Fiddlehead and Mushroom Foraging Legislation- Should Sportsmen be worried?

I ran across this today in the news...

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Maine-bill-would-ban-mushroom-foraging-without-OK-.html?searchterm=mushroom+foraging

This is the gist of it:
"If passed by lawmakers, the bill would make it a civil violation to take plants, minerals, objects or anything else that exists naturally from private property without approval."

So the way I see it, this would also ban hunting on private land without permission since you are taking a naturally occurring resource. I don't want to get into the discussion of "should you" seek permission to hunt because I think you should when practical, but the hunting access laws as they are now provide for the fact that its not always practical.

What are your guys' thoughts? Should we be worried about this?

i think you are seeing it correctly and i think in just a few short yrs we as sportsman will really struggle to find lands to recreate on , not only do they want to make this a play ground for the wealthy they want to make it extremely hard to gain permission, but i also feel we will have land owner who will post thier land even more because they won't want to deal with people constantly asking permission.just my humble thoughts , but what bothers me even more these large land owner will have a very easy way of saying no to use because they might be leasing thier lands to sporting groups who in turn will be able to exclude us from even being able to ask permission

My thoughts are that we should be worried about access but not this particular bill. As was mentioned in the article, we already

have laws that prevent theft of property and I can't for the life of me think why stone walls and plants and trees are wouldn't

be covered under the existing laws.

As a land owner in southern Maine I deal with lots of folk using my property. I embrace the fact that I can share my land with

others because as a young outdoors man I was always able to use the land of others. Having said that I ask that you consider

the land owner when you use their property. Should I really have to post my land against wheelers or trucks or dumping? No,

but I have to and even then it doesn't work. I see hunters every fall up there with wheelers or dumping carcases. WTF?

Where's the respect? Let's all think about that the next time we have to traipse across someone's field or use their twitch

trail to get our dogs back. We have to remember that there may me a masshole transplant who is just itching for a reason to

post his 20 acre piece.

One weekend left, run em hard!

i too have land that others use and for the most part sportsmen are considerate,i don't post mine , biggest problem i've had was about the same as above , i just feel as an older man that all these changes we are getting will drive our future generations away from hunting and trapping, where once i could drive and never see posted signs , now it's uncommon not to see the signs, i guess it's our job to do the best we can at educating, encouraging the younger generations to join in reaching our goals.i can't imagine coon hunting in surburan areas in these times , yrs ago we treed coon near houses all the time and harvested them too, today i'm sure it must be much different, just my thoughts
,

Sebago and RJH,

Thanks for your thought and allowing access on your property.

I agree that property abuse is our greatest threat to access. I am sickened by some of the things I see in the woods, and I am sickened to know that some of it is caused by sportsmen.

I just had an email conversation with the Kumiega, who is sponsoring the bill. He says the intent is not to limit sportsmen/non commercial harvesting rights, and that the wording needs clarification. At this point, it is a wait and see for me. I found him to be responsive and approachable. So, that is good.

Thanks for the follow up Sonny. BTW, great handle, brings back memories.

i have a real fear that our hertiage is in trouble and that if we don't keep abreast of all bills, and stay intouch with our gov sponser that we very well could lose even more than we have now, i wished we had a lobbist down there like skip trask, he did a wonderful job of keeping us trappers informed, and even a better job being our mouth piece , i just wish that we could get someone elected who's passion for hunting , fishing and trapping was the same as our , and that he stood his ground and never waivered on his quest to make this state as safe as can be concerning hunting , fishing , and trapping. think most who get elected first time fear not getting reelected if they don't play the political game correctly, correct me if i'm wrong please

