Just wait until you are hunting elk on New Years Day outside of Porter (western WA) with an eastern washington modern rifle tag but you are using a muzzleloader on private property and your buddies elk dies in the river after running 50 yards. You had better have a firm grasp of the regulations or you could end up walking home, without your gear.

I had to explain to two deputies that I had a special permit, showed it to 'em. That the permit allowed ANY TAG to be used in that area, showed 'em the regs. Explained the firearms restriction area that made me use a muzzleloader, showed 'em that too. Showed them my AHE card. Finally I showed them the written permission that I had for the three private farms that I had hunted on that day.

The only thing that they did know was the rules about the high water mark because the landowner by the Porter Creek bridge called us in for supposedly trespassing and killing the elk on their property. We were able to show them the blood trail going into the river from the property where we had permission and our footprints along the bank where we had tied a rope to the floating elk and walked it down to the boat launch.

Now if I was to trust in the knowledge of others to avoid tickets, I might have walked away with a stack of tickets. The deputies were not hunters, and had little knowledge of the game laws, but my knowledge of them, along with the copy of the regs helped to educate these gentlemen. The were quite respectful, and let the complaintant know that they had no standing on the trespassing complaint.

Now then, I am sure that there are other stories related to fishing out there, but grey (gray) rules are not always good. I personally would like to know so that I don't step on my d**k and get a ticket because of some misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the rules.

That is exactly what we wish to accomplish. Where's the line. I would personally prefer some very general rules with few limitations (no snaggin' or dynamite, that's not all, but basically two guys at two fish per = 4 fish, who cares who hooked them) so that all could fish without fear of getting ticketed. The nice thing about that would be that those of us who want to fish to a higher standard could, and some of the folks who are new to fishing could get an opportunity to get hooked on the sport without getting tickets carved.

Have a nice evening,

Andy