If you could hunt at night.....
 

would you? I have often wondered if they legalized night hunting how many people would hunt at night. I for one would, but I know a lot of folks who freak in the woods when it is dark. If you would not hunt at night even if it was legal, why? No lights!

The Tazman

Edited by - Tazman on 02/28/2002 09:11:04

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

I don't think so and it's not because I afraid of the dark. Sure deer are nocturnal for the most part but I'm not. Another thing is I have a hard enough time seeing things in the light of day let alone in the dark. I know there are scopes and night vision stuff but that is more junk I would have to buy. Lastly, I guess it would come down to safety. With limited vision to many things could go wrong.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

I would but there are a lot more risks at night. Safety, safety, and safety.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

No, I would not hunt big game at night! Talk about an ethics issue! I don't think we will ever have to worry about night hunting being legalized though!

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

I would love to hunt at night, especially bowhunt. All those deer that hit my plots right after dark would sure be in for a rude awakening. I think though like Fantom said safety would be a huge issue.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

In New York, coyote hunting is legal 24 hours a day. I'm not sure if all that night vision stuff is legal though.

Hunting is a right, treat it like a priviledge - respect nature

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

YES I WOULD BUT ONLY ON MY OWN PRIVATE LAND. ITS TOO RISKY GETTING SHOT BY POACHERS. BUT IF IT WERE LEGAL YEAH I WOULD BECAUSE THE WIFE CANT COMPLAIN, BECAUSE SHE WILL BE SLEEPING AND NOT WANT ME THERE BECAUSE THERES NO WORK TO DO.. LOL

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RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

my question taz, are lights allowed, because if not, aguy could only hunt by full moon. and that too would be iffy at best. cant confirm your target before the shoot.

nope, bad news all the way around.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

my question taz, are lights allowed, because if not, aguy could only hunt by full moon. and that too would be iffy at best. cant confirm your target before the shoot.

nope, bad news all the way around.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

If you could use night vision goggles, think of all the other critters you would see that only come out at night. It would keep you busy while waiting for that buck.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

A lot of these replies surprise me, I have often walked in the woods late at night, as long as the moon is out vision is not an issue at all, I agree that it would be more dangerous due to not being able to see great distances, but I could do it safely with a good backstop. Sometime when the moon is full walk into the woods late at night and sit down for an hour, what you see will amaze you, it is a whole different world. I would hunt at night if it was legal, but like others have said it would be private property. I do not think they should make it legal though. Actually you would be amazed at how well you can see without the moon.

The Tazman

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

I personaly would not approve night hunting for deer. I could go out on any given night with a spot light and kill as many deer as I wanted with them standing around like setting ducks. I dont fill this is hunting. I do hunt hogs at night. This doesnt bother me because even though its night, a hog will not stand around in a spot light like a deer will. Also hogs are a vermin here in Texas.

I also disaprove of night hunting for deer because I have had a potching problem on some of my land, where some guys have been cutting my fences and spot-lighting on my land killing many deer a night. I have set up waiting for them as well as the G.W. with no luck.

I just read the no lights part of your post. I still would not do it because of the same reason. I can set at one of my fields on a moon lite night and see many deer feeding under, what they fill is the cover of night. I also fill if people started hunting at night the public lands would become death traps, giving the antis more fuel for there fire.

Edited by - kentlyone on 02/28/2002 14:07:26

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

I would love it if they legalized coyote hunting at night, but not deer. They all may be moving at night, but they are dumb at night, I walked up to one with a spotlight while coon hunting once, it didn't run until I was about to touch it!!!! Not really gamely in my opinion.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

On private land when you are alone, it would be really cool to get out there in the dark, although I must admit it would take some getting-used-to. However a poacher or other idiot not being careful could get many people killed.
Cool thought though.


Keep 'em all in the Bull.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

I'd hunt at night if it was legal. I understand night time is when they hunt in Europe.

SOTHRDNK

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

This really depends on what you are hunting for.Coyotes yes,this is legal in NY.If for deer No,they need some time to be out to eat and breed without the pressure of us hunters.This would also make it too easy for the poachers.Most poachers don't like to take the time to sit in a stand or walk in the woods to hunt,the truck is to much easier.Yes you can see at night without a light,i like to just watch what they do at night,where they go ,what deer are in the area you don't see during the day.Then hope they are around the next time out hunting.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

a full moon or 3/4 and up, i should say, offer a large amount of light. what im conserned about is 2 things. 1 the limited season the moon would provide and 2, the idiots that are out there other then me.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

i hate to say it but i would the temptation would be to great for me i guess im weak but everybody else would be doing it (they already do here) and i guess i would want one last buck before they went extinct after everybody shot em all that season

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

First i agree with the others on the safety issue. Another reason i would not, is the whitetail deer here in MI. are hunted over 3 months now with all the seasons, and i think that is to much now, that is only my stand on this issue

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

No it would not be right, deer are to stupid at night.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

Greets,

I might bowhunt at night, as long as it was an archery only season. But I would be too afraid of the dangers if a bunch of people could go out with guns at night. I guess I have heard one too many "hunters" talking about how they fired multiple rounds into the brush at what they thought was a deer, but they arent sure.
For the record, no I dont believe that this kind of carelessness is the norm, but it does happen too often, and it only takes once.

