2023 Hunting

[CcCstriper89]

Another year gone and I fished less than I have my entire life in the salt with my 2 year old daughter getting wilder and crazier by the day. Fortunate to say I don’t have to drive as far and can get more time in the deer woods. My bow seasons been awesome so far. Took a doe early RI archery before MA opened; and have taken a big doe and good looking 8 in the last few weeks since. 
 

[gray gables]

1 hour ago, CcCstriper89 said:

Another year gone and I fished less than I have my entire life in the salt with my 2 year old daughter getting wilder and crazier by the day. Fortunate to say I don’t have to drive as far and can get more time in the deer woods. My bow seasons been awesome so far. Took a doe early RI archery before MA opened; and have taken a big doe and good looking 8 in the last few weeks since. 
 

Those will fill the freezer for sure. 

[Jeff270]

Question for those in the know.  The current regs for pheasants are as follows:

 

2 per day

4 in possession

New: No season limit

 

I understand 2 per day, and no season limit.   But what exactly is "possession" referring to if there is no seasonal limit?   I've never been able to get a straight answer on this that makes any sense.

[bob_G]

2 hours ago, Jeff270 said:

Question for those in the know.  The current regs for pheasants are as follows:

 

2 per day

4 in possession

New: No season limit

 

I understand 2 per day, and no season limit.   But what exactly is "possession" referring to if there is no seasonal limit?   I've never been able to get a straight answer on this that makes any sense.

This is a very open ended regulation giving the warden at ton of latitude and "officer discretion" and interpretation. 

Let's say you and I are hunting together. We both get our daily limit of two (2) pheasant.  When we go home I ask you if you'd like my two birds because I don't have time to clean them. You say yes, and take them. 

Ok, now you have four birds, two over your daily limit. If a warden stops you on the way home, all you have to tell him is you were hunting with your buddy, and your buddy gave you his birds.  The four (4) birds in possession law is supposed to cover you in this event.  The key word being "supposed".

 

If the warden has had problems with you in the past, or finds you in violation of other game laws, this is where the "officer discretion" part kicks in. Meaning, he doesn't have to believe you, and he can issue you a ticket for being over your daily two bird possession law.

Or

Let's say you and I  are hunting together over our two dogs. Technically we're allowed four birds together, or two each.  Your dog flushes most of the birds that morning, you get three and I get one.  You come out of the woods with three birds in your game bag and there's a warden waiting there. You're over your two birds in possession law.  You might try and say we each got two, but you were carrying one for me. Or you got two, and I got one and your dog caught one on the way out of the woods. In either event,  if I don't perfectly back up your story when I come out of the woods, you might get a ticket based on the officer's mood, or how nice you were to him.

In other words, there is no straight answer.

Edited November 20 by bob_G

[KidDkivahh]

7 hours ago, Jeff270 said:

Question for those in the know.  The current regs for pheasants are as follows:

 

2 per day

4 in possession

New: No season limit

 

I understand 2 per day, and no season limit.   But what exactly is "possession" referring to if there is no seasonal limit?   I've never been able to get a straight answer on this that makes any sense.

You get home with 2 and have say 2 at home that's it. Any more and your over the limit you can have possession of. 

[KidDkivahh]

5 hours ago, bob_G said:

This is a very open ended regulation giving the warden at ton of latitude and "officer discretion" and interpretation. 

Let's say you and I are hunting together. We both get our daily limit of two (2) pheasant.  When we go home I ask you if you'd like my two birds because I don't have time to clean them. You say yes, and take them. 

Ok, now you have four birds, two over your daily limit. If a warden stops you on the way home, all you have to tell him is you were hunting with your buddy, and your buddy gave you his birds.  The four (4) birds in possession law is supposed to cover you in this event.  The key word being "supposed".

 

If the warden has had problems with you in the past, or finds you in violation of other game laws, this is where the "officer discretion" part kicks in. Meaning, he doesn't have to believe you, and he can issue you a ticket for being over your daily two bird possession law.

Or

Let's say you and I  are hunting together over our two dogs. Technically we're allowed four birds together, or two each.  Your dog flushes most of the birds that morning, you get three and I get one.  You come out of the woods with three birds in your game bag and there's a warden waiting there. You're over your two birds in possession law.  You might try and say we each got two, but you were carrying one for me. Or you got two, and I got one and your dog caught one on the way out of the woods. In either event,  if I don't perfectly back up your story when I come out of the woods, you might get a ticket based on the officer's mood, or how nice you were to him.

In other words, there is no straight answer.

Actually there's a straight answer. He'd be over the daily limit being straight forward. Now Jeff can explain how he came to have 2 extra birds maybe the warden buys it maybe he won't. 

[Jeff270]

2 hours ago, KidDkivahh said:

You get home with 2 and have say 2 at home that's it. Any more and your over the limit you can have possession of. 

So even though there is no limit of how many I can shoot during the season, I can only have a total of 4 at any one time.

 

That is really dumb.  What if I want to serve pheasant instead of turkey for Thanksgiving?  Luck of the draw for the 5th person at the table?

