In NY someone can accompany you in the field as long as they don't have a weapon and they don't shoot anything.
Not exactly. In NY they can't assist you in anyway. This is the definition from NY's 2007-2008 hunting regulation guide."To hunt—means to pursue, shoot, kill or capture (other than trap) wildlife and includes all lesser acts that disturb or worry wildlife whether ornot they result in taking. Hunting also includes all acts to assist another person in taking wildlife."So if someone flushes a bird or jumps a deer, rabbit etc while you are hunting they are considered to also be hunting whether or not you shoot or attempt to shoot that animal.
First we are discussing NY regs in a British Columbia thread which is probably the wrong place to do it. deerme117 & big nine I agree with what you say about continuing to assist after filling your tags, but the original question was about an unlicensed person accompanying a hunter and the advice was as long as they don't have a gun or shoot it should be OK. My post was to possibly help someone from NY that read that and assumed an unlicensed person can accompany you without question while hunting is not true. As for kids in the field with you, I do take my son with me in the field. Is it actually legal? I don't see that clarified in the book you receive with your license but that is a guide not the actual law books. I would believe that most ECO's will not have a problem with a parent mentoring their underage children in the sport but I believe that certain ones will quote the laws as they read literally and write it up. Even so I will continue to take him with me as it is some of the best quality time we spend, discussing nature and all it's beauty and it part of his rights of passage as I see it.Now with that said I believe that we should let mtwhite solicit information from people that can help him with his situation and any further discussion about NY's regs should be addressed in the NY board where they belong. mtwhite I apologise for your thread being hijacked. You may want to call the provincial authorities that regulate hunting and ask them. Sometimes I write e-mails to NY DEC so I have a written response if I ever needed it. Good luck and enjoy the chicken's either way.