Tennessee out of state hunting license gotcha warning. Taking Doe during gun season.

[mcb]

This may been common knowledge to TN residents but it caught me unawares as someone relatively new to hunting in TN

So for the past five years I have lived in North Alabama but own land with my brother and father in Tennessee. I do nearly all my hunting in TN so each year I buy the Annual All Game (Type 073) license ($305 for 2019-20) each year in early March and away I go. I hunt the various seasons all year and check any deer and turkey as required on the mobile app. Well this year I took a doe during gun season and checked it as normal.

Yesterday I received a call from a Tennessee Game Warden. He was friendly and professional but informed me that the doe I took during gun season was technically not legally taken under my Type 073 license. He even seemed slightly embarrassed and/or mildly frustrated with this fact given the cost of my out of state license but the regulation were what they were. He informed me that for gun season I also needed a Type 094 license to take does during gun season even on private land. I could legally take does during archery and muzzle-loader season with my 073 but would need the 094 for gun season.

The resolution to the infraction was that he kindly allowed me purchase a 2019-20 type 094 license after the fact to make my harvest legal. That cost me $27. Again he was friendly and professional.

I went back and reread the game laws and it is there but does not jump out at you unless you're really looking for it so I thought I would create this thread. The only place a type 094 is mention as a requirement for taking does during gun season on private land is as a foot note to the Deer Season & Bag Limit table and in the description of the type 094 license itself. Everywhere else that particular 094 license is mentioned is in the context of hunting public WMA land.

Keep it legal guys.


The formerly offending harvest.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I,m sure there are guy on here that can use that information. . You would think they would make it more easily noticable.

 

[buck460XVR]

The poor and nondescript wording in the regs may be why you got a polite phone call instead of a knock on the door.

 

[mcb]

The poor and nondescript wording in the regs may be why you got a polite phone call instead of a knock on the door.

That was the impression he gave, he express his personal disappointment in the fact that a $305 dollar out of state, "All game" license did not include that privilege and he is the one that told me about the footnote calling the requirement out and how easy it was to miss.

It was gracious on their part to allow the post fact purchase of the permit and I expressed my gratitude. They could have been much harsher.

 

[jmr40]

laws can often be confusing even when hunting in ones own state. It sounds like they did you right though.

 

[horsey300]

That was the impression he gave, he express his personal disappointment in the fact that a $305 dollar out of state, "All game" license did not include that privilege and he is the one that told me about the footnote calling the requirement out and how easy it was to miss.

It was gracious on their part to allow the post fact purchase of the permit and I expressed my gratitude. They could have been much harsher.

I believe the game warden and you are to both be applauded for handling this so well and you for sharing, hopefully many can learn from this!

 

[WestKentucky]

I will just say that I grew up in KY and have hunted my whole life in KY. Buy hunting license and your covered for all things small game, want big game or turkey you buy additional permits. Simple.

Now that I live in TN.... Want to rifle hunt, there’s a license for that. Want to archery hunt, that’s a different license. Muzzleloading, again, different license. Want to shoot a doe during rifle season, well you have to buy a WMA permit on top of the rifle hunting license.

I have not hunted since I moved to TN and truthfully I don’t really even want to fool with it. I would rather buy the overpriced out of state mess and just drive back to the family farm in KY because the laws are at least sensible.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Does being a resident of TN make anything less confusing as far as the antlerless permits are concerned? I was under the impression by your post it had something to do with you being a non resident and buying the presumably all inclusive 073 license. If you were a resident would have it been clearer?

 

[mcb]

Does being a resident of TN make anything less confusing as far as the antlerless permits are concerned? I was under the impression by your post it had something to do with you being a non resident and buying the presumably all inclusive 073 license. If you were a resident would have it been clearer?

If I have read the regulations correctly everyone, resident or nonresident, needs the 094 license to take does during gun season. The only exceptions are for those hunting on landowner permits (I don't qualify as the land is in a trust and I am a nonresident) and those with the lifetime sportsman license.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Ok. Now I see. Landowners are exempt and I was thinking you were a landowner in this instance since your OP implied that you were. However the land being in a trust muddies that water quite effectively.

“Make sure you follow the rules. Even the ones you don’t know about.”—Said by anyone who regularly hunts Ft Stewart.

 

[Laphroaig]

The resolution to the infraction was that he kindly allowed me purchase a 2019-20 type 094 license after the fact to make my harvest legal. That cost me $27. Again he was friendly and professional.

You were lucky to encounter such a reasonable person. Not all officers would let you off so easily.

