Non-hunters scaring away animals from Hunters

[Lorne]

Does anyone have any suggestions to deal with this issue? I know it's in the regulations as it is unlawful to scare away game from a hunter. Has anyone ever heard of anybody pressing charges?

[Rectifier]

BC Wildlife Act

Obstructing licensed persons

80 A person commits an offence if the person interferes with or obstructs a person licensed or permitted to capture wildlife or to hunt, fish, guide or trap while that person is lawfully so engaged.It's a crime considered to be on the same level as poaching as I read it. Get photos, have witnesses, call RAPP - the criminal should be fined or given jail time, even for the first offense.

This is assuming they did it on purpose. People are free to hike in crown land all they want, but if the same guy went clanging past your bear with a bell-covered pack twice... it should become easy to prove though, if he is a member of an anti-hunting organization!
Never heard of anyone convicted though, luckily it appears to be an extremely rare occurrence.

Got a story to tell?

[mungojeerie]

lets hear the story... what happened?

[moose2]

There are still jerks that will try to ruin a hunt this is what happened to me last November.
Last deer season I was pulled to the side of farm road at a field I had permission on. I was sitting in the passanger seat with a spotting scope on a window mount. I was watching the edge of a small clump of trees in the field at first light. There was a small buck and a couple does laying there. I heard a truck coming he slowed right down and when he saw what I was doing he layed on the horn from the time he saw me until he was out of site. His plan could have back fired , because when I was sitting there shaking my head in disbelief 5 deer that I hadn,t seen (4 does and a 3 x 3 buck) as well as the first 3 all stood up giving me a good look at 80 yards. I didn't take the buck , but if it had been the big guy I was looking for an anti-hunter would have been a big help in me getting it. I was mad , but said to myself thats road hunting so I spent the rest of the day walking in the timber far from any horns.
Mike

[hunter1947]

If I can get any identification from people that do this plate number etc I will report this illegal act to the CO..

[gutpile]

what is a co going to do ? years ago bear watch were harassing bear hunters on the cost and nothing was done.
They even stole one of the hunters hides.

[Big Lew]

As "one horn buck" states, what is a CO going to? About 4 years ago, I was at full draw on a 4-point mulie, waiting for him to step forward one more step, when a crew-cab full of clowns, who driving slowly quite a ways back, noticed what I was doing, and hammered it, racing right up to me, banging and clanging. Of course I took down their number and reported them, but without witnesses or video to refute their "innocence", nothing the CO could do. The most maddening part of it was that one of the 6 persons who were heading in to build fences, had a crossbow in case they saw a deer...it wasn't as if they were "anti's." (It cost the driver, but I won't say how)

[Movingdirt]

The world is full of jealous maggots that will stoop to low forms of conduct in order to prevent another from succeeding during a hunt. Other types of maggots will not share harvested meat. Rotting meat is generally covered in maggots. The maggot is common in the hunting fraternity.

[pse&remington]

Totally ILLEGAL to interfere with a hunt in any way

[Lorne]

We were hunting on private property, in the blue berry fields. There are dykes around the one side of the property and depending on how nice of a day it there are people walking them. The one day we were trying to sneak up on this black bear when the people on the dike took knowtice and started yelling and whistling trying to scare it away. Sure enough they spooked it and it wondered off into a better spot fir us actually but it wasnt ac big as we had hoped and let it go knowing that the bears are overpopulated in this area. Then maybe a week later same sort of thing occurs but this time a buddy had bowed one. After the shot he was watching the bear as it started to bed down. The people on the dikes started yelling and whistling and ended up scaring the bear off our property into protected land. Just as we were going to look for the bear we received a phone call form the land owner saying that the police had been called. So we had to deal with the police who were super nice, then the CO, and then they went to go look for it. They even had the chopper with thermals looking for it.

