photo legality delimma and fenced in deer

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

01/25/2008 01:11:39 AM · #1

My husband works out of town changing meters and I go to visit every chance I get. When I visit, I enjoy going with him for the outdoor country cruises, camaraderie, and photo opportunities. We often end up on the outskirts of cities, large and small. I mostly shoot road shots and wildlife and such. When we stop to change a meter at somebody's house, I don't take pictures. I never shoot a person's house, or it's immediate surroundings, and I never once got out of my husband's utility truck.

There are times when I've been looking down at a beautiful piece of property from a hilltop and taken a picture (legal, I think). Other times I've taken pics from the truck, which was parked on their property, of a lake or a landscape that extends from this property (legal?).

But there was one time that we turned into a long windy dirt driveway that seemed to go on forever. It had many 'no trespassing' signs. This was by no means unusual, of course, and so I put my camera away and picked up the map to trace where we were to pass the time.

Then I looked up to see 4 deer and their babies grazing in the grass. I whipped the camera out and for the millionth time in my life cursed at a fence. As I started shooting I realized that the fence went all the way around them. So finally here is my question(s).

Is fencing in deer legal? Even if it somehow continued where I couldn't see, from what I can learn from google, the fence has to be several hundred square acres to even be considered legal. ... and on top of that, I thought it was illegal to feed deer (but that may be only if you intended to 'bait' them}.

I guess I know the answer to whether it's illegal to take pics on someone else's property. It is, right? I should hope so. ...which means posting or even keeping this picture is not legal? probably. I may be way off, but that's why I'm asking. The picture is a little disturbing IMO even though they seem to be more like pets than prey.

Mike_Adams

Canon EOS-40D

01/25/2008 01:22:41 AM · #2

?? are we talking like a 5' by 5' pen?? Or are we talking about a several acre yard that deer happened to be in?? From the legal perspective you can have deer for a pet just as easily as a monkey or raccoon. Google isn't the first place I would look for legal advice. Especially since the only law I can even consider being a possibility would be local or county or state certainly not national. Additionally, if the fence is large (more than the small pen I mentioned above) the owners would argue and almost certainly would win by claiming that they aren't in possession of the deer that instead they jumped the fence into their property and were grazing. If I own 40 acres and a deer wanders into them am I somehow owning them and responsible to conduct deer patrols to ensure there are none on my property?? I just am really unsure on the details here. I have to assume you are talking about a cage or pen that is really small otherwise I am not sure I can see anything wrong with having deer on ones property.

Greetmir

Nikon D60

Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS for Nikon

01/25/2008 01:25:36 AM · #3

I dunno but it may depend on the source of the deer. There is a place here in a small city in Central Belgium, even WELL inside the city limits (we are talking a kilometer or more here) that has a bunch of greenhouses and a 1/2(ish) acre field with about 15 young deer in it.

I do not think the venison that you buy in the supermarket is from the wild so you must be able to breed them for food for yourself and for sale at market.

(Just a thought)

trevytrev

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

01/25/2008 01:25:47 AM · #4

First, how tall is the fence? Deer have been known to jump fences over six feet tall, they are quite the agile creatures. Second, were you on the propert with permission? If so then I don't see why you wouldn't be able to post the pictures, you had permission to be on the property, just my guess.

_eug

Nikon D50

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

01/25/2008 01:27:45 AM · #5

Photography is legal as long as the subject has no expectation of privacy.

Legally you'd be charged with Trespassing. There is no law that you can be charged with for photography in this case.

//www.kantor.com/useful/Legal-Rights-of-Photographers.pdf

electrolost

Nikon D200

Nikon AF Nikkor 28-85mm 1:3.5-4.5

01/25/2008 01:28:25 AM · #6

You can buy deer and if they bought them I would assume they would be allowed to keep them in a fenced area...

Canon EF 24-70mm f/4.0L IS USM Lens

01/25/2008 01:29:09 AM · #7

From what I can could see, 3 females, one male (not pictured and laying under a small shelter), and 2 babies fenced it to way less than the area of a basketball court.

Not looking to get anyone in trouble, just curious and mainly wanting to know if I would get in trouble for posting it. As far as trespassing... i assume the meter guy (hubby) had permission. I was just riding along with good intentions. Shot in Indiana...

Message edited by author 2008-01-25 01:37:27.

Germaine

Canon EOS-7D Mark II

01/25/2008 01:36:31 AM · #8

I have no idea what the law is in Kentucky about fencing deer, but I do know that deer can easily jump fences. Unless that fence was very tall the deer probably jumped into the pasture, and when they got through grazing they jumped back out.

As for feeding deer, my uncle used to raise horses. We'd throw hay out for the horses, and deer would come along and have a meal too. Unless you stood there and chased them away, you couldn't stop them. I've never heard of anyone being prosecuted in California for feeding deer under those circumstances. Baiting deer is probably a different story.

As for taking pictures on private property, it depends on your jurisdiction. If you are just going to use the picture for your personal enjoyment, I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to sell it or publish it, if you are really scrupulous you could contact the property owner and see if he/she would give you a release.

I didn't see the picture when I wrote the above. That is a pretty tall fence, so the deer probably are confined.

I still think that you're ok in using the picture for your personal use.

Message edited by author 2008-01-25 01:39:36.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

01/25/2008 01:48:01 AM · #9

Sure looks to me like they are intentionally fenced in. I'd assume someone's raising them for venison. It's perfectly legal.

R.

Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS for Nikon

01/25/2008 01:55:09 AM · #10

hmmm... I did not know that. I've had venison a couple of times and loved it, but it was brought home by my then father-in-law from a hunting trip. I did not know someone could raise little "bambies", then slaughter them. ohhh, that's kinda sad.

Greetmir

Nikon D60

01/25/2008 02:00:53 AM · #11

//www.bonniebraefarms.com/

//www.bonniebraefarms.com/photographs/row.jpg

Message edited by author 2008-01-25 02:02:05.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

01/25/2008 02:04:50 AM · #12

Originally posted by cynthiann:

What about all those cute little lambs we eat at Easter? And every chicken we consume was once the cutest little chick you ever saw. It's kind of the nature of things, ya know? Unless you are a vegetarian, of course.

R.