Shotgun in tree stand

[JUDGE]

I thought that back in the 60's in Ontario we were not allowed to hunt from an elevated platform .
I may be wrong, but that's what I remember.

But that was a long time ago and my memory is not that great any more.

[Greenhorn]

I started hunting for deer in Michigan in 1990 and it was legal to hunt from a tree stand or raise platform long before that. I used bow ,shotgun and ML. Tags were real cheap 15 bucks for Non residence and unlimited. Residence paid $4.00 or $5.00 /tag Lol, I killed on average 6 deer a year for 8 years,when I decided to slack off. Two of the tags were for bucks,although they cost $35.00. Each. Thoughts were the days.

[Greenhorn]

Back in the 60's their were very few bow hunters and every body hunted from the ground. I started hunting in 64 but use to climb trees in the late 60's,after realizing you had a better view from a tree.

[gooseman]

I started hunting for deer in Michigan in 1990 and it was legal to hunt from a tree stand or raise platform long before that. I used bow ,shotgun and ML. Tags were real cheap 15 bucks for Non residence and unlimited. Residence paid $4.00 or $5.00 /tag Lol, I killed on average 6 deer a year for 8 years,when I decided to slack off. Two of the tags were for bucks,although they cost $35.00. Each. Thoughts were the days.

This law to firearm hunt from an elevated stand did not take effect until the fall hunt of 1998 before that it was illegal to be off the ground

[Greenhorn]

Did you ever hunt in Michigan??? I spent pracially three months very year sitting in a tree stand and was NEVER sited for hunting illegally. I saw lots of DNR agents driving by. I would think,if I was breaking the law they would have a least give me a warning, more likely a ticket.

[skeeter1]

From what I can gather it was not legal to hunt from an elevated platform with a bow until 1975 and with a gun until 1998. Read this from a couple of different sources.

[werner.reiche]

Did you ever hunt in Michigan??? I spent pracially three months very year sitting in a tree stand and was NEVER sited for hunting illegally. I saw lots of DNR agents driving by. I would think,if I was breaking the law they would have a least give me a warning, more likely a ticket.

Just because you did something illegal for years doesn't make it legal.

I have a cousin that lives in Michigan. Both he and his brotherinlaw are hunting nuts (b-I-l is also a crown attorney). They were both very aware of this law and that it changed.

Use your google-fu if you doubt it. It appears the change from illegal to legal occurred in 1998.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=era...hanged&f=false

[gooseman]

As a matter of fact I spent a lot of time there as my mother was born and raised there and my grandparents and uncles and cousins lived there. I hunted deer for well over 30 yrs in Michigan with bow, muzzleloader, shotgun and rifle. Our family owned our own hunting property and I shot my first deer well before I was ten yrs old. If you were hunting from an elevated stand prior to 1998 with a firearm in Michigan then YOU were breaking the law period! Don't care how many dnr officers you seen while doing this you were still wrong.

[MikePal]

No to be too facetious; but with the urban sprawl along some of the boundary roads in most rural areas, it is almost time that they make it illegal, when hunting with a rifle, NOT to be in a treestand. (elevated).

[Waftrudnir]

No to be too facetious; but with the urban sprawl along some of the boundary roads in most rural areas, it is almost time that they make it illegal, when hunting with a rifle, NOT to be in a treestand. (elevated).

... and I would agree - unfortunately!
way too many don't care about a save backstop and that's what you end up getting as so often: just another rule. at least I would hope that at the same time, it would come with a significantly extended rifle season (not ML, slug, etc.)