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I haven't been fishing much on the coast, but i'm looking at getting into it. I was over at a buddy's house the other day and he was telling me a story about a mana ray fish he caught years ago. He said he was fishing from the beach and once he got it landed he pulled out his 38 and put a few slugs in it on the beach. Now i've seen that done out on the gulf with sharks, but is this legal to do on the beach? Can you get in trouble for that? I asked him that question and he said it was very common place.

Anyone care to input on the legality of this? Especially interested in hearing from any galveston area leos.

IMO it is the same as shooting a dog in the street. They are treating beaches like streets now so better have a good reason to unconceal and discharge.

It is illegal to discharge a firearm almost everywhere on Galveston Island. Go to http://www.municode.com/resources/gatew ... 204&sid=43 and look up ordinance 24-15 if you're interested.

- Jim

Why would you shoot a ray or shark? I have fished around saltwater all my life and never had to kill a fish because I felt in danger. Almost sounds like someone is just shoot off that they have a gun.

yeah, you don't want your nice RIA or KimPro to rust, do ya?????

I am not a Game Warden or LEO or an attorney, but I do not believe it is legal to kill fish with a gun, regardless of whether or not it is legal to discharge a firearm at that particular location, i.e. beach, park, lake, or private land.

TPWD states that: Only devices and restrictions listed may be used to take aquatic life. Firearms are not listed as a legal device to take fish, so you can not shoot fish.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publication ... l_devices/

If there are any game wardens or park rangers on the forum, I would like to hear their take on this.

LedJedi wrote:I haven't been fishing much on the coast, but i'm looking at getting into it. I was over at a buddy's house the other day and he was telling me a story about a mana ray fish he caught years ago. He said he was fishing from the beach and once he got it landed he pulled out his 38 and put a few slugs in it on the beach. Now i've seen that done out on the gulf with sharks, but is this legal to do on the beach? Can you get in trouble for that? I asked him that question and he said it was very common place.

Anyone care to input on the legality of this? Especially interested in hearing from any galveston area leos.

Are you sure this didn't happen off the 61st in Galveston? I'm asking because I was ear-witness to such an incident on the 61st street peer when I was eight or nine years old. Some yahoo landed a ray in the middle of night while heaven knows how many people were on the peer. We heard some guy screaming like a girl about something on the end of his line when all of a sudden...BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

In the silence the followed, my older cousins scooped me and my little croakers up and we left in a hurry. When we got back back home, I heard my cousins telling their parents that our night of quiet fishing had been brought to an abrupt halt by some biscuit-head emptying his cylinder at the ray flapping around on the end of his line. It was then I realized I'd left a prized Case knife back on the peer

Anyway, it's not legal. Last I checked, the beaches in Galveston are considered to be in a public place. In Texas, at the very least, discharging a firearm in a public place is usually considered disorderly conduct. Depending on the circumstances, it can in fact be deadly conduct. Add to that the fact that it's against city ordinances and you're pretty much hung.

I remember that CaptDave had posted some good stuff about this before......it just took me a while to find it.

Jason

CaptDave wrote:You know, I was starting to debunk a whole lot of the misinformation found here until it looked like I was blasting just about everyone on this thread - and of course we all know that is just not CaptDave.

Then, I thought about ignoring it, but that didn't work either.

So, in the interest of NVD's question, may I please point him to the following websites:
State Waters: covers fishing regs. for all bodies of water from the coastline to 9 nm offshore.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publication ... saltwater/

Federal Waters: covers fishing regs. for the waters beyond 9nm out to 200nm:
http://www.gulfcouncil.org/Beta/GMFMCWe ... ochure.pdf

Galveston Police Dept. Marine/Dive Team: http://www.galvestonpd.com/index.cfm/Me ... bID/63.htm


The short answer: It is not illegal to shoot sharks. However, the daily bag limit on sharks is 1 . So, you can shark fish all you want but after you boat your one shark, you may keep fishing for them but the rest must be released.

jbirds1210 wrote:The short answer: It is not illegal to shoot sharks. However, the daily bag limit on sharks is 1. So, you can shark fish all you want but after you boat your one shark, you may keep fishing for them but the rest must be released.

I remember this earlier post, but I didn't choose to respond at that time. The daily bag limit is a different issue than we are discussing. The method of how you bag your shark is what we are discussing, not how many you can bag.

I still think that it is illegal to shoot sharks. Fishing is not the same as hunting - each has it's own set of seperate regulations. There are legal devices for hunting, such as firearms, muzzle loaders, archery, etc. For certain types of fishing you can use spearguns, but I can find nothing that states that firearms are legal for any kind of fishing.

If you can point me to some regulation that shows shooting sharks, fish or any other kind of "aquatic life" is legal, please do so.

If I were to land a 15 ft shark in a 25 ft boat. I would want a gun and a gaff. I can't think of a better way.

Liberty wrote:If I were to land a 15 ft shark in a 25 ft boat. I would want a gun and a gaff. I can't think of a better way.

For self-defense against sharks, a friend of mine used a "Bang Stick" charged with a 12 Gauge shotgun shell. Of course, this was for underwater use only.

DoubleJ wrote:yeah, you don't want your nice RIA or KimPro to rust, do ya?????

If you chrome the RIA it might make a good lure for sharks.

As a kid I shot gar with a 22 short, does that count, made a funny sound when you hit them just right.

WildBill wrote:

jbirds1210 wrote:The short answer: It is not illegal to shoot sharks. However, the daily bag limit on sharks is 1. So, you can shark fish all you want but after you boat your one shark, you may keep fishing for them but the rest must be released.

I remember this earlier post, but I didn't choose to respond at that time. The daily bag limit is a different issue than we are discussing. The method of how you bag your shark is what we are discussing, not how many you can bag.

I still think that it is illegal to shoot sharks. Fishing is not the same as hunting - each has it's own set of seperate regulations. There are legal devices for hunting, such as firearms, muzzle loaders, archery, etc. For certain types of fishing you can use spearguns, but I can find nothing that states that firearms are legal for any kind of fishing.

If you can point me to some regulation that shows shooting sharks, fish or any other kind of "aquatic life" is legal, please do so.

I have not done any research of my own. I consider CaptDave an expert at things concerning the water/fishing and have no reason to doubt his information. I just wanted to offer his advice from a similar topic that came up in the past.

Not trying to 'jack the thread, but can Galveston legally disallow CHL like this?

Premises shall mean any building or portion of a building that is owned or operated by the city, including, but not limited to City Hall, the municipal court building, playgrounds, Moody Civic Center, police department building(s), fire department buildings or sub-stations, the municipal airport. Premises shall not mean streets, sidewalks, walkways, or alleys.
(b) Offense. It shall be unlawful for any person to carry a concealed handgun upon any premise owned by or operated by the city.
(c) Defenses.
(1) It is not a defense to prosecution under this section that a person possessed a handgun and was licensed to carry a concealed handgun under Article 4413(29ee), Revised Statutes.