The law states it is not legal to hunt from a vehicle.

B

Buckrun

New member
Here is what I have in mind. I watched Hunting The Night Shift. This has started the gears in my head turning. They may be rusty gears but they have not completely seized
up yet.

I am here in Ohio and hunting from a vehicle is illegal. I emailed the ODNR and asked if my plan would be legal. I want to make a seat that would plug into the Reese hitch. Then I would stop the truck where I was going to hunt go to the back raise the seat to the 10-12 foot height. Climb up there and call. Still a no-no. So I have to figure a way to detach it from the truck when I stop that wont be to difficult to do and will be steady when it has a 240 LB lard butt up there.

I wonder if it is still attached to the truck but has a leg or 2 that is setting on the ground, kind of like a tripod base with the truck as one leg of the tripod. It is still attached to the truck so that may be a problem.

The law states it is not legal to hunt from a vehicle.

Steve
 
Boy, it seems to me it would have to be huge. Maybe if the seat and all 3 or 4 legs were detatchable, then would slide together and bolt tight??? Good luck! Post a pic or drawing when you're done!
 
Hymm I have been thinking aboutthe same thing here. My idea isto build a little trailer and get a chair setup. Then drop the trailer where I want to hunt pull the truack few feet up and have at it? Any thoughts. THis could be a small smalltrailer get some RV level legs in each corner and build a chair. I think it will work, but will check with the DOW before I go ahead.
 
You might check laws about shooting from or across roadways as well. Here in Washington the regulations state:
Discharging a firearm from, across,
or along the maintained portion of
any public highway, regardless of
surface, is prohibited, except for
hunters with disabilities

Your state could be different, but I thought I would mention it.
 
You're making it too hard. Think LADDER.

There's some good plans to convert a ladder to a shooting platform, complete with a swivel seat. No, it's not as stable as being bolted into a truck, but it's infinitely more portable than what you're describing.

A six-foot ladder will put your eyes about 7-8 feet off the ground. An eight-foot ladder will... well, you do the math.

Here in Oregon, by the way, we have to be 500 ft from our vehicle before we can shine the light. The only exception is if you are hunting predators on your own property or are the agent of the landowner. Public land? 500 ft.

Daybreak
 
If you are hunting on private land I assume that you have permission? If the landowner wants you to be out there killing predators, wouldn't that make you an agent of his?

Sounds like you could hunt out of a truck on private land all the time.
 
Yeah, Randy, that's true. The landowner basically makes you an agent, sort of like deputizing you, and you don't even have to have it in writing. However, if you do have a document it might keep the game warden from waking up the landowner at 3am. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

And it's only on private land.

Also, a person can hunt bobcats or raccoons at night with a light, but has to be 500ft from a vehicle to do so, and that's on private land or public. Cats and coons are furbearers, coyotes are predators.

I always have a copy of the regs with me, and a note from the landowner if I'm acting as his agent.

I enjoyed your video by the way, and learned lots from it. Good job.

Daybreak
 
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Hymm I have been thinking aboutthe same thing here. My idea isto build a little trailer and get a chair setup. Then drop the trailer where I want to hunt pull the truack few feet up and have at it? Any thoughts. THis could be a small smalltrailer get some RV level legs in each corner and build a chair. I think it will work, but will check with the DOW before I go ahead.



That was my second option. I have one of those flat bed trailers. It is 6'x14' That would be easy to build the same kind of platform that Randy W. & B. used in the video. I don't know if it would be necessary to pull the truck forward if you had the hitch raised off the ball and unhooked the chains and power plug.

The only places I would use it is where I can pull WAY off the road. I think almost every place I hunt I can get at least 150 yards from the road.

Steve
 
I am the same way Steeve. The law here reads a road maintained for public use. That means that all the little 2 tracks around here are free game. Hell if not you wouldn't be able to shoot as you would be crossing a 2 track all the time. From checking with the DOW there are many roads around here that are good roadsthat do not fit that criteria at all. For example the are bunches of oil and gas roads that head out to wells. Theese roads aren't "maintained for public use", only for the private use of the company. Now before I go hunting off this road I will double check with the officer as I have to call him one way or the other.

Oh well probable will never happen for me.... Sounds like a decent money investment
 
I was born and raised in Lima and now live in the big city of Uniopolis. I have called our local game wardens many times and only a land owner can hunt from a vehicle on a farm lane or in a field. As far as the road is concerned. It is legal to shot as long as you aren't touching the road! Standing in the grass along the road is legal unless you shoot across or parallel with the road. I always thought that there was a certain number of feet you had to be off the center line of the road. This is not the case.
 
Daybreak:

You might look into your state's interpretation of what an "agent" is. In Texas, it is my understanding that an agent receives income for his services. The amount of income isn't outlined, though.

Now there are all kinds of creative ways to become an "agent" of the landowner, but I'm not going to get into that here. By Texas law, I have to be an "agent" of the landowner for me to legally hunt coyotes from an aircraft, so the same applies here, just under different circumstances.

Just make sure you know exectly what your state means when they use the term "agent".

Take care and God Bless,

Rusty
 
I just watched the Night Shift video. I have to watch DVD's on my computer so while sitting in this chair that spins around and around I've been trying to figure out how to pack it out and set up with a lite straped to it and a rest. Here in Washington I have heard of people getting fined for just haveing a loaded rifle leaned against a vehicle. So I would gues that a chair in the back is out of the question.
 
The law where I am from states basically the same thing. So, I ran into my local Conservation Officer the other day and I asked him about calling to a vehicle. He told me that as long as the vehicle was turned off and was not on the road he would never give me any trouble.

Maybe you should talk to your local CO and see if he maybe feels the same way.

Clint
 
In Oregon, a landowner's agent is simply a person operating with the full knowledge and consent of the landowner. I was just talking to a guy at ODFW Wildlife and asked him that question, and that's basically a quote of what he said. No business arrangement is required, just permission.

Dan
 
Shooting from a vechicle at a game animal is illegal about everywhere. Shooting at a non-game animal needs to be looked at. If it does not say you can't, then maybe you can? It may be worth looking at.
 
If only we were able to hunt at night with artificial light here in New Mexico /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif, I would climb a tree if I had to! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Y'all are very lucky! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
RezDoggin, you can shoot at coyotes from your truck in NM as long as the truck is off a public road. You can also hunt at night if you are the agent of a rancher and your hunting on his land. Texas is much like NM, you better know a rancher to hunt at night.
 
BTK,
You sure about the shooting from a vehicle part? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gifLike some of these other fellas I was told by our Game and Fish folks that you can never discharge a firearm from any vehicle. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif I was also told that the only thing you can shoot at night with the help of artificial light is Yotes, no bobcats or fox due to them being protected furberers even when being an agent! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif So I guess it's moonlight huntin for them!
 
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