Shooting elk from GMU 524 into GMU 520

[DIGGER69R]

NO

If I'm standing in the Margaret I'm hunting from the Margaret and I better have a permit to elk hunt from the Margaret.
 If I am standing in the Winston and shoot an elk in the Margaret I better have permit to hunt the Margaret.

No grey area for me at all.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

NO

If I'm standing in the Margaret I'm hunting from the Margaret and I better have a permit to elk hunt from the Margaret.
 If I am standing in the Winston and shoot an elk in the Margaret I better have permit to hunt the Margaret.

No grey area for me at all.

My point.. 
And in response to

Now that's a bunch of BS! I'm sure I've driven through units that aren't open with my tag in my pocket and rifle by my side. . . Sounds to me like that GW was either a moron or the guy ran his mouth to him.

He was walking on the road, not driving.
If you are in your truck with your weapon, you are not hunting.

[bobcat]

If you're walking you're not necessarily hunting either. You may have to walk through a closed unit to get into an open unit.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

If you're walking you're not necessarily hunting either. You may have to walk through a closed unit to get into an open unit.

As I stated, he was walking down the 3330, in the Manastash unit, the boundary for Taneum is the Creek in bottom.
He stopped to talk to the officer, as they were aquainted, (guy was an Explorer with washington State patrol in Ellensburg)
Was cited, plead guilty, and was told to write a "letter of apology" to commanding officer.
No matter, he was on the wrong side of the line, and had to explain it to the judge, his CO told him what he had to do to respond to the charge.

[Bob33]

If you are shooting in a closed unit at an animal, you are hunting in a closed area.  Hunting is not just killing, or even shooting for that matter.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

If you are shooting in a closed unit at an animal, you are hunting in a closed area.  Hunting is not just killing, or even shooting for that matter.

"hunting" is the act, no matter the intent, and is up to the officers discretion on whether to write a citation.
If you are inside the boundary of an area not open to you, you must travel through it.
If you shoot at ANYTHING while you are inside said boundary you are demonstrating intent.

[ICEMAN]

So did the cow die and get wasted?

[bobcat]

Sounded to me like the original shooter got it.

[Bob33]

"To Hunt: Any effort to kill, capture, injure, or harass a wild animal or wild bird."

[bobcat]

Still a pretty "grey" area to me. If you were standing 1 inch into the closed GMU and shot an animal in the open GMU, I don't see the problem. If technically, by the law, you could be considered to be "hunting" in a closed unit, so what? The animal was harvested in a unit that is open for the harvest of animals. Same thing, if you were 25 yards into the closed GMU. As long as the boundary isn't a road and you're shooting from, or across the road, what is the problem? If the opportunity ever comes up where I'm in a closed unit and a legal animal is in an open unit, I will take the shot.

[Bob33]

Consider someone who walks 100 yards into an area closed to hunting with the intent to move animals into an area open to hunting.  He kills nothing, and does not even have a gun.  Is he guilty?

You bet: hunting in a closed area.  I've seen that happen.

[bobcat]

I guess it all depends on "intent."

[Bob33]

I think it does depend on intent.  I can walk 100 yards into Mount Rainier National Park with a camera to take pictures of elk.  However, if my friend is standing at the border with a rifle in his hand I'll most likely get cited.

Another interesting test case that I've heard about is shooting from an area open to hunting, across an area not open to hunting, at an animal in an area open to hunting but not adjacent to the shooter.  In that case the bullet is travelling over illegal ground, but neither the hunter nor the game is illegal. 

[bigtex]

What a law enforcement officer would try to do in this situation is to get the person to admit to hunting. Lets say your walking in a closed area and an officer comes up. A very common question the officer would use is "Hows the hunting?" If you essentially say anything except "I'm not hunting/hunting here/this area" then you will have a hard time fighting it in court. A couple years ago the White River unit switched to permit only but there were still a ton of people hunting it, WDFW did an emphasis patrol and would contact the hunters and start out by saying "Hows the elk hunting?". People would say something like "It's going slow" "Haven't seen a shooter" etc. Well the person just admitted to elk hunting because they didn't say "I'm not elk hunting". Luckily these people just got written warnings since it was an area that was open for general season for many years and then went permit only. When many WDFW Officers contact people fishing closed waters they start out by asking "hows the fishing?" well most people would say something like "slow" "pretty good" etc. Well the person just admitted to fishing, and according to the regs the river is closed.

It's kind of like the "how much have you had to drink tonight sir?" question.

[secamd1]

As someone in law enforcement, I am confident through research that WAC 332-52-145, RCW 77.15 and 9A has no statement of discharging a firearm or dangerous weapon across a body of water. It makes only references to Residences, Buildings, Roads, Railroad tracks, Structures, Dwellings, Applicances ect...Taking game across GMU's is another story. Where the game is located determines how that game can be harvested. If someone is in a Permit Only GMU and takes a game in a general unit, it is legal as long as both GMUs are open to legal hunting at the same time. If someone is hunting in a general hunting GMU, they cannot take game in a Permit Only GMU, period, without the permit. Hopefully, this clarifies.