[Spy]

We were hunting on private property, in the blue berry fields. There are dykes around the one side of the property and depending on how nice of a day it there are people walking them. The one day we were trying to sneak up on this black bear when the people on the dike took knowtice and started yelling and whistling trying to scare it away. Sure enough they spooked it and it wondered off into a better spot fir us actually but it wasnt ac big as we had hoped and let it go knowing that the bears are overpopulated in this area. Then maybe a week later same sort of thing occurs but this time a buddy had bowed one. After the shot he was watching the bear as it started to bed down. The people on the dikes started yelling and whistling and ended up scaring the bear off our property into protected land. Just as we were going to look for the bear we received a phone call form the land owner saying that the police had been called. So we had to deal with the police who were super nice, then the CO, and then they went to go look for it. They even had the chopper with thermals looking for it.

Did you eventually get the bear?

[fowl language]

had a guy using bear scares and load music during a goose hunt. called the co.s who responded.. they came and sat in the blind till the next flock came after he scared that flock away the co.s charged him and he was convicted, so you all have a case to fall on as evidence should this happen to you.will be glad to give the name and date of the conviction,,,,fowl

[Movingdirt]

We were hunting on private property, in the blue berry fields. There are dykes around the one side of the property and depending on how nice of a day it there are people walking them. The one day we were trying to sneak up on this black bear when the people on the dike took knowtice and started yelling and whistling trying to scare it away. Sure enough they spooked it and it wondered off into a better spot fir us actually but it wasnt ac big as we had hoped and let it go knowing that the bears are overpopulated in this area. Then maybe a week later same sort of thing occurs but this time a buddy had bowed one. After the shot he was watching the bear as it started to bed down. The people on the dikes started yelling and whistling and ended up scaring the bear off our property into protected land. Just as we were going to look for the bear we received a phone call form the land owner saying that the police had been called. So we had to deal with the police who were super nice, then the CO, and then they went to go look for it. They even had the chopper with thermals looking for it.

Did the bear go into Minnekhada Park to die? Had the same thing happen to me with a massive blacktail years ago. I was bow hunting bears and out stepped the granddaddy of bucks. I quit bow hunting after that ordeal. He would have been at the top of the record book for certain. One day I counted 16 bears in those fields feeding on left over berries.

Some people were sure pissed at me! Not as pissed as I was at myself.

[Ronforca]

A few years back we had a group ride their motorcycles and walk around in the bush where we were hunting making a lot of noise trying to scare the game away.Three of us kind of got close to them staying unseen and fired our rifles in the air.The group left in a hurry.

[tkillops]

Didn't know there was a law against that, Last couple of years over here on the island in Buckley Bay we've had a treehugger anti follow hunters around on bike with a air horn scaring the deer away. We were told by the gate guard not to shoot her since we had no tags for huggers. Just ignor her and she'll go away and she did but she's has shown up the last couple of years a couple days each season. Kind of funny she scared up more then she scared off.

[Livewire322]

Whack the stupid ba$****s, but I would phone the CO's and have him charged or the RCMP I'd stop hunting and follow the person making sure he didn't take off. Normally I road hunt far out in the woods.

[Rectifier]

Can't believe even the anti's would be so dumb as to scare off a wounded bear, lucky it sounds like you were far from town or who knows what could have happened. Amazing that the CO and the cops mobilized a helicopter to help track the bear, that's more assistance than I thought you would ever get!

I hope you find them and the CO's send them the bill for the chopper, you bet that would be the last time they ever interfere with someone's hunt!

[RB2]

Too many anti-hunting citidiots have moved into the Squamish/Whistler/Pemberton area. Hope no one gets injured by some wounded game because of some ignorant person. Have too watch your back everywhere!

[elkdom]

also not uncommon for fellow resident hunters to "interfere with other hunters", also common for some licensed Outfitters to interfere with other hunters,,,

save the headache, move on, get over it,

one more whining thread ,

there are hundreds of "Somebody-Done-Me-Wrong-Songs" !

turn up your radio, sing along,,,,,,,,,,:?

