If a person is just traveling from one spot to another though, perhaps on their way home or to another hunting spot and they sight game they can legally park, walk 25 yards off of the roadway and legally take or attempt to take the game.
 
There are a couple of good court opinions that pretty well set down what the courts will view as road hunting and the WCOs will pretty much be guided by those court opinions on when to cite a person for using a motor vehicle to hunt. Of course anytime a person shoots from the vehicle or the roadway after alighting from a motor vehicle it is a clear violation.
 

Thanks for your explanation of the 25 yd. reg. and your example of a road hunting violation. Would a hunter be guilty of road hunting if he saw a robo deer stake out,went down the road and turned around,parked his vehicle and walked 25 yds. from the roadway before he shot at the robo deer?

Can a hunter who uses an ATV to get to his stand,dismount ,load and shoot at legal game? If the answer is yes,why wouldn't that be a violation of the regulation regarding the use of a motorized vehicle to aid or abet in an attempt to locate or harvest a game animal?

ORIGINAL: deerfly

If a person is just traveling from one spot to another though, perhaps on their way home or to another hunting spot and they sight game they can legally park, walk 25 yards off of the roadway and legally take or attempt to take the game.

There are a couple of good court opinions that pretty well set down what the courts will view as road hunting and the WCOs will pretty much be guided by those court opinions on when to cite a person for using a motor vehicle to hunt. Of course anytime a person shoots from the vehicle or the roadway after alighting from a motor vehicle it is a clear violation.

Thanks for your explanation of the 25 yd. reg. and your example of a road hunting violation. Would a hunter be guilty of road hunting if he saw a robo deer stake out,went down the road and turned around,parked his vehicle and walked 25 yds. from the roadway before he shot at the robo deer?

Can a hunter who uses an ATV to get to his stand,dismount ,load and shoot at legal game? If the answer is yes,why wouldn't that be a violation of the regulation regarding the use of a motorized vehicle to aid or abet in an attempt to locate or harvest a game animal?

If a person was just traveling from point A to point B and sighted a rebo deer, went past it, parked, went 25 off of the road and attempted to shoot they would not be in violation. We try to stop those people before they shoot at it.
 
If it could be established that they had been road hunting, just riding around looking for deer, before they saw the decoy then they would still be guilty of using a motor vehicle to locate game and could be charged. It is one of those cases that is extremely hard for an officer to prove in court though so it is only the rare case where the WCO has enough evidence to file that charge even when they had been road hunting.
 
ATVs are just like any other motor vehicle and if it can be proved that the person used it to locate the game and then took, or attempted to take, the game they saw from the ATV they will most likely be charged with using a motor vehicle to hunt. Just using the ATV to go to their hunting spot then getting off and going hunting isn’t going to raise to the level of using a motor vehicle though, at least not in any of the courts I am familiar with.
 
If I catch a person riding around in the woods with a loaded firearm on the machine and observe them in what is obviously a manner where they are just using the vehicle to hunt (such as where I have followed their trail for a long ways and they never got off the ATV) I might charge them with using a motor vehicle if it is something I feel comfortable of the elements being something I have a good chance of proving in court. But, I will never charge someone with a crime I am mot 100% convinced they are guilty of so if there is nay doubt of their actions I am not going to charge them. I’d rather see a guilty person go free than see an innocent person even charged.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn

Pretty buck. Would make a beautiful shoulder mount.

ORIGINAL: Outdoor Adventures

Glad to see a disabled hunter got to harvest him. More could also have the opportunity if more of The SGL had more areas for them to hunt from an ATV. I never heard of anyone complaining because a disabled hunter scared away someones deer. RSB would you care to reply as to why the disabled are not permitted to use the game lands to scout for game as I mentioned in an earlier post? Don't tell me its soil erosion either.lol

 
Everyone has to deal with the limitations they are dealt in life. Properly permitted disabled hunters are permitted to use the trail they have the ability to use their ATV on for scouting from two weeks prior to archery season through to the end of muzzle loader season. That seems like a lot of scouting time to me.
 
There are not all that many places that even make sense for such trails. You can’t, for liability reasons, mix disabled hunters using ATVs with other motor vehicles. The trails that are open to disabled hunters had a lot of thought put into selecting them to provide both a quality and safe experience. We don’t want disabled hunters stuck or stranded along the trails so it has to be a place suitable for people with physical limitations to be able to go safely. The trails we have on game lands, ANF and Bureau of Forestry all get some use but don’t seem to be over used, so it doesn’t seem there is all that much demand for more such locations.
 
Yes, I am sure everyone would like to just be able to go wherever they want to go but we have to live in a world of logic as well.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn

If I catch a person riding around in the woods with a loaded firearm on the machine and observe them in what is obviously a manner where they are just using the vehicle to hunt (such as where I have followed their trail for a long ways and they never got off the ATV) I might charge them with using a motor vehicle if it is something I feel comfortable of the elements being something I have a good chance of proving in court.

