Property Ownership of Lakeshore and Duck Hunting

Does anyone know the MN rule of where your ownership of lakeshore ends? Are the cattails and surface muck considered your property still?

Here’s the full scenario. Our lakeshore has a big pennisula of cattails and bog/muck. We’ve had a couple duck hunters pull their boats into the cattails and hunt this area. Not a huge deal but I like hunting it and they do this without asking permission. I’m not planning on calling the warden to get anyone in trouble. Rather, if they by chance get out there before me on a morning I plan to hunt, I would like to know the official rules before having a conversation with them.

I believe it is off the high water mark.

My understanding is that if there’s water, its public.

Dry land is where the private property ends. In your case, if there’s water in the cattails/bog/muck, then its public.

Will be interesting to see what others say here. I think you’re doing the right thing by trying to find a good answer ahead of a potential problem.

Ask if you can hunt with them . Maybe they are cool dudes and you can combine spreads .

Call the MN dnr and just ask the question. They are pretty good about it. I would imagine its considered public but only one way to find out.

When in doubt call the local warden to get his take on it…I do it whenever I have questions about stuff like that…road right of ways(which can also be a call to the county offices), water entry points, etc…have all been figured out before there is an issue…I got cussed out by neighbors and ruined an opening day years ago…they were completely wrong but the local police got involved and forced us off the pond to chat…never again…it’s actually a pretty good idea to be on a first name basis with your local CO…

Get out there before they do.

Page 11 of the Hunting Regs – Water Access and Recreational Use:
What is lawful access?
A stream or lake is lawfully accessible if there is a public access, or if puvlic land or a public road right-of-way abuts the surface of the water…
What is recreational use?
Rec use…includes…hunting. It includes walking in the water in connection with such activities regardless of who owns the land beneath the surface of the water.

They can set up and hunt the cat tails. Trick we used to pull is put a lantern out there and claim your spot first.
We had a run in with some dink cabin owner tried telling us we couldn’t hunt in front of his place blah blah blah. He even threatened us so we called the dnr. He informed him that the property owner was in the wrong and the guy had a total melt down.

In your case I’d try to meet them at the end of there hunt and introduce your selves to them. We’ve met some great guys this way and team hunt 2 boats.

But when in doubt, a lantern always redirects people.

might just want to wake up earlier? HA!

Check the county website and look for the GIS map. That will show property lines.

blackbay wrote:

Check the county website and look for the GIS map. That will show property lines.

Doesn’t much matter if they can get a boat in there then it’s legally huntable.

I recently had a similar question about public access on a specific pond from the road right of way and was unsure of the legality. 5 minutes on the phone with my local CO cleared it all up. Your best bet is to talk to the guy who is employed to interpret and enforce the laws.
To me it sounds like they are perfectly legal to hunt there. Join them or beat them to it.

Build a permanent duck blind a few feet inward from where the water stops and cut the catails in front of it out far enough for you to have the point 100% to yourself.
Problem solved!

Jason wrote:

Build a permanent duck blind a few feet inward from where the water stops and cut the catails in front of it out far enough for you to have the point 100% to yourself.
Problem solved!

Trying to reserve public land for yourself isn’t a good look much less being illegal. Cutting the cattails is also illegal without a permit.

Jason wrote:

Build a permanent duck blind a few feet inward from where the water stops and cut the catails in front of it out far enough for you to have the point 100% to yourself.
Problem solved!

I would not do any of this.

Them being within 500’ of your dwelling or a neighbor would put them in the red. Otherwise they are GTG.

There’s some guys on Gull that take advantage of this. Vaguely remember you being in the BLA.

I think you’re wrong on that ganderpike, going from memory. If you’re not in town, and on legal hunting waters, distance to a residence doesn’t apply.

ganderpike wrote:

Them being within 500’ of your dwelling or a neighbor would put them in the red. Otherwise they are GTG.

There’s some guys on Gull that take advantage of this. Vaguely remember you being in the BLA.

500 ft rule doesn’t apply if your hunting in the water with your back to the dwelling. Just went over this with the pine county dnr officer. That rule changed a couple years back. That’s why those guys are taking advantage of that.

Bearcat89 wrote:

500 ft rule doesn’t apply if your hunting in the water with your back to the dwelling.

Now this I did not know. I’ve never attempted to hunt a developed lake but our cabin is on a lake that is duck hunted pretty heavily. I do think that just out of common courtesy I’d avoid hunting very close to a inhabited home or cabin.

I’ll echo the comments above about contacting and getting to know the local CO and also introducing yourself to these hunters and possibly teaming up if they seem decent.

Joe Jarl wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
500 ft rule doesn’t apply if your hunting in the water with your back to the dwelling.

Now this I did not know. I’ve never attempted to hunt a developed lake but our cabin is on a lake that is duck hunted pretty heavily. I do think that just out of common courtesy I’d avoid hunting very close to a inhabited home or cabin.

