Here in PA, if you have a private pond, only the direct family members who own the pond can fish without a license. For my pond, that would be me, my wife, my brother, and his wife. Nobody else can fish without a license.
A bunch of us could be in big trouble -- or maybe it could just be our legal-beagle friend, who would be in the most trouble. Or, on general principles, we could just blame it all on our good friend Rainman!
As I look back at good times at Sunil's pond, there have been several occasions where he knowingly hosted and harbored us criminals taking fish without an in-state license. I can even think of one case involving a big old snapping turtle -- which the legal-beagle set loose because it was interrupting sessions in the outhouse. In any case,
my legal counsel accompanied me on those trips, and he never said anything was amiss except when we finally ran out of minnows and worms.
I have a number of friends in our state's DNR. I have found that the game wardens, or whatever they are called these days, are mostly out to stop really heinous wildlife-related crimes. And, I applaud them for their efforts. I can't think of an instance where they have projected themselves into parties at private ponds -- unless they were invited as participants, or if there was serious unrest. But, serious unrest usually gets taken care of by the Sheriff's office.
In recent years we've had some really crazy things in this area of Virginia and West Virginia. Like a group of guys killing bears just for their paws. Apparently the paws have some aphrodisiac power in certain Asian countries, where they bring big money. We've had people using black walnut husks to poison fish in our local rivers and streams. The black walnut husks will kill massive numbers of fish, but the dead fish are safe for human consumption. It sure wipe out sections of a river or stream.
I've got a neighbor who I wish would get caught, even though he is on private property. Our area broods a pretty reasonable number of wild turkey every season, but this guy takes out every one he sees. After a hatch, we'll see large flocks of them at our ponds and even in the front yard. Come fall, there have been many days when he has been right at the corner of my property and property where he has permission to hunt. He'll be there calling turkey. I can easily hear him from my ponds and sheds. It is mostly done pre-season, and he takes a lot of birds. One of these days when I hear him, I'll call my DNR friends.
Another neighbor that has three acres adjacent to the opposite corner of our property property takes a lot of deer each year, in and out of season. I wouldn't really have a problem with that because we have such an over abundance of deer, and he has a big family. But, he only takes out the backstrap. Then he drags the remainder of carcasses onto my property. By the time the vultures find them (which is how I find them), they are useless as human food.
I guess I'm saying, lets not be so hard on the DNR enforcement people. Nearly every one that I know in that business, just like policeman and fireman, are in the job for the benefit they can bring to society.
As I posted much earlier, if you aren't satisfied with the rules in your state, get involved. I did. It made life much simpler for everyone with ponds and raising fish. It made life simpler for landowners and the enforcement community.