Hey Sebago, I'm one of those masshole transplant as you mainer's like to call us.They would'nt have to post there property if it was'nt for the damage you good ole boys do to there land when they get half in the bag after drinking there beer's and allen's and jump in there mud trucks an hop on there atv's and go off shooting up up sign's,tearing up stream's and peoples farm land and like you said dumping stuff were it don't belong. it's not just local property but the big paper company land too.So you can't blame them for posting when some of you mainer's think it's your god given right to trespass,tearup ,dump and bait,hunt on there land without asking to use the land they they own and pay taxes on because they were born here you tell them your from out of state and see how land you get too use.A lot iv'e my friend own land up here and they give people the rights to hunt on there land as long as they respect there property and ask before they use it to make sure there not hunting on it first. So don't go blaming the 20 arce owning masshole when he post his land when it's your good ole boys who's ruining for everyone else. I was taught growing up you get respect when you show respect !!!!!

coydawg39 wrote:Hey Sebago, I'm one of those masshole transplant as you mainer's like to call us.They would'nt have to post there property if it was'nt for the damage you good ole boys do to there land when they get half in the bag after drinking there beer's and allen's and jump in there mud trucks an hop on there atv's and go off shooting up up sign's,tearing up stream's and peoples farm land and like you said dumping stuff were it don't belong. it's not just local property but the big paper company land too.So you can't blame them for posting when some of you mainer's think it's your god given right to trespass,tearup ,dump and bait,hunt on there land without asking to use the land they they own and pay taxes on because they were born here you tell them your from out of state and see how land you get too use.A lot iv'e my friend own land up here and they give people the rights to hunt on there land as long as they respect there property and ask before they use it to make sure there not hunting on it first. So don't go blaming the 20 arce owning masshole when he post his land when it's your good ole boys who's ruining for everyone else. I was taught growing up you get respect when you show respect !!!!!

Easy Gentlemen...The only them and us are "respectful users" and "land abusers." I don't think there's a residency requirement for that.

@Sebago...I am an out of state transplant and a younger man. I've found local sportsmen very welcoming. I chose my handle because a lot of the old timers start their conversations with "Listen Up Sonny" when they're about to give me a good bit of information. It makes me feel like I'm being brought into the family.

gentlemen , i have many friends from out of state and many from maine , it's like color i don't care where you are from , it's always about respect for others .i just ask that people treat my land as thiers when using .what we must do is always stand together, united in our thoughts on how to having each others backs.just to change subject a little , i'm sitting here having a coffee watching and very nice tom turkey eating my bird seed, about 10 inch bid and i know that in about 3 weeks a little 11 yr old gal is gonna get a shot at him, last yr she got a nice tom youth day, by the way she is from ny and her dad and i been friends for many yrs, wished u could have seen the smile on her face.again all remember we all in this together. just an old man wasting away a snowy morning .

I think we should be more worried about the proposed reversed posting bill. You will need written permission for every piece you or your dog go on. If the idiots in Augusta pass that one we're done now

rjh9384 wrote:gentlemen , i have many friends from out of state and many from maine , it's like color i don't care where you are from , it's always about respect for others .i just ask that people treat my land as thiers when using .what we must do is always stand together, united in our thoughts on how to having each others backs.just to change subject a little , i'm sitting here having a coffee watching and very nice tom turkey eating my bird seed, about 10 inch bid and i know that in about 3 weeks a little 11 yr old gal is gonna get a shot at him, last yr she got a nice tom youth day, by the way she is from ny and her dad and i been friends for many yrs, wished u could have seen the smile on her face.again all remember we all in this together. just an old man wasting away a snowy morning .

Nice sentiments...

One of the most common strategies of "anti's" is to systematically divide and dismantle the unified front of sportsmen. Incrementally, legislation gets passed to outlaw certain aspects of hunting, we've choosend to pit ourselves against each other. This weakens our strength and increases the chances that other rights will be removed.

It doesn't matter if you have bird dogs, run hounds on bears or coyotes, or whatever else, we need to be in this together. In fighting and lack of care for other sportsmen's plight will take us down just as fast as anything else.

well said and we must remember there is strength in unity