I personally think shining is a great tool for scouting. Several of the bucks I have shot including my biggest ever were located 1st with a spotlight. I pattern the bucks I see by keeping track of the times and places I see them. This year rumors surfaced about a huge 10 point being back around the public marsh in my hometown area. He was around last year, and after shining him in a field just after dark I nearly killed him... He moved across the road to the private land. When the rumors surfaced about him being back, I went shining and found him in a field ajacent to the private just after dark and new exactly where he must of been bedded. The next correct wind and I was set up between him and the shining field and shot him just after he got out of his bed on the 1st hunt for him this year.
The mature bucks are so nocturnal you will rarly see them in daylight unless you are very close to where they bed. Trail cameras just don't cover enough ground and are illeagle on the public land here in Wisconsin. I take inventory with my spotlight and know what bucks are available. if its a one tag situation I don't want to shoot a 150 inch buck if there is a buck running around that scores in the 180's, and I don't want to pass a 150 if its the biggest buck around. So inventory is important.

I shine the public land, and what little private ground I have, and I shine the ajacent propertys. Some landowners get mad, if they do, I avoid the area. But really its no different than driving by and looking when there out in the day. How can someone think we should not be able to look at there land or the deer that are on there property? Whatever...
I want to know if my target deer is on the public, or currently bedding on private where I can't hunt. One hour with the spotlight can tell me if I am wasting my time sitting a location or not.
I might add, that I have been spotlighting deer for over 30 years and have yet to see any certain buck abandon a field or area because of the spotlight. I see the same deer in the same fields night after night. I have not seen any differance between daylight deer movement on shined land versus non-shined land.

Every fall my property I own gets shined pretty heavy by the locals... Don't bother me one bit.

As far as poaching goes, I pretty sure if we make it against the law to shine, only law abiding citizens will suffur. Poaching is already against the law, does anybody really think a law that forbids shining will stop poachers from poaching? I know some areas are a lot more rural, but I cant see very many people shooting rifles at deer and thinking no one heard it around farming areas, and think they can just drive up and load up a deer... ? I think most people that stupid get caught.
I get pulled over and searched for weapons regularily and welcome it. My wife does animal rehab and we know the wardens and they stop and talk with us a lot. On a couple of occasions they said they saw me out shining from there plane in the sky. No matter where I was shining, I had no idea they were above me watching.

I also think a lot of things get blamed on poaching that are not.... I remember hunting a farm where a 130ish buck got hit by a car in front of me. I stopped to make sure everyone was ok. No one wanted the buck and it was left there. The next day the head was cut off... Guess someone wanted the rack. There were rumors everywhere that a spotlighter shot a deer and cut the head off