If you catch someone with a loaded firearm on any motorized vehicle,isn't that an automatic violation of the code? Is it legal to have a loaded firearm leaning against a parked vehicle or in the bed of a parked pickup?

Your answer jogged my memory and I recall reading a PGN article where a WCO followed the tracks of an ATV in the snow and found where the hunter had dismounted the ATV and shot a deer. Do you remember the details of that case and whether the WCO got a conviction or not?

ORIGINAL: RSB

ORIGINAL: deerfly

If I catch a person riding around in the woods with a loaded firearm on the machine and observe them in what is obviously a manner where they are just using the vehicle to hunt (such as where I have followed their trail for a long ways and they never got off the ATV) I might charge them with using a motor vehicle if it is something I feel comfortable of the elements being something I have a good chance of proving in court.

If you catch someone with a loaded firearm on any motorized vehicle,isn't that an automatic violation of the code? Is it legal to have a loaded firearm leaning against a parked vehicle or in the bed of a parked pickup?

Your answer jogged my memory and I recall reading a PGN article where a WCO followed the tracks of an ATV in the snow and found where the hunter had dismounted the ATV and shot a deer. Do you remember the details of that case and whether the WCO got a conviction or not?

It is unlawful to have a loaded firearm, except a legal handgun with a protection permit, in, on or leaning against any motor vehicle. Therefore, anyone caught with a loaded firearm on their ATV is in violation of the law dealing with loaded firearms in or on a vehicle. Charging them with using a motor vehicle to hunt though typically would require an additional level of evidence that they were attempting to also locate game from the ATV. Having the loaded firearm on the ATV would be circumstantial evidence of their hunting intent while operating the motor vehicle but I doubt just having a loaded firearm on the ATV would lead to a charge of using a motor vehicle to hunt unless there was some form of evidence indicating they either had or were also attempting to locate game from the ATV.
 
I am not sure which case you are referring to having read in the Game News, but we have some cases like what you are describing about every year. I had a case like that last season where we followed the ATV tracks, it was being operated on lands closed to all motor vehicles, and found (by reading the evidence in the snow) where the individual had shot a buck after just stopping and stepping off the ATV. In fact we found where he had killed two deer that day from the ATV, along the same trail, then took them back to his camp. We charged him with operating the ATV on closed lands and also with using a motor vehicle to hunt. He was eventually found guilty of both charges, after our testimony and presentation of the evidence, before the court.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn  

 
Excellent work.

ORIGINAL: DarDys

ORIGINAL: RSB

ORIGINAL: deerfly

If I catch a person riding around in the woods with a loaded firearm on the machine and observe them in what is obviously a manner where they are just using the vehicle to hunt (such as where I have followed their trail for a long ways and they never got off the ATV) I might charge them with using a motor vehicle if it is something I feel comfortable of the elements being something I have a good chance of proving in court.

If you catch someone with a loaded firearm on any motorized vehicle,isn't that an automatic violation of the code? Is it legal to have a loaded firearm leaning against a parked vehicle or in the bed of a parked pickup?

Your answer jogged my memory and I recall reading a PGN article where a WCO followed the tracks of an ATV in the snow and found where the hunter had dismounted the ATV and shot a deer. Do you remember the details of that case and whether the WCO got a conviction or not?

It is unlawful to have a loaded firearm, except a legal handgun with a protection permit, in, on or leaning against any motor vehicle. Therefore, anyone caught with a loaded firearm on their ATV is in violation of the law dealing with loaded firearms in or on a vehicle. Charging them with using a motor vehicle to hunt though typically would require an additional level of evidence that they were attempting to also locate game from the ATV. Having the loaded firearm on the ATV would be circumstantial evidence of their hunting intent while operating the motor vehicle but I doubt just having a loaded firearm on the ATV would lead to a charge of using a motor vehicle to hunt unless there was some form of evidence indicating they either had or were also attempting to locate game from the ATV.
 
I am not sure which case you are referring to having read in the Game News, but we have some cases like what you are describing about every year. I had a case like that last season where we followed the ATV tracks, it was being operated on lands closed to all motor vehicles, and found (by reading the evidence in the snow) where the individual had shot a buck after just stopping and stepping off the ATV. In fact we found where he had killed two deer that day from the ATV, along the same trail, then took them back to his camp. We charged him with operating the ATV on closed lands and also with using a motor vehicle to hunt. He was eventually found guilty of both charges, after our testimony and presentation of the evidence, before the court.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn  

Excellent work.

 
Thank you!
 
R.S. Bodenhorn

I had a case like that last season where we followed the ATV tracks, it was being operated on lands closed to all motor vehicles, and found (by reading the evidence in the snow) where the individual had shot a buck after just stopping and stepping off the ATV. In fact we found where he had killed two deer that day from the ATV, along the same trail, then took them back to his camp. We charged him with operating the ATV on closed lands and also with using a motor vehicle to hunt. He was eventually found guilty of both charges, after our testimony and presentation of the evidence, before the court.

