is it legal to travel through an ecological reserve or wildlife refuge to gain access to blm or cnf lands ?
this would save me some wear and tear on my old knees!
this would save me some wear and tear on my old knees!
Trespassing or not????
- Thread starter steveo007
- Start date
Stevo,
It depends on what you're doing.....If you're just walking thru it, probably no problem, if preserve or wildlife areais open to the public....If you're carrying a gun (loaded or unloaded), and it's a no shooting area, then yes, it would probably be illegal.....There's also at least one wildlife area (different than a wildlife refuge) in our county, if you're carrying a gun, it better have non toxic in it to get to the BLM.....Since both areas are legal to hunt, you can see where a warden would have a hard time determining what area you're hunting.
Same goes for state parks......Palomar State Park in particular. You can NOT walk thru the park with a gun (loaded or unloaded) to get to the public land (CNF).....2 cents
It depends on what you're doing.....If you're just walking thru it, probably no problem, if preserve or wildlife areais open to the public....If you're carrying a gun (loaded or unloaded), and it's a no shooting area, then yes, it would probably be illegal.....There's also at least one wildlife area (different than a wildlife refuge) in our county, if you're carrying a gun, it better have non toxic in it to get to the BLM.....Since both areas are legal to hunt, you can see where a warden would have a hard time determining what area you're hunting.
Same goes for state parks......Palomar State Park in particular. You can NOT walk thru the park with a gun (loaded or unloaded) to get to the public land (CNF).....2 cents
D
Deleted member 27310
Guest
i wonder if you can walk across it with your gun locked up in case as when your as supposed to do while you drive in vehicle.
...not saying it's legal but..
from my experience, couple of my spots are sandwiched between nature preserve. The parking lot at trail head is actually at a bird sanctuary which a sheriff has pulled up on me. He gave me a glance and moved on. My rifle was strapped to my pack.
Another spot the trail head sign I believe says "county park" but looking at maps it is actually a wilderness park. That one we had sheriff helicopter check us out (long story) and had hikers ask if we knew anything about all the cop cars at the trail head. When we got there no sign of cops. I believe it was due to the fact that we shot a few rounds at a deer and the neighborhood called it in.
Either way, no arrests, no warnings, no bitching from authorities. That coming from sheriffs who have signed my tags asking "you can hunt there?" I can't say it's legal because I haven't come across a game warden yet.
I don't know if it would help my case, but I unload and rifle packed at the border.
from my experience, couple of my spots are sandwiched between nature preserve. The parking lot at trail head is actually at a bird sanctuary which a sheriff has pulled up on me. He gave me a glance and moved on. My rifle was strapped to my pack.
Another spot the trail head sign I believe says "county park" but looking at maps it is actually a wilderness park. That one we had sheriff helicopter check us out (long story) and had hikers ask if we knew anything about all the cop cars at the trail head. When we got there no sign of cops. I believe it was due to the fact that we shot a few rounds at a deer and the neighborhood called it in.
Either way, no arrests, no warnings, no bitching from authorities. That coming from sheriffs who have signed my tags asking "you can hunt there?" I can't say it's legal because I haven't come across a game warden yet.
I don't know if it would help my case, but I unload and rifle packed at the border.
Legally Rick.......You can't even drive through a state park with a gun......Many folks do it, but still not legal......Again, Palomar State Park is a great example......I know there's private & public lands inside the park and those guys that hunt it are very secretive about getting there with firearms.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21301
4313. Weapons and Traps.
(a) No person shall carry, possess or discharge across, in or into any portion of any unit any weapon, firearm, spear, bow and arrow, trap, net, or device capable of injuring, or killing any person or animal, or capturing any animal, or damaging any public or private property, except in underwater parks or designated archery ranges where the Department of Parks and Recreation finds that it is in its best interests.
(b) Nothing herein contained shall be construed in derogation of the use of weapons permitted by law or regulation and to be used for hunting in any unit, or portion thereof, open to hunting. (can somebody translate this in laymans terms, please)
(c) Firearms not having a cartridge in any portion of the mechanism, other unloaded weapons or devices such as traps, nets, and bows and arrows may be possessed within temporary lodging or mechanical mode of conveyance when such implements are rendered temporarily inoperable or are packed, cased, or stored in a manner that will prevent their ready use.
