Jump shooting?

From the WI DNR regulations

“Jump Shooting
•
The open water restrictions are not intended to prohibit legal jump
shooting activities. It is legal to hunt from a non-motorized boat on
narrow streams. However, on larger bodies of water where shooting
shore to shore is not possible, the hunter must keep a portion of the
boat within 3 ft. of natural emergent vegetation that provides the
required concealment (see page 8). Skirting the edge of rivers and
lakes in this manner is considered legal”

Trying to apply the law to about 10 miles of of the Rock River here in WI. I guess I really have 2 questions about hunting from a boat. 1) I assume if the shoreline is predominantly rocky or wooded, jump shooting is not legal? Are all islands in a river system considered public property regardless of water level?

In MN trees are considered vegitation. We hunt a rocky shoreline where the only concealment is the tree branches hanging over the lake. Have run into the warden there many times and never had a problem with concealment.

In the WI publication, trees are not considered vegi. Most of my duck hunting has been open water on Lake MI. (3 to 5 miles out) so its a learning curve as olivia is getting more hard core into this

As I understand the WI waterfowl Regs–

You are legal to jumpshoot as long as you’re (1) standing in the water, (2) legally able to hunt in the area (not in a town, protected natural area), and (3) more than 100 yards from a building designed to house people. More or less, if you can wade it you can jumpshoot it.

Shore line composition only applies to hunting from boats in open water–WI is relatively specific on the distance your boat can be from emergent vegetation, and has a relatively specific definition of what emergent vegetation is. I think it’s to keep people from setting up open boat blinds in the middle of lakes. The exception is if you’re in a manually powered boat on narrow streams or sloughs. Narrow being defined as shoot-able from shore to shore, and I interpret as about 40 yards or the effective range of a shotgun.

I don’t know what the status of islands are in the Rock, but pretty much all the ones on the ‘Sconnie are public… and of course if your feet are in the water you’re on public huntable property. If they’re private, I think you’d be legal to anchor a boat shallow, wade around the island, and blast some ducks.

We would be floating the jon or canoe down. But you bring up an interesting piont. If we wade, and just float the boat – we should be fine. going on 2 weeks of no returned call form DNR. (multiple people throughout that time.)

That sounds like a fun trip. Without the proper emergent veg (cattails and such) you cant set up a boat blind and if the islands may not be public you can’t set up a shore blind. Jumpshooting is more fun and exciting anyway. BTW, lots of public lands on the lower Wisconsin too.

My buddy has tried to get an answer half a dozen times over the course of several years about a simple fishing question on the Rock River. He’s never gotten a response from any of the CO’s. I wouldn’t hold your breath