owned in WA.  Everyone can use the waters above the tidelands, but not the dirt underneath.  The feds have no control over tidelands in WA, it's all up to the state which has not established many rules or precedence. Again, you anchor, you impede land that may be privately owned.

I agree you can float over tidelands, but the "land" itself - the dirt underneath the water is often privately owned.  Shellfish growing on private tidelands are privately owned unlike deer because they can't move.

Here is one reference, Hughes V State, 1966:

Article XVII TIDE LANDS § 1 DECLARATION OF STATE OWNERSHIP. The state of Washington asserts its ownership to the beds and shores of all navigable waters in the state up to and including the line of ordinary high tide, in waters where the tide ebbs and flows, and up to and including the line of ordinary high water within the banks of all navigable rivers and lakes: Provided, that this section shall not be construed so as to debar any person from asserting his claim to vested rights in the courts of the state. § 2 DISCLAIMER OF CERTAIN LANDS. The state of Washington disclaims all title in and claim to all tide, swamp and overflowed lands, patented by the United States: Provided, the same is not impeached for fraud.

The record before us supports the conclusion that the commissioner of public lands has established the common boundary between upland property and state-owned land to be the line of ordinary high tide where it existed November 11, 1889. Over the years, 73 lawsuits affecting private ownerships have been instituted against the state to establish this boundary. The judgments of the superior court are before us as exhibits in the instant case. None was appealed. The state accurately described these judgments when it said in its opening brief:

In every one-of these cases the court has divided the accreted lands on the same formula: those accreted lands formed prior to statehood are the property of the private upland owner; those accreted lands formed since statehood are public beach and shore.

So, as of 1889 the state owned every piece of dirt below high water mark in tidelands.  The only argument that has been made since then is that some private entities and individuals have sued saying they owned the tidelands and the state has said, "nope, in 1889 it all became ours." and have won 100% of the time unless an individual can show proof of ownership prior to 1889. 

The feds are out of the picture, the state controls it.  There are many things undecided, but ownership and control are at the state level, no federal claim over the tidelands exists.

[Special T]

I can think of only 2 situations where dropping anchor an get you in trouble. Oyster beds, and gun clubs.