[Rectifier]

Sorry elkdom, but that's a classic example of the wrong attitude. It's not a big deal, just an illegal, dangerous act that was likely cruel to the bear as well as it was forced to get up and stumble through the woods dying...
But since we are 'the good guys', we let it slide, it's no big deal, this guy is 'whining'... but the anti's don't let anything slide. And guess what - they are winning the war of public opinion, even though we outnumber them. Remember the big deal about crossbow hunting in Whistler last year? A big stink raised about nothing almost got our legal bow season revoked. And that was just them talking, nothing even happened!

This is a case where the law was written to protect hunters, and we should 'move on and get over it?' We'd better use the tools available to us or hunting will be slowly but surely pushed out of the province, starting in the LML area. I'd like to see these guys prosecuted and the story in the paper, to remind people that the law is on our side as well.

[elkdom]

Sorry elkdom, but that's a classic example of the wrong attitude. It's not a big deal, just an illegal, dangerous act that was likely cruel to the bear as well as it was forced to get up and stumble through the woods dying...
But since we are 'the good guys', we let it slide, it's no big deal, this guy is 'whining'... but the anti's don't let anything slide. And guess what - they are winning the war of public opinion, even though we outnumber them. Remember the big deal about crossbow hunting in Whistler last year? A big stink raised about nothing almost got our legal bow season revoked. And that was just them talking, nothing even happened!

This is a case where the law was written to protect hunters, and we should 'move on and get over it?' We'd better use the tools available to us or hunting will be slowly but surely pushed out of the province, starting in the LML area. I'd like to see these guys prosecuted and the story in the paper, to remind people that the law is on our side as well.

first, the Co's and the RCMP have much more pressing issues to deal with, other than some a$$hat supposedly interfering with a hunt,

second, as a plaintiff "your personal information, name, birth date address and details of your complaint and witness info all becomes privileged information to person/persons charged,

third, you well may subpoenaed to appear in court, in the middle of hunting season or loose work days/your money,

fourth, convictions for interfering with a legal hunt are FAR and FEW between !,


fifth, YOUR, TIME AND MONEY, AND EFFORT WOULD BE BETTER SPENT,

pursuing a more uninterrupted, more enjoyable hunt, in an area more productive and further from a$$hats with nothing better to do than harass some hunter,,,,,,,

[J_T]

Had a similar thing occur to us last year. A couple of guys came up from the coast to take their IBEP. After the course (evening) we decided to take a quick drive to see some country. Of course we had tags, binos, bows, and were fully prepared to make a play if we saw something. As we were coming out there was a bear trotting up the road.

I pulled over and we laughed about the possibility of something like this coming together.... so we sat.... then we decided, it sort of looked like it might come together. (big bear, awesome colour) So two of us got out. We just sort of moved down an old road and knelt down in a bit of cover. While we were waiting, a group of tree planters came down. They saw us, then they saw the bear. We didn't move, but they pulled up beside the bear and started honking and screaming. Whatever. They were the fools and I'm sure afterwards they felt they saved a life. "Super happy for them" dreadlocks and all.

We just watched. The bear went up the bank, and when they drove away, the bear came down and continued walking up the road. We got back in the truck and left well enough alone. If you really don't want to be bothered by others, you pretty much have to go somewhere less likely to bump into non/anti hunters. If you bump into people who don't see things as we do, I'm not sure I see much point in getting into a social/moral battle over legislation and someone's perspective on an animals right to live undisturbed. Just my thoughts.

[Lorne]

Elkdom, I agree with most of what you are saying, I would never call the police or try and charge someone for interfearing but its pretty frustrating when you are hunting private property and people call the cops on you saying that you are hunting on park land. I would like to hunt someplace else but we are trying to help out the farmers, those bears do over 350,000 dollars worth of damage each year with the amount of blueberrys they eat and plants they destroy. and plus who doesn't want to hunt in their back yard prettymuch. And they are talking about stopping hunting in the minnekheda park area

[rollingrock]

Lorne, I just read this incident in Tri-Cities News. The real reason behind the incident was omitted, not surprisingly, by the paper. But according to the paper, your buddy was fined for the hunt by either police or CO. I don't know if that is true. If unfortunately you buddy was fined, please do ask him to go to court to dispute the fine. Bring the bylaw of the City of Coquitlam with him.