 

So I guess as long as we keep eating them we are OK.  

Edited November 20 by Jeff270

[Jeff270]

So file this one under "Laws that make Zero Sense in Massachusetts".

 

I called Westboro (Field Headquarters) and talked with a very nice woman.   As she explained it.

 

Yes you can shoot as many pheasants as you want during the season, as long as you don't exceed two per day.   So Monday through Saturday you can shoot a total of 12 birds.  Again, there is no seasonal limit.

 

BUT.... you are only allowed to have a total of 4 in possession.  So you must either give eight away to friends and family or eat them during the week.   There is no keeping more than 4 for a family gathering or making a casserole. 

 

I'll let some of the brighter minds here attempt to provide the rationalization for this one.......

 

The F&G lady's parting comment was "Trust me, I don't understand it either."

[FoulHooker]

2 hours ago, Jeff270 said:

So file this one under "Laws that make Zero Sense in Massachusetts".

 

I called Westboro (Field Headquarters) and talked with a very nice woman.   As she explained it.

 

Yes you can shoot as many pheasants as you want during the season, as long as you don't exceed two per day.   So Monday through Saturday you can shoot a total of 12 birds.  Again, there is no seasonal limit.

 

BUT.... you are only allowed to have a total of 4 in possession.  So you must either give eight away to friends and family or eat them during the week.   There is no keeping more than 4 for a family gathering or making a casserole. 

 

I'll let some of the brighter minds here attempt to provide the rationalization for this one.......

 

The F&G lady's parting comment was "Trust me, I don't understand it either."

NO ONE is going to check your freezer for animals they stock into the wild for your consumption.  Its exactly like trout fishing.  They will check you at the pond but do not care how many are in your freezer no matter what the law says.  

[bob_G]

Another thing to keep in mind is, when these crazy pheasant regs were written and enacted, they were hunting wild pheasant exclusively. 

My dad began hunting right after he returned from WW2.  All they had were wild birds. It was cocks only back then, as hens were protected. He told me it was very common to flush small flocks of 6-10 birds at once, with only 2 being cocks.

But due to baby boom development and general habitat loss, the wild pheasant vanished.  That's when sportsman clubs and eventually the state began raising birds.

 

[KidDkivahh]

6 hours ago, Jeff270 said:

So even though there is no limit of how many I can shoot during the season, I can only have a total of 4 at any one time.

 

That is really dumb.  What if I want to serve pheasant instead of turkey for Thanksgiving?  Luck of the draw for the 5th person at the table?

 

So I guess as long as we keep eating them we are OK.  

Jeff I honestly wouldn't worry about. You'd have to be a grade A screw up and then some for an EPO to come to your place checking for over possession limit of pheasants.

[KidDkivahh]

32 mins ago, bob_G said:

Another thing to keep in mind is, when these crazy pheasant regs were written and enacted, they were hunting wild pheasant exclusively. 

My dad began hunting right after he returned from WW2.  All they had were wild birds. It was cocks only back then, as hens were protected. He told me it was very common to flush small flocks of 6-10 birds at once, with only 2 being cocks.

But due to baby boom development and general habitat loss, the wild pheasant vanished.  That's when sportsman clubs and eventually the state began raising birds.

 

I think it was 1914 when the first Pheasant season opened. These were all wild birds at that time no waiting for a weekly restock. 

[Eagles Dare]

3 hours ago, Jeff270 said:

So file this one under "Laws that make Zero Sense in Massachusetts".

 

I called Westboro (Field Headquarters) and talked with a very nice woman.   As she explained it.

 

Yes you can shoot as many pheasants as you want during the season, as long as you don't exceed two per day.   So Monday through Saturday you can shoot a total of 12 birds.  Again, there is no seasonal limit.

 

BUT.... you are only allowed to have a total of 4 in possession.  So you must either give eight away to friends and family or eat them during the week.   There is no keeping more than 4 for a family gathering or making a casserole. 

 

I'll let some of the brighter minds here attempt to provide the rationalization for this one.......

 

The F&G lady's parting comment was "Trust me, I don't understand it either."

 

Yeah, it's screwed up. I wouldn't worry about how many you've got in the fridge/freezer. If you've got 5 fully feathered birds hanging outside your garage you might have a problem.

 

The funniest part of their regs is the "no season limit" is only a couple of years old. I believe it was introduced at the same time as the required pheasant stamp. Before that the season limit was 6 birds. Talk about your regulation that 95% of bird hunters ignored.  

[bob_G]

9 mins ago, Eagles Dare said:

 

Yeah, it's screwed up. I wouldn't worry about how many you've got in the fridge/freezer. If you've got 5 fully feathered birds hanging outside your garage you might have a problem.

 

The funniest part of their regs is the "no season limit" is only a couple of years old. I believe it was introduced at the same time as the required pheasant stamp. Before that the season limit was 6 birds. Talk about your regulation that 95% of bird hunters ignored.  

95%, more like 100%.

[WorcBoy]

20 mins ago, bob_G said:

95%, more like 100%.

In the Worc area is was 110% of the truck chasers had double or triple the "season bag limit" of 6.