The Meaning of the Exercise and Just How Absurd the Regulations Can Get

We're going through an exercise here that will illustrate that the modern regulatory state does NOT in fact have to leave its regulations unspecified, but does so in order to maximize discretionary power. It has no incentive to do otherwise until the people complain. After reformation, the regulations will clearly work better, AND maximize the rule of law, while minimizing the rule of men. This exercise is also testing whether or not the modern agency is ready to examine itself without a court case. That's where the modern agency should be going from a populist perspective. But this will be a tectonic change for regulatory culture.

This is an examination (just part of it) of a DNR regulation that conveniently fails to distinguish between public and private property and therefore fails to specify itself for private property in a manner that would be more obviously coherent with the whole corpus of MN law, tradition, or the legitimate expectations of property owners (the people). We can see how the failure to distinguish between public and private property in any regulation, let alone ones that can be made up in the field, is an instantaneous and STRATEGIC REDUCTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY TO PUBLIC PROPERTY. This is called "socialism".

Think about that. The DNR obviously has not and has no incentive to do so. The application of the lesson is wide-ranging and should be of intense interest to all policy makers.



What the DNR said to me: "2. The buckets or containers can't be directly in contact with the bait or they are considered part of that bait."

My reply:
(A) There are bear hunters, and guides, all over the state of MN, including right here in the Arrowhead STORING bait in non-biodegradable containers on their private property. So the buckets and containers you are referring to here must be ones that are AT the hunting station. That is, the definition of "bait" is "food that is actually at the hunting station". Otherwise you would be ticketing people in Wayzata who are preparing for their bear hunt by storing bait behind the garage. I have bait stored in barrels on my driveway which do not dispense the bait. I take it those are okay. There are bait dealers who have bait stored in large containers on their private property. All of these containers are in contact with "bait" but I know of no one who believes this violates any regulation. If it were wrong to both store bait and have a bait station (hunting station) on the same parcel of private property, you would be keeping me from a use of my private property that you would allow Joe in Wayzata.

What the DNR said to me: "Placed out of contact with the bait on private property they are your equipment...."

My reply: (B) Since storage containers with bait in them are clearly, de facto, okay, this section of your reply must mean that either full or empty containers on my private property are okay. In the case of the former, they should not dispense bait. Here again, the definition of "bait" must be "the food that is actually at the hunting station".

What the DNR said to me: "on public property they are litter."

My reply: (C) This one, of course is easy and blatantly sensible. Whether full or empty, leaving non-biodegrable containers on public land, unattended, is littering.

What the DNR said to me: "The intent is to prevent litter and trash from ending up throughout the woods."

My reply: (D) That is, the intent to is to keep people from littering, which, by definition is leaving this junk on public property. On private property, as noted above in (A) and (B) above, it is not litter. Bottom line: You want my storage barrels, at my bait station (hunting station), on my private property, to NOT dispense the bait, just store it. The bait itself, should be on the ground or in biodegradable bags and not touching the storage barrels. So if I keep my storage barrels a few yards away, NOT dispensing bait, they're okay. Correct?

I never got a reply to my conclusion that I should be able to store bait, on my private property, just feet away from the "biodegradable" bait station on my private property.

You can see, that if the DNR had agreed, or ever does agree, with my perfectly rational conclusion, the next step is point out how utterly absurd it is to recognize my right, as a property owner, keep the bait storage barrels wherever I want, but NOT allow them to dispense bait. It's just silly, bureaucratic nonsense. People have non-biodegradable deer feeders en masse and bears are often interested in the food they dispense. There is simply no consistency here.