4313. Weapons and Traps.
(a) No person shall carry, possess or discharge across, in or into any portion of any unit any weapon, firearm, spear, bow and arrow, trap, net, or device capable of injuring, or killing any person or animal, or capturing any animal, or damaging any public or private property, except in underwater parks or designated archery ranges where the Department of Parks and Recreation finds that it is in its best interests.
(b) Nothing herein contained shall be construed in derogation of the use of weapons permitted by law or regulation and to be used for hunting in any unit, or portion thereof, open to hunting. (can somebody translate this in laymans terms, please)
(c) Firearms not having a cartridge in any portion of the mechanism, other unloaded weapons or devices such as traps, nets, and bows and arrows may be possessed within temporary lodging or mechanical mode of conveyance when such implements are rendered temporarily inoperable or are packed, cased, or stored in a manner that will prevent their ready use.
Here's a long thread from Cal Guns, but really informative.....It appears to me, that you CAN take a gun thru the state park, if it's cased and of course, unloaded.....Lots of confusing stuff for sure.
The one kicker in all this is when they say, state, county, cities may have their own laws.....Good Gawd!
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiwk96clIPOAhXCQSYKHXWWC6IQFggjMAE&url=http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=186457&usg=AFQjCNEkNP5g1gI67lKZKaUrlXyqSFEwPA&sig2=Y0ocIvKGbqBpRbX7FiVpBQ
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The one kicker in all this is when they say, state, county, cities may have their own laws.....Good Gawd!
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiwk96clIPOAhXCQSYKHXWWC6IQFggjMAE&url=http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=186457&usg=AFQjCNEkNP5g1gI67lKZKaUrlXyqSFEwPA&sig2=Y0ocIvKGbqBpRbX7FiVpBQ
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I remember when I went to the kids hunter safety course the instructor was saying just to go off of the road and to be sure you are on the correct side as to not shoot ACROSS the road. That was maybe 2 years ago. I looked at the dfg website and I could not find any info saying how far off the road...
unlawful to: "Intentionally discharge a firearm or release an arrow or crossbow bolt from a bow or crossbow upon or across any highway, road or other way open to vehicular traffic. CCR T14-354(e), FGC 3004(b). "
...and.."Shoot any firearm from or upon a public road or highway (PC 374(c))."
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=126146&inline
Are these county specific regs?
unlawful to: "Intentionally discharge a firearm or release an arrow or crossbow bolt from a bow or crossbow upon or across any highway, road or other way open to vehicular traffic. CCR T14-354(e), FGC 3004(b). "
...and.."Shoot any firearm from or upon a public road or highway (PC 374(c))."
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=126146&inline
Are these county specific regs?
J
Josh Pearson
Guest
is it legal to travel through an ecological reserve or wildlife refuge to gain access to blm or cnf lands ?
this would save me some wear and tear on my old knees!
I got stopped by a warden after doing this very thing. Several years ago I walked through an ecological reserve while trying to get to BLM land. It was by mistake and I was not hunting in the reserve but I did have all of my gear including my rifle with me. The warden stopped me on the way out and asked me where I had been hunting and I explained exactly which direction I accessed the BLM land from and that was when he informed me that I had in fact trespassed through the reserve. Since I was completely honest and actually did not know that what I had done was illegal he let me go with just a verbal warning. This happened before I had the onX app with the land boundaries but to answer your question no it is not legal to travel through an ecological reserve with your hunting equipment in order to access public/private land on the other side.
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back in the day, if you made the weapon unusable, ie bolt out, shot gun broken down ect it was ok,
Yep......Did it a number of times myself......In fact, when hunting with friends, one of us would carry a 12 gauge barrel with a 20 gauge gun, and the other guy would have a 20 gauge barrel with a 12 gauge gun.
You need to post actual ordinances here as this is simply not true in a broad sense.
Do not always believe what you hear from the warden. Always have your data checked out before you head out. Emails from the county, sheriff, etc.
Some ER's are open to hunting. In So Cal, Coal Canyon Ecological Reserve is an example that comes to mind. You definitely can walk through that to get to the NF since you also can hunt it, but I do not think you can walk to the adjoining state park with a firearm to get to the ER.
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