Question: hunting rivers

[lunkerman]

i had the dog on the river this weekend and got curious about hunting on rivers for waterfowl, if i go on the river at a public access point can i hunt up or down stream a little way?

[Alex T.]

I would think that would depend on if hunting is allowed at that particular access point. Plus,you would have to stay on the public ground(the boundaries would be tough to distinguish) and not wander off of it for anything....setting decoys,hiding,retrieving birds,etc.

Alex

[flatcoats]

as i understand, people own the ground under the river. so, u could float up and down the river all you want, but if you are touching the bottom, or anything you own is touching, then it constitutes tresspassing.

[Alex T.]

That's true FC. But if were public access,I'd think there would be a bit of public ground(along the bank and under the water).However,I bet the landowners next to it know exactly where the boundaries are. That's a tough area to hunt out there unless you know someone with river ground.

Alex

[flatcoats]

oh yea, i agree. if theres public hunting butting up to the river, im sure there is a "piece" of water that is public. where that "line" runs can become very controversial though, and many times when asked about, can seem to "move" quite a bit

[muddy river]

True dat about the land owners. They know by golly. Many times the river is low enough you can hunt a sand bar near the shore or even in the middle. That's public. Just don't walk on the land owners property to get to the sand bar. Boat would be easiest of course. Or get an Iowa permit. There's miles of public property up and down the river in Iowa. Wish Nebraska was the same way.

[friggidy]

A lot of people I know do a lot of hunting on the missour river up by the Newcastle/Vermillion bridge. They hunt the river up there because it is outside city limits and since you're using steel shot it is legal.

[lunkerman]

i don't know how many people have been to this place but the spot i was thinking of is on the platte river just south of the interstate at Alda. To the east is crane meadows nature center, and to the west i have no clue, but there is public land a little ways to the west that i have hunted turkeys on and the small channel runs through it.

[CDILL]

I know exactly where you are talking about and I was wondering that very same thing this weekend. We never hunt the river, but we go to that spot to take the dogs in the summer time once in awhile. I have never seen a map or anything that tells you how much of the area is public though.

[Scott Eveland]

As pointed out, you are free to float on rivers, but once you touch bottom, you are trespassing on the land of the landowner. The landowner owns the land under the water. If they own land on one side, they own it to the center of the main channel (which can obviously move).

The the adjacent property is public (IE the Ogallala Strip WMA on the South Platte River), then the river bed is public up to the center of the main channel.

Those property rights go back to the early 20th century. The Missouri River is a little different due to its status as a border water AND a navigable waterway.

[Black Lab 1]

As pointed out, you are free to float on rivers, but once you touch bottom, you are trespassing on the land of the landowner. The landowner owns the land under the water. If they own land on one side, they own it to the center of the main channel

This state has a lot of stupid laws, but this one has to be either number one or number two.

[OldBaldGuy]

Leaving aside the whole property ownership issue, are there really any stretches of river in Nebraska with good hunting that aren't lined with blinds and decoy sets? Would anyone truly want to float through that kind of combat zone, especially early or late in the day in low-light conditions?

Secondly, even if a guy found an un-hunted stretch of river to float, wouldn't you have to make sure every bird you drop falls into the current? If it fell on shore, or even in a shallow backwater, you couldn't retrieve it without trespassing, could you?

I've heard about guys jump shooting ducks from a canoe on Sandhills streams, and that sounds like great fun, but I think they had to have had permission from the landowner(s).

[Alex T.]

OBG,
They would be trespassing.

Alex