I’ll echo the comments above about contacting and getting to know the local CO and also introducing yourself to these hunters and possibly teaming up if they seem decent.

We had a issue of threats from a home owner when we were 450 ft away, so we called the law because he threatened violence. The pine sheriff showed up and said we were to close to the residence and we told him he was incorrect. So then he called the dnr who came down and explained the rule to all parties and the sheriff. We could hunt there and closer all we wanted as long as our backs are to the dwelling and we are not shooting towards the property. And we were in the water not on his land.
We found out the home owner was a nut job who was violent towards alot of his neighbors and fisherman. So we just don’t hunt that spot because drama is far from my goal. But if we wanted to, then we legally could.

I always thought it was 500 feet too, from an occupied dwelling (like a house).

Page 15 is very clear on the regs, Bearcat is right. There is an exception for hunting on water.

I was also surprised by the 500′ rule. I just looked at the regs and it goes a bit further than just on the water.

• A person may hunt from the water, a private shooting preserve, or from public land
that is within 500 feet of a building occupied by humans or livestock.

I’ve always avoided getting to close to houses on WMAs but I guess I don’t need to (exceptions for corals). I also don’t see any requirement about having your back to the property but that just seems like good practice.

Brad Dimond wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jason wrote:</div>
Build a permanent duck blind a few feet inward from where the water stops and cut the catails in front of it out far enough for you to have the point 100% to yourself.
Problem solved!

Trying to reserve public land for yourself isn’t a good look much less being illegal. Cutting the cattails is also illegal without a permit.

That is an absolutely terrible idea. I hope it was sarcasm.

FinickyFish wrote:

I was also surprised by the 500′ rule. I just looked at the regs and it goes a bit further than just on the water.

• A person may hunt from the water, a private shooting preserve, or from public land
that is within 500 feet of a building occupied by humans or livestock.

I’ve always avoided getting to close to houses on WMAs but I guess I don’t need to (exceptions for corals). I also don’t see any requirement about having your back to the property but that just seems like good practice.

I didn’t see anything about the back to the dwelling rule either, but that’s what the dnr told me and that guy was awesome. The home owner probably didn’t think he was to great lol. Hunter harassment charges were filed.

I didn’t see anything about the back to the dwelling rule either, but that’s what the dnr told me and that guy was awesome. The home owner probably didn’t think he was to great lol. Hunter harassment charges were filed.
[/quote]

Yeah probably at some point shooting too close and towards a house starts bleeding into other laws of reckless discharge of a firearm that would fall more in police/sheriffs jurisdiction. Hopefully your charges had some affect, can’t stand those guys.

I was pheasant hunting on a lake many years ago. Walking on the ice through the cattails. This guy came barreling out of his house and was ripping me a new one and I said I was on the water and it was perfectly legal to do what I was doing. I was completely nice to him and he was being a d bag. We chatted for a bit and I found out he actually worked for my mom. I told him that I was in the right, but I would stop hunting and leave which I did.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I was pheasant hunting on a lake many years ago. Walking on the ice through the cattails. This guy came barreling out of his house and was ripping me a new one and I said I was on the water and it was perfectly legal to do what I was doing. I was completely nice to him and he was being a d bag. We chatted for a bit and I found out he actually worked for my mom. I told him that I was in the right, but I would stop hunting and leave which I did.

Ok I think we all want to know… how many roosters do you see doing this?

I’m glad to see that some of you didnt approve my duck blind build,,, maybe throwing down some used pallets for a dock in the mud and beaching an old camouflaged pontoon would be a better option!

Some of the 500′ rule is driven from the city’s/township ordinances not the DNR so I would think that that is still pretty vague. Years ago when I lived on 3.5 acres in Wyoming, MN I wanted to shoot clay pigeons with my kids on the backside of my property that overlooked an 80 acre swamp which I had permission for was flagged by a cidiot neighbor I had. The city’s ordinance stated a 500ft rule from a dwelling unless you had prior approval from everyone inside of that radius.
The city cop came by and shut us down which was fine by me because I didn’t want to get into a pissing match with the crazy lady. The house that flagged us was approx 420ft from where we shot from.

Youbetcha wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
I was pheasant hunting on a lake many years ago. Walking on the ice through the cattails. This guy came barreling out of his house and was ripping me a new one and I said I was on the water and it was perfectly legal to do what I was doing. I was completely nice to him and he was being a d bag. We chatted for a bit and I found out he actually worked for my mom. I told him that I was in the right, but I would stop hunting and leave which I did.

Ok I think we all want to know… how many roosters do you see doing this?

That particular day I didnt shoot a single bird but the whole time I was chatting with the dude my dog was on point and then the birds would flush and I just watched them go. Probably 20 to 30 birds in a confined area.
I have done this on a LOT of lakes and it has paid off very well.