 

[mcb]

Ok. Now I see. Landowners are exempt and I was thinking you were a landowner in this instance since your OP implied that you were. However the land being in a trust muddies that water quite effectively.

“Make sure you follow the rules. Even the ones you don’t know about.”—Said by anyone who regularly hunts Ft Stewart.

Even if I was the sole owner being an out of state resident also makes me ineligible for a landowners permit. Double whammy, out of state, and the land in a trust.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Sounds like TN is a wild place for hunting regs.

 

[mcb]

Sounds like TN is a wild place for hunting regs.

Compared to Ohio where I grew up hunting, the hunting regulations in TN are certainly not as clearly written.

The biggest thing I miss from Ohio is night hunting. We have one heck of a Coyote population on the property in TN and we are having very little luck hunting them during the day and night hunting of nearly any kind is illegal in TN.

 

[JeffG]

It was good the warden allowed it to be resolved that way. I doubt that it would have gone that smoothly in Wisconsin.

 

[Slamfire]

This may been common knowledge to TN residents but it caught me unawares as someone relatively new to hunting in TN

So for the past five years I have lived in North Alabama but own land with my brother and father in Tennessee. I do nearly all my hunting in TN so each year I buy the Annual All Game (Type 073) license ($305 for 2019-20) each year in early March and away I go. I hunt the various seasons all year and check any deer and turkey as required on the mobile app. Well this year I took a doe during gun season and checked it as normal.

I went back and reread the game laws and it is there but does not jump out at you unless you're really looking for it so I thought I would create this thread. The only place a type 094 is mention as a requirement for taking does during gun season on private land is as a foot note to the Deer Season & Bag Limit table and in the description of the type 094 license itself. Everywhere else that particular 094 license is mentioned is in the context of hunting public WMA land.

Keep it legal guys.

It is ridiculous that you need to hire a law firm to understand what license, or series of licenses to buy to go hunting. As more and more law biding hunters get dinged by conflicting, confusing game laws, enacted by money hungry Legislatures, the fewer hunters there will be.

You probably committed five felonies before breakfast or at least on the way to work. As surveillance capitalism becomes integrated with the "fine and fee" Government revenue model, the money extraction will get worse.

 

[Rule3]

It was good the warden allowed it to be resolved that way. I doubt that it would have gone that smoothly in Wisconsin.

Maybe they were gearing up for a new TV series like Northwoods, Lone Star or Alaska Law. Those Wardens are "always" so nice and forgiving.

 

[GAF]

It was good the warden allowed it to be resolved that way. I doubt that it would have gone that smoothly in Wisconsin.

Some years ago a friend of mine who was here from Germany on a green care went deer hunting with some friends and shot a nice buck.
As he is hauling it out of the woods along comes a game warden. Warden check his license and discovers he was not suppose to shot that buck. He lost the buck and got off with a warning.

A few years ago the Wisconsin deer hunting regulations stated in one place you could do a certain thing (can`t remember exactly what) In another place it explained that it was illegal to do that thing. Very confusing .

 

[WestKentucky]

Does being a resident of TN make anything less confusing as far as the antlerless permits are concerned? I was under the impression by your post it had something to do with you being a non resident and buying the presumably all inclusive 073 license. If you were a resident would have it been clearer?

No, it just makes confusion a little cheaper.

 

[buck460XVR]

It was good the warden allowed it to be resolved that way. I doubt that it would have gone that smoothly in Wisconsin.

Because of the way the licensing system works in Wisconsin, there would have never been that confusion. We are issued "tags/acknowledgements" if we can shoot antlerless deer and must dictate what county and whether or not they are to be used on private or public land before they are issued. As I said preciously, I think the Warden was admitting there was confusion in the regs and was handling it the appropriate way. Odds are it was decision made higher up and applied to more folks than just the OP.

 

[GAF]

If one has never found conflicting, confusing or misleading information in any states deer hunting regulation manual one has not read it.

 

[Bfh_auto]

You were lucky to encounter such a reasonable person. Not all officers would let you off so easily.

That's the difference between an officer that wants to serve and enforce the law and one that wants to enforce the law.
He knew a poor encounter with the OP could lead to another person not hunting.
He sounds like the Andy Griffith of conservation officers.

 

[mcb]

That's the difference between an officer that wants to serve and enforce the law and one that wants to enforce the law.
He knew a poor encounter with the OP could lead to another person not hunting.
He sounds like the Andy Griffith of conservation officers.

Yep he was professional and friendly. He left his name and number in case I ever had questions or needed help from my local game warden. As a landowner managing a peice of property for hunting/conservation that is a nice resource to have just in case.