Just my uneducated opinion!
Terry

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

Sure Taz, but I have one question.......when do we sleep?<img src=icon_smile_sleepy.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_tongue.gif border=0 align=middle>

Walk silently and listen hard.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

You better believe it . get me some nvg's and a night scope. buddy i got a field that theres no telling how big of a buck i could kill. i have seen some at night that would cause a buck rush to here. you can spotlight your cows and heck you see deer when you check cows. as long as people were honest and tagged there deer whats the difference?
so he was killed at night or day. you still reduced the population.i can see some of the concerns but killing a deer is killing a deer.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

Oklahoma allows hunting at night for Raccoons and some predators.Nothing like chasing a group of dogs in the dark of night.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

First off anything outside of archery would be too dangerous at night. Secondly, we would be talking legalized poaching basically...why do poachers operate at night? One reason is that it is so easy, because the deer act so stupid with a spotlight shining on them.

I vote an emphatic NO

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

Sorry...I just saw that Taz's post says no lights. Well, even with night vision, it would still amount to legalized poaching. And it would be even more dangerous without lights.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

sorry but I would have to say no poor old betsy the cow would probally end up getting shot <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

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RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

For a popular game animal like Whitetails, NO
I have hunted at night for Raccoons when I was a kid.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

If it were legal I would hunt at night. Take a good pair of binoculars and a good scope and you'd be amazed at how well you can see after your eyes have adjusted to the low light. I don't see how it's any less safe than daytime if you're using common sense, you just have to slow down and be more methodical about what you're doing. Identifying your target goes without saying, same as in the daytime, if you're not absolutely sure of your target then don't shoot. Unfortunately this does seem to get ignored by an awful lot of yahoos during the day.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

Gentlemen,

guite an intresting discussion thread. I am writing from Finland (population 5,2 million, latitude about same as Alaska). We are one of the few European countries blessed with a hefty population of white tailed deer, originally transferred here back in 30'. I have hunted deer for five seasons in the USA, Good Ole Dominion, 20+ seasons here in my native country. Of course moose is the most important big game here, 60-80.000 killed per year. Hunting is mostly organized in hunt clubs with leased land, public State Forests/Government land is mostly in Northern Finland/Lappland, where only reindeer survive.

Out of 10.000+ killed deer I'd guess 90% are shot from tree/platform stands, between 8 pm - 2 am. Season starts in October and ends mid/end of January. No artifical light/spotlights, no infra-red/electronic night vision devices allowed. Scopes usually are make of Zeiss, S&B, Swarowski, Leupold, some with light dot. Rifle caliber 243/308/30-06, 7,62x39 gaining popularity.

Usually we have snow in the ground from late November on, which helps with the contrast. 3/4-full moon, -20 deg F, was condition where I killed my biggest 8 point buck (hopefully so far...).

Our game management authorities give us fairly strict guidelines of mix of bag, meaning the harvested number of bucks, does and fawns. This has something to do with road safety -- deer and moose collisions kill more people here than illegal guns...

So still hunting at nights gives possibility for selective kills, enabling some kind of game/population management.

As with some of the previous comments, hunting at night has some aspects many might find intresting. Of course you have to do all your recon work during daylight, study tracks, game moving patterns, generally understanding game behaviour, habits, and reactions to weather conditions.

Let's say you sneak into your stand at 8 pm., being already quite dark. With all clothing needed, not developing excessive sweat in order not to freeze later, and prepared so you do not need to take a leak in next 6-8 hrs. The village around you starts to quiet down, you hear occasionally dogs barking, car doors slammed, all kinds of human noises, slowly calming down. You hear wind, trees swaying, tree limbs cracking due to cold, all kind of small pieces of noise from surprisingly far away. In the dim light a new world seems to exist, you see a fox crossing the field smoothly like a ghost, jack rabbits hop along, dig for food, an owl dives for a careless field mouse, a &quot;huudaa owl&quot; suddenly opens up in a tree behing you, almost making you **** in your pants...

Sometimes you get a chance to see the Northern Lights to play their amazing show in the sky.

Then you start hearing careful steps from a distance, pausing for moments. First some fawns come out, next some spike bucks, suddenly you see about a dozen gray figures that have stepped away from the woods. All start to scrape for food, you try to control your pulse - about 150 now - and keep your mouth shut the thumping noise would not be heard 100 yds away. Then the Boss steps out from the woods, pushes one of the &quot;consultants&quot; (a spike buck - consultant term used here to describe a male person knowing all 69 positions but not yet the first woman) away from some hay straws sticking from snow.

Well, observing deer and other game at night time has opened me a whole new world. And it is sort of an challenge to bear one's own thoughts in the dark, where you mostly observe your environment with your ears.

This mode of deer hunting is possible to conduct safely due to our clubs and private hunting groups having leased and non-public hunt areas. As some of you said - only in my own property might work.

Just wanted share some thougts, having experienced both dog drive/still hunt Virginia, and Finnish &quot;graveyard shift&quot;.

Greetings to all my old hunting buddies nearby the Appomattox Surrender Grounds and Buckinghan State Forest.

-Buckwheat-

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

One more on the safety side you have to know yourtarget AND what's beyond I don't see (pun intended) how you can do that at night.

RE: If you could hunt at night.....
 

SakoRifle I live in Fredericksburg Va. so I guess we were almost neighbors for a while. I don't know of any state here that allows hunting at night, so I was glad you replied, very interesting hunting you describe, I have on numerous occasions gone into the woods at night to sit and see what was to be seen, it is as you say a whole different world. Thanks for sharing.

The Tazman