Let me take a step back and try this a different way. Let's continue with your breakdown and do away completely with the first day and the 5 taken. We are all in agreement that 1 man taking 5 in a day when 8 per person per day is the limit is perfectly fine. Now let's dissect the second day. There are 3 pieces of information or
variables that we are given about that day. There were 15 total taken, he shot 8 and she shot 4. 8+4=12 and not 15 I think we all can see that. So there were some assumptions made, because one of the following has to be true:
a) 15 is an incorrectly reported number
b) 8 is an incorrectly reported number
c) 4 is an incorrectly reported number
We already established that if (c) were true there would be no issue, because we can add 3 to that total bag limit and get 7 staying below the 8 per person per day limit. Also that if (a) were true and he mistakenly reported more than what was taken and meant to report 12 as the total, there is no issue. What we are left with
is an issue. It would be the situation where (b) is true and we would need to add 3 to that to give the total of 15 and 8+3=11 which is over the 8 per person per day bag limit. In that situation, situation (b) there is a common misunderstanding of the law and was the point I was trying to get at. It seems that you too have this misunderstanding as you said "Their total limit is 16 squirrels, eight for dad, eight for daughter."
If your bag limit is 8/day and there are 3 hunters hunting together, there is no group bag limit of 24. There are only 3 bag limits of 8. Once a hunter fills his bag, he cannot continue to hunt and help cross-eyed Fred fill his bag too. Below is excerpt from the page. It deals specifically with water fowl, but the part about
how bag limits work is pertinent
http://www.ducks.org/Hunting/Waterfowl-Hunting-Tips/Waterfowlers-Notebook-Keeping-Legal "It is each hunter's responsibility to know and abide by all the laws governing the hunting of migratory waterfowl," says Stephen Clark, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) resident agent in charge for
Louisiana,
Mississippi,
Arkansas, and
Alabama. "And most hunters do this. There's just a small minority who make it necessary for us to be out there patrolling and encouraging hunters to stay on the right side of the law."Clark offers the following situations in which hunters might unwittingly violate waterfowl hunting regulations and subject themselves to criminal penalties:
Shooting a Group Limit Each hunter is entitled to harvest only his or her personal daily bag limit You are not allowed to help others obtain their limit or to continue shooting until everyone in the blind gets a limit. When you take your limit, you must stop shooting and become an observer while hunters who don't have a full limit continue to hunt. In addition, hunters must maintain possession of their own birds in the blind. Retrieved birds should not be piled together but immediately distributed to the hunters who harvested them. You should possess only the birds you shot. (A good idea is for each hunter to have his or her own game strap, so birds can be kept in possession of those who shot them.)
And you were right saying that you don't know me, that is probably the most accurate thing you said so far. It does however make me smile knowing the first thing you thought about me was that I could "whup your ass"
(ps thats a polio joke) Now normally if I call someone out and we're face to face, I offer my hand after the conversation. Since I honestly don't think I can explain myself better than I just did, I'm calling this my best effort and hoping for atleast a fist bump.