This type of situation is truly annoying. I ran into someone like this in the back woods on crown land last year.

[Centerfire]

A couple of years ago, I was with a buddy of mine in the Sea To Sky area hunting black bears in the spring season. While driving down a logging road after checking out a cut-block, a couple of people in a pickup approached our truck. We slowed to a stop when we could see that they wanted to talk to us. They were very nice and asked what we were up to and we told them. They told us they were just driving around and checking out the back country for fun. We passed them again later and they smiled and waived. They kind of looked like "granola" types but we thought nothing of it.

Well, two days later I get a phone call at home from an RCMP officer from the Squamish detachment. He told me that someone had phoned in my licence plate and said that my buddy and I were discharging our firearms from within our vehicle. I strongly disagreed and demonstrated to him that I understood the rules. The officer was satisfied and said that he would not persue the complaint.

When I explained to my hunting buddy what had happened, he said that while we were talking to the couple in the other truck he noticed a sticker on their windshield. After considering what had occurred, he said he recognised after the fact that it was a "Bear Watch" sticker.



-Centerfire

[sparkes3]

video evidence is your best friend in any confrontation involving hunting.

[hunter1947]

This happed to one of my hunting partners last year in the first week of Sept when he was bow hunting two people saw him stalking this bull and then started waved there arms and screaming to scared this big bull elk away from him so he could not get a shot at it he was not very happy person when this happened to him he tried to catch them but they run away.
This bull he was stalking he said was a 8x8 bull he figured this bull was a 330+ bull ,I was not there when this happened I was in another area bow hunting..

[rudy]

I understand your reasons for not wanting to file a complaint. Do you think it's a bad thing if somebody else does it?


first, the Co's and the RCMP have much more pressing issues to deal with, other than some a$$hat supposedly interfering with a hunt,

second, as a plaintiff "your personal information, name, birth date address and details of your complaint and witness info all becomes privileged information to person/persons charged,

third, you well may subpoenaed to appear in court, in the middle of hunting season or loose work days/your money,

fourth, convictions for interfering with a legal hunt are FAR and FEW between !,


fifth, YOUR, TIME AND MONEY, AND EFFORT WOULD BE BETTER SPENT,

pursuing a more uninterrupted, more enjoyable hunt, in an area more productive and further from a$$hats with nothing better to do than harass some hunter,,,,,,,

[Rectifier]

I did not know your personal information became available to the person charged, that is definitely something to be concerned about considering the mental instability of the kind of people who would interfere in a hunt. I can see this deterring people from pressing charges.

I do know convictions are few and far between - but the lack of effort on part of the hunting community must be a contributing factor. If we continue to move on and look for areas free of said ass-hats, how long before there is nowhere left to hunt? How long before the LML is overrun with bears due to lack of hunter pressure? (It's already happening!)

[hunter1947]

My last post regarding this thread I think they where hunters and wanted this bull elk for them selfs when rifle season opened up in 4 days I think they where scouting for deer elk then when the saw my friend trying to get this bull they scared it away ????.

I know one thing if this happened to me I would do every thing in my power to catch them or find there truck car or other to report them ,if we never report this to a the cops or CO it will get worse as years go on.

Its illegal to interfear with someones hunt and states this in the regs so if you have a plate number or other vital information they the CO or Cops have to follow through and charge the law breakers.

If they the law don't do anything about this I would make a citizens arrest if I had the evidence I need ,if the CO are not going to do anything about people interfering with your hunt then talk to the wildlife branch that makes up this rule and take the rule out of the regs its doing nothing in there for any of us hunters ,its kind of like fur trapping you are doing an illegal act if you interfear with a tappers sets.

