In Iowa we can hunt the roadside for pheasants. It would be nearly impossible to shoot any from the roadside if they had to be in the airspace over the road. That is, it is OK to shoot then in the airspace over a farmers field. After all, any airplane can fly in the air space over a farmers field. About 20 years ago I asked a game warden if it would be OK to shoot a deer on farmer's land if one is shooting from the roadside. Or would it be OK to shoot a running deer if all four feet were off the ground, after all, it would be in "airspace". The game warden did not answer my question, but sort of blew his stack. More recently another game warden told me it would be legal to shoot a pheasant flying, but not a standing deer, and again got a little angry. This fall there is a new law. One cannot shoot a deer standing on a farmer's property from the road or the property of another farmer without the permission of the farmer whose land the deer is standing on. I think the new law is because we can now hunt deer with rifles with a 400 yard range. In the long ago past when shotgun slugs were 50-yard weapons one would have the legal capability of shooting animals some distance onto private property. I bet that over the years there have been lots of hunters have been given tickets for shooting deer from the roadside which were on posted private property, even though there was no law against doing so. I don't necessarily disagree with the new law, but then again, I did not disagree with the old law. We have publicly owned and publicly managed game on privatley owned land. Our laws do not necessarily reflect what is right or wrong, but more what was legally agreed upon. For example, isn't it morally OK to hunt public owned game on the publicly owned roadsides. I think so. Then why is it OK in Iowa but not Nebraska?
