As well-intentioned a hunter as you are, it is easier than you think to get lackadaisical, slip up and inadvertently break a hunting law. Here are 5 common violations and how to avoid a game warden’s ticket.

Know the Regulations

Season dates and bag limits change, the use of bait may be restricted, ever-evolving CWD rules are implemented… Whether you’ve hunted your state for 2 years or 20, it is your responsibility to read the regs from cover to cover and keep up to date with any and all rule changes before each season. If hunters would just do it, 95% of inadvertent violations could be avoided. If you go out of state to hunt, you really need to ready and study the regulations. And don’t rely solely on ChatGPT or Grok! AI can make mistakes! There are reports that hunters have already pleaded with COs things like “AI told me the season was open!” They got tickets, faulty AI information is no excuse!

Carry the Right License

Sounds obvious, but license and tag requirements can be confusing. Here in Virginia, for example, you need a state hunting license and a separate big game license; if you bowhunt or use a muzzleloader or want to shoot a bear if you see one, you need specific permits for those too. Know what you need and have those tags on you at all times. Tip: I carry both an email or photo of all my licenses on my phone, and printed out and signed copies for good measure.

Track Legal Light

Wear a watch and check the regs or a phone app for the legal shooting times every day. Do not push the ½-hour-before sunrise or ½-hour after sunset provision by even one minute.

Wear Your Orange

I was getting ready at the truck one day in Kansas when a warden pulled in to check my license. “You’ve got orange, right?’ he said, as I pulled on my blaze vest and cap.

“Good deal,” he replied. “Not wearing the proper amount of orange is the number one ticket I write in rifle season.” In most states, you need at least an orange hat, as well as a blaze outer vest in many states. Know for sure and wear it.

Punch Your Tag

Whenever I kill a doe or buck, I don’t move it an inch before I validate my tag. State laws vary. You might need to notch or fill out a paper tag with the date/time/county of the kill, and tape it to a deer’s leg or antler. Or do an “e-notch” on your phone. Out West where hunters often quarter and pack a deer from a remote location, it’s required that evidence of an animal’s reproductive organ be left attached to a hindquarter. Do whatever the state law requires before you move your deer. Many states require you to check-in a kill as well by phone, online or in person, don’t forget to do that.