Hunting from a canoe?

[Slumber]

I recently had a guy tell me he does all of his deer hunting by floating the local river in a canoe and shooting deer along the banks. Anyone know if there are legal issues with this?
I hunt private property where I cross a river in a canoe but never tried floating the almost a mile of river banks the property owner allows me on.

 

[Acer-m14]

all i have seen in regs is shooting over a body a water .. since your in the water your not really shooting over it just part of it ..

 

[dubleuhb]

No problem as long as it's not motorized, if you did have a small motor it must not be under power at the time of shooting.
We used to float for ducks with shotguns and shoot bullfrogs with .22 from a canoe.

 

[GOYABEAN]

Reminds me of

 

[Gunner57]

^^^What double said, as long as the deer is not in the water. It is illegal to shoot any deer while they are in the water, whether you are on land or in a boat.

 

[Slumber]

The shooting over a body of water bit is what had me wondering. Is an Encon officer going to claim that shooting from a boat is shooting over water?
I wasn't sure if waterfowl had different regs or not.

Anyway thanks for the info guys! I will probably double check this next time I see a Encon/DEC officer. If it checks out I am going to give it a try this fall.

 

[Jmac00]

No problem as long as it's not motorized, if you did have a small motor it must not be under power at the time of shooting.
We used to float for ducks with shotguns and shoot bullfrogs with .22 from a canoe.

I have a couple friend that are rather large, that use to shoot geese from a canoe. me and a friend were in row boat about 50 yards away when two geese came by, it was like watching the U.S.S. Missouri battleship fire all the 16 inchers at once, the canoe seemed to move sideways about a foot and then flip over. I was laughing so hard I nearly passed out

 

[Criticalt]

The "over water" regulation does not apply to waterfowl hunting.
Not sure about deer hunting from the water, the law isnt clear.
However there are some very experienced hunters here so take their advice.........or call the DEC.

 

[Bustedknees]

I tried float hunting from a raft years ago on a slow moving river.. You do see a lot of game and my very first time out I took a shot at deer on the side of a high steep bank....It should've been an easy kill, but once you drop the paddles you can't hold strait.. it's hard to hit your target when you're facing the wrong direction

 

[JamieZ]

The land where the deer fell is owned,,,the land where you pick the deer up is owned, you can't shoot a deer while its in the water. This would be against the law. Geese/Ducks? They hopefully fall in the water while doing this which would make it legal.

 

[BDinPutnam]

^^^What double said, as long as the deer is not in the water. It is illegal to shoot any deer while they are in the water, whether you are on land or in a boat.

I believe the same is true for black bear.

 

[HighlandLofts]

I have floated down the susquahanna river bass fishing we averaged just about a mile an hour with stopping to fish good spots and then dragging the boat down stream in the shallow water.
If I were going to.float deer hunting I'd take a fish pole and fish for pike too that is really good pike fishing that time of the year.

 

[Yeti]

I have floated down the susquahanna river bass fishing we averaged just about a mile an hour with stopping to fish good spots and then dragging the boat down stream in the shallow water.
If I were going to.float deer hunting I'd take a fish pole and fish for pike too that is really good pike fishing that time of the year.

The Susquehanna river is a great area to fish and hunt,the deer will head to its islands just to try to survive the onslaught.Over-loaded with Canada geese during the winter months,with alot of geese and alot of goose hunters during the winter months.But they (like the deer) hang in front of a propertys where they know they are safe/protected from gun shots.I see there after math when im down there ice fishing,always a couple broken winged birds hanging out on the ice.

And I always believed you can shoot from a boat as long as it isnt under power and far enough away from a house.Just try to avoid the PETA house holds,they dont live by the river cause they hate nature.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Holy zombie thread. scrolling through and saw a gunner post. Bout shit myself.

 

[Yeti]

Holy zombie thread. scrolling through and saw a gunner post. Bout shit myself.

He still lives through NGF!

 

[Blimey]

Unless the water is glass I think taking a shot at any real distance would be very difficult.

 

[oc shooter]

tried hunting ducks from a canoe with a Chesapeake retriever will never do that again not only did I almost drop my shotgun in the water from all the rocking but I should have never sent the dog to retrieve the duck damned near drowned us both trying to get back in if I ever do that again it will be in a flat bottomed john boat