[CanuckShooter]

The best example of what can happen to people harassing hunters happened in the Spatzizi . They got their asses kicked, good and hard from what I remember about the story!!

[1/2 slam]

first, the Co's and the RCMP have much more pressing issues to deal with, other than some a$$hat supposedly interfering with a hunt,

second, as a plaintiff "your personal information, name, birth date address and details of your complaint and witness info all becomes privileged information to person/persons charged,

third, you well may subpoenaed to appear in court, in the middle of hunting season or loose work days/your money,

fourth, convictions for interfering with a legal hunt are FAR and FEW between !,


fifth, YOUR, TIME AND MONEY, AND EFFORT WOULD BE BETTER SPENT,

pursuing a more uninterrupted, more enjoyable hunt, in an area more productive and further from a$$hats with nothing better to do than harass some hunter,,,,,,,

Absolutely 100% Wrong

[BromBones]

The best example of what can happen to people harassing hunters happened in the Spatzizi . They got their asses kicked, good and hard from what I remember about the story!!

http://archives.cbc.ca/environment/environmental_protection/clips/5037/

:)

[elkdom]

Absolutely 100% Wrong

you (the plaintiff)will be identified as a witness once charges have been laid, the accused and his attorney under rule of "disclosure" have total access to details of the charges and ALL details,,,

[evhunter]

Best one I've heard was of local hunters hiking into sheep camp along the BC/ Alberta boundary. Sheep season started the next day. While watching some rams, they witnessed a helicopter "pushing" a group of rams back to the Alberta side, which just happened to be a National Park! An investigation went no where as the incident was brushed off as a routine patrol by the Parks!

[HIGHRPM]

That is one thing I have noticed, coming from the prairies, where no one really cares if you hunt, to here where I have been treated like a monster for hunting those poor animals.All we can do is to keep on plugging away to educate people and somehow get them on our side. I don't know if that is at all possible but it would help.

[Livewire322]

*******s deserved it. they got lucky, could have been worse and we would still be looking for the bodies.

[hunter1947]

http://archives.cbc.ca/environment/environmental_protection/clips/5037/

:)

This is a very interesting video clip thanks for sharing..

[Darksith]

I think that all incidents like this should be reported. Im not sure if the RCMP would bother doing anything about it, but I would imagine that if you got the right officer then something might happen, even if its simply a visit to the person and a warning. The CO might be more willing to do something about it, but I would imagine that most of the time charges won't be laid simply b/c the courts time is too valuable. As long as the interferer receives a verbal warning then progress is being made. They might think twice about it the next time. If we simply let each instance slide, then we will never get ahead.

Our biggest problem as hunters is that everyone likes to visit sites like these and have discussions, but very few hunters actually step up and do something effective no matter how insignificant it may appear to be in the big picture. It all helps, and I too am guilty of inadequate participation of the protecting of our rights as hunters. If every hunter simply wrote 1 short email to their MP, newspaper, or any other outlet we would be a group that would have to be considered in the decision making process. I will work on stepping up my participation, hopefully everyone else will too. It would be very easy for someone to write an email, post it here, and people simply copy and paste it into their own email to different MPs etc etc. Maybe a seperate area in these forums would be a good place for us to start participating.

[Singleshotneeded]

Well done, hunters in the Spatsizi! Interfering with hunting is illegal...

[1/2 slam]

you (the plaintiff)will be identified as a witness once charges have been laid, the accused and his attorney under rule of "disclosure" have total access to details of the charges and ALL details,,,

You are still wrong. They don't get any of my personel information.

[Surrey Boy]

On hot days I don't bother with the pants, just rubber boots and my pack & rifle. The hippies assume I'm one of them and the hunters are put off by a hippy being around so I get left alone. My butt is hairy enough that I can still sit down without any chafing.

[Singleshotneeded]

The butt thing was probably way too much information, my friend! LOL :-)