Arizona Prairie Dog question

[Calif. Hunter]

Is it legal to park your truck and shoot off a bag on the hood?   The truck is stopped and parked, engine off, etc and you are out of the vehicle - just using part of it as a rest with both feet on the ground?

I have heard conflicting statements about whether this is legal or not, and I sure see a lot  of people doing it...

[zonie]

Unless something has changed I'm not aware of,  it's legal to use a vehicle, truck, quad, motorcycle, (boat as long as it's not under power).  The key thing is you are using it as a rest ,and cannot be on any part of the road including two 2-tracks,  you have to pull it totally off the road.  Cannot shoot from or across any road.   Within 1/4 mile of any occupied dwelling without permission.  I'm pretty sure you cannot  be inside the vehicle and off the road,   but for handicaped people it's allowed.  I have had this discussion a couple time's with G & F and to make sure I always call their HQ in PHX.  I have gotten two different anwers to the same question so when in doubt call PHX.  Better yet e-mail and you have a hard copy if some officer doesn't quite understand the rules,  and you get cited.    The down side is you may get cited for driving off road ?  This is somehing the FS and State land depts have their own little rules,  and need checking into.  I would call G & F and pose both these questions. 

[Calif. Hunter]

Thanks for the reply!  That is pretty much how I understood it, but someone told me that it was illegal to shoot "from" a vehicle, even as I described it above.   I looked for an email address or "Contact us" on the Game and Fish website but couldn't find one.

Thanks again.

[NMARKANITE]

http://www.azgfd.gov/inside_azgfd/agency_directory.shtml
Just because others do it and get away with it does not mean it's legal, and i am not saying using a vehicle is illegal but in the field game wardens would be the ones to ask and if you were in question i would call and see if they knew their regulations by asking someone that might know them better and as mentioned get it sent to you where it is in the Regulations and who you talked to, ask him for a letter! They should not have issues with that and if they do i would be surprised! 

[ffree]

Zonie, over here in Mohave County, BLM is trying to shut down a lot of the off road trails  and roads. They say they don't have the resources ($$$$) to patrol the area. So they want to shut a bunch of it down.

[zonie]

Ca Hunter :   Send comments is at the bottom of the page that Terry supplied.  I have never had them not get back with me.   Normally I would agree to ask Game Rangers in the field, but and this is a big but, not all are totally up on all regulations, or new to the game.  I guarantee if you pose a regulation issue by comments or e-mail it will get to the right party in the organization, and they will respond.   When you comment post to all managers that get's their attention.  With that said AZ a few years ago would not let anyone archery only hunting carry  another weapon like a handgun for self protection.  With such an up roar on the border with bandits they put out a inner office memo to not site anyone carrying a handgun while archery hunting.  There is restrictions on handguns that must be followed , bbl length not to exceed,  and no scopes or electronic sights, etc.  This of course carried over to the rest of the state because they couldn't justify only one section of the state being allowed and the others not.  Funny thing was they initally did not put this out to the hunting masses, and people like myself found out about it and had to pry it out of them when asked a few years ago. It's fairly common knowledge for core hunters, but It's still in the regs no handguns allowed to this day.  Last I heard and that was a phone call to PHX today the change may be out in the new up coming regs.   The point is they don't tell you everything that goes on within the dept.  You are really better off asking a few questions than to get cited later.  Normally and I haven't had any problems is when P-dog hunting we have specific spots we go to, and they are for the most part  2- track roads in the middle of nowhere,  and we just pull off next to the road, set up benches, and start shooting.  Never had a problem with G & F.  AZ  as long as you step off the shoulder of the road it's legal to shoot,  there are no distance or fence restriction distances here.    National and State Wildlife refuges are a different story they have separate rules as with some Wildlife habitat areas.    Where were you planning on going ?    


Ffree :  That doesn't surprise me,  Time to be calling AZ G & F and rising a stink.   Â   Ron

[SixShooter14]

i'm not sure about the western states but here in AR the rule states "Moving motorized land vehicle", "From a boat at night...aircraft" once again open to interpretation...the G&F always wants more money keep this in mind...my brother almost got a ticket because the Warden thought a .300 Wby was larger than a 30 caliber, 2 days later the warden called and apologized

[terminator]

Jfletcher:I grew up hunting in AR and still hunt there now.I have never heard you can't use more than a 30 caliber.What is the law you are talking about?This is very interesting.
A quick review of Arkansas Fish and Game Regulations showed nothing of this but perhaps I missed it.

[zonie]

Jfletcher3 :  That had me laughing  it's a 30 caliber.   This just makes my point Game Rangers are just like the rest of us.  Some are into guns, some aren't,  and we all make mistakes.

[SixShooter14]

Roger: the warden said it was coyote hunting

zonie: we were laughing too after he apologized...the warden even searched the area with dogs for any dead animals (finding none)...the man my brother was with was using a 30-06

[Calif. Hunter]

Thanks - I used the "send Comments" link at the bottom of the webpage shown above to address the question to the Game and Fish Dept.

[Calif. Hunter]

Thanks all.  I did email them and got an answer before our trip last weekend.  It is legal to use your vehicle as a rest.   You can't be sitting in it or on the road, though, as mentioned above.  Pull off completely and do not shoot across even a two-track.  To be safe, I printed out the reply and put it in my truck's console.   

[zonie]

Calif hunter :  How did the trip go ?  It's was windy windy windy and extreme fire conditions.  Some of the natl forest shut down. 

[NMARKANITE]

Arizona also has one species that is a protected ground hog so i would look into not shooting any of those little fellars!

[zonie]

There are two species of Prairie dogs in AZ  the Black Tail down in southern AZ which was recently  re-introduced and protected,  and the Gunnison Prairie dog in the northern parts are open to shoot in season.  The down side to the Gunnison is there was a re-introduction of  Black Footed ferrets  in the Gunnison dog towns over west of  Flagstaff,  very few in the wild and highly protected.  The Ferrets eat the Prairie dogs and use their burrows, so you have to make sure you aren't shooting the wrong one.