Thanks for your continuing efforts to enforce the regs. However, I am still not sure when a hunter using an ATV to reach the area he intends to hunt is in violation of the restriction regarding the use of a motorized vehicle to aid or abet in the taking of game. When I lived in Luzerne Co. I could ride my ATV for over a mile to an area that was open to the public and had no ATV restrictions. If I saw legal game while on my way to the area I intended to hunt, how far away from my ATV would I have to be in order to be in compliance with the law?

ORIGINAL: deerfly

I had a case like that last season where we followed the ATV tracks, it was being operated on lands closed to all motor vehicles, and found (by reading the evidence in the snow) where the individual had shot a buck after just stopping and stepping off the ATV. In fact we found where he had killed two deer that day from the ATV, along the same trail, then took them back to his camp. We charged him with operating the ATV on closed lands and also with using a motor vehicle to hunt. He was eventually found guilty of both charges, after our testimony and presentation of the evidence, before the court.

Thanks for your continuing efforts to enforce the regs. However, I am still not sure when a hunter using an ATV to reach the area he intends to hunt is in violation of the restriction regarding the use of a motorized vehicle to aid or abet in the taking of game. When I lived in Luzerne Co. I could ride my ATV for over a mile to an area that was open to the public and had no ATV restrictions. If I saw legal game while on my way to the area I intended to hunt, how far away from my ATV would I have to be in order to be in compliance with the law?

 
There is no set distance in the example you are using though once a person sights the game and attempts to take it after having been on an ATV it sure does open it up for an investigation and the potential for charges depending on the evidence of that investigation.
 
The safest thing to do when you sight game from an ATV is just keep on going to your stand or hunting area and then hunt from there where the ATV hasn’t been a factor.
 
I frequently sight game along a roadway while going to of from hunting. I just drive on past it and go to where I intended before I sighted the game. Even though in some cases it would be perfectly legal to stop, go the 25 yards off the roadway and hunt it I simply don’t need a piece of game that bad. But, then I actually enjoy the hunt and a harvest isn’t all that important to me.  
 
R.S. Bodenhorn  

ORIGINAL: rsquared 

There is a small pond on the property I mainly hunt, that is behind a high bank, but probably only about 15 yards from the edge of the road on the side I could actually set up to hunt ducks.  If, say, I park rougly 100 yards down the road, and shoot away from the road so that my shot does not cross the road, may I legally hunt here if I am set up closer than 25 yards to the road?

The way I've always read the rule seemed to me to dictate how far a hunter must be from his vehicle - 25 yards - when alighting from the vehicle to hunt, and not a rule that you must always be at least 25 yards from the road.  But I've never hunted this pond because I wasn't sure. 

 
This was a response of his in this thread: "If you have been out hunting you can walk along the road and shoot from the road at game all day long as long as you don’t shoot at game on or across the traveled portion of a roadway open to public travel.
 
The law concerning shooting within 25 yards of a highway is ONLY after alighting from a motor vehicle.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn "
 
So yes, you can hunt from a road or sit next to it as long as the game you are shooting at was not alighted from a vehicle. 

So it's legal then to travel a road by foot and carry a loaded weapon ? Why then have so many been asked to see if their weapon is unloaded while traveling by foot back to camp by the local WCO deputy ?

cemeteries and school zones come to mind....

BUT your question was == ""Except for posted ground and safety zones""

I was simply adding two more to the two you mentioned...

BOTH of which would also be off-limits
""whether or not the hunter was in a motorized vehicle prior to observing legal game.""

WITHOUT permission ... so with permission those two could be legal to stop move the 25 yards and shoot...

and yes the cemetery and school zone are never legal grounds to hunt...

One of my favorite WCO stories is one from about two miles away.. The county WCO rounded the bend and there sat a pick-up ... hunter standing outside with rifle across the hood and firing a shot at a nice 8 pointer standing in the local cemetery at 1pm in the afternoon.....

ORIGINAL: dpms

ORIGINAL: rsquared 

There is a small pond on the property I mainly hunt, that is behind a high bank, but probably only about 15 yards from the edge of the road on the side I could actually set up to hunt ducks.  If, say, I park rougly 100 yards down the road, and shoot away from the road so that my shot does not cross the road, may I legally hunt here if I am set up closer than 25 yards to the road?

The way I've always read the rule seemed to me to dictate how far a hunter must be from his vehicle - 25 yards - when alighting from the vehicle to hunt, and not a rule that you must always be at least 25 yards from the road.  But I've never hunted this pond because I wasn't sure. 

This was a response of his in this thread: "If you have been out hunting you can walk along the road and shoot from the road at game all day long as long as you don’t shoot at game on or across the traveled portion of a roadway open to public travel.
 
The law concerning shooting within 25 yards of a highway is ONLY after alighting from a motor vehicle.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn "

So yes, you can hunt from a road or sit next to it as long as the game you are shooting at was not alighted from a vehicle. 

 
Exactly!
 
R.S. Bodenhorn

and yes the cemetery and school zone are never legal grounds to hunt...

Is a "school zone"any different than any other safety zone?