Bowfishing Etiquette Question

[gobblegetter]

Hey guys, over the years bowfishing has become one of my favorite outdoor activities.  I am well aware we're not the most popular guys on the water with our set up.  Lights are incredibly bright, generator running, ect...I get it.  BUT we do have a legal right to be there and enjoy our activity.   There seems to be very little definitive regulation besides having a valid fishing license so we often just try to keep our distance from anyone and mind our own.  This has worked very well for years without incident until the other night.  The body of water we were on has sporadic housing and considering it's early in the year with very little tree cover our lights were likely invasive despite keeping what we thought was appropriate distance from homes..  We got reamed out pretty good by a homeowner.  We were obviously close enough to hear his yelling but we certainly weren't in his backyard either and were on the opposite bank.   It was about 8:30pm, not incredibly late.  We apologized and turned around immediately when the confrontation began but he would not quit hurling obscenities as we calmly said we were leaving.  I'm conflicted about this as I love the sport but obviously don't want to make a habit of getting in altercations.

So here's the question...

 

Were we wrong to be there?   Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

[Bucksnbows]

Not in any way wrong. Your best bet is to fill in the local CO and ask him to approach the landowner to educate him that what you were doing is perfectly legal. We need to stand out ground instead of apologizing for legally hunting or fishing or trapping. Just my two cents. 

[Bones]

Was it a town owned lake or a wma

some Lakes have certain hours for use.

 

[Woodsman416]

Go back, film it, publish it on Youtube, get 1 million likes, get paid! 

[mazzgolf]

If we do not stand up for our hunting and fishing rights, we will lose them without a fight. If the lake did not have operating hours (perhaps you were on the water after-hours??), and if you were licensed and legal, I would have called a CO immediately and ask the CO to come out and at the least get that homeowner an education about the legality of bowfishing, at best get him charged with hunter-harrassment. I would not have left without at least talking to a CO first. 

This is why people should always have the DFW law enforcement phone number programmed in your phone; if you have a local CO's cell phone number, even better. You never know when you will have to make a call.

[rgw]

We have the same situation, every year we have a issue with a lady and every year she calls the cops, we just keep going, cops don’t even question us anymore. We use hand held spotlight, there is another guy who has a real light set up and his doesn’t reflect like our spotlight 

[hammer4reel]

6 minutes ago, Bucksnbows said:

Not in any way wrong. Your best bet is to fill in the local CO and ask him to approach the landowner to educate him that what you were doing is perfectly legal. We need to stand out ground instead of apologizing for legally hunting or fishing or trapping. Just my two cents. 

With bow fishing there is a gray area about the 450’ rule knocking an arrow .

many lakes having homes on them your usually closer than that .

all depends on who takes the call .

 

also some areas have no discharge of a projectile tethered or not .(shown in the compendium) 

 

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[Gobblengrunt]

The 450’ rule applies to hunting only, not fishing.  Bowfishing is fishing as you need a fishing license only to participate.  

[mazzgolf]

I would think the 450/150 rule does apply to bow fishing (after all, its archery equipment, no?)

Nevertheless, the rule is 150 for archery, not 450 (unless its a school playground). See page 34 of the digest.

[Gobblengrunt]

I would not be torn about going back and bowfishing at night at the same time or later.  Too many people want to ruin everybody’s fun and stick their nose in everyone’s business.  If you are within the law and being reasonably considerate to those homeowners, keep fishing!  Ignore all the karens out there.

[Nomad]

If you shine that damn light on my house again, I will cuss you out again!!

[Gobblengrunt]

2 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

I would think the 450/150 rule does apply to bow fishing (after all, its archery equipment, no?)

Nevertheless, the rule is 150 for archery, not 450 (unless its a school playground). See page 34 of the digest.

Thats for hunting only.  Does not apply to bowfishing or even target shooting.  There are other laws that may be restrictive but not those

[JFC1]

Just now, Gobblengrunt said:

  If you are within the law and being reasonably considerate to those homeowners, keep fishing!

Exactly. Seems like you were being courteous, and the guy had a bad night or is an ahole.  

[Bucksnbows]

2 hours ago, hammer4reel said:

With bow fishing there is a gray area about the 450’ rule knocking an arrow .

many lakes having homes on them your usually closer than that .

all depends on who takes the call .

 

also some areas have no discharge of a projectile tethered or not .(shown in the compendium) 

 

.

 

.

According to the last Chief, it’s fishing and not hunting. The 450’ rule doesn’t apply. That’s Freshwater Fisheries. There is a reason all we need is a fishing license to bow fish. 

[Bucksnbows]

1 hour ago, mazzgolf said:

I would think the 450/150 rule does apply to bow fishing (after all, its archery equipment, no?)

Nevertheless, the rule is 150 for archery, not 450 (unless its a school playground). See page 34 of the digest.

No it’s not. It’s considered fishing gear. May sound odd, but that’s how it is in NJ.