HNI_Christine

For me, when it's too dark to see the flight of my arrow. This is usually well before I can't see my pins.

That's about the same time that all those little arrow deflecting twigs also become invisible.

davidmil

I think that's a greatdetermination of "Too dark to shoot" Christine.

txjourneyman

Soap, you really don't need to think about shooting at deer by moonlight. A hog or 'yote, maybe. NOT A DEER!

Arthur P

My only problem with Christine's way is that you don't know if it's too dark to see your arrow flight until you shoot an arrow. [&:]I don't use sights on a hunting bow, so I don't have to worry about whether or not I can see a pin. So I go by the rule,even during legal shooting hours,if it's too dark to see the deer's eye, it's too dark to shoot.

GMMAT

I can tell you this.....

I hunted with Rob/PA this past weekend. We had numerous deer in my "ambush" site one morning.....(one being directly under Rob....and one being perfectly quartering away from me at 6 yds). We needed 2 more minutes to have sufficient SHOOTING light....."first" light, be damned. No arrows were released.

We had a similar evening situation when Rob had numerous bucks around him at dusk. I'd never worry about him taking such a shot (unethical). That's my experience.

I simply take my arrow off my rest and deposit it into the quiver when I think I can't see anymore. Hang up the bow....and wait to get down at an opportune time. It takes the temptation away. I also had a large bodied deer that was entering my set on a regular basis, last year.....JUST before daylight....at about the same time. I COULD make out the outline of this deer.....and I could see it in my sight pins. I caught a load of crap from a certain board member or two about whether it was ethical or not to take this shot (it was within legal shooting light). I didn't see the deer again....but I WOULD have made that shot had I been presented with it. I had a tag for buck or doe.....so that wan't the issue.

Only YOU (literally) can decide if a shot is ethical or not. I sleep well.

Jeff

NY Bowhunter

That is enough for me.... too dark.... go home.

jsasker

On cloudy days it's too dark waaaaay before legal shooting is over!

TeeJay

If you are in the woods there is going to be under brush. You can still see the tree clearly but the under brush didapears. That is when I pack up. Usually about 10 minutes after sunset.

kenman

when objects (trees, rocks, stumps)that arejust out ofbow rangestart looking like deer, it's time for me to put the arrow in the quiver. I'm usually on the ground by the end of legal shooting light (1/2 hr after sunset)

MountainHunter

I faced this dilemma about a month ago. Had a deer come within 10 yards of my stand just at that point when I wasn’t sure if it was too dark to shoot. I drew back and tried to sight through my peep. I couldn’t see the kill zone clearly, so I let down my draw and, unfortunately, spooked the deer. It was a cloudy day and definitely within legal shooting hours, but too dark to shoot.

I don’t keep a stopwatch to see if it’s exactly within the legal shooting times. It’s either too dark to take a clean shot or it’s not. A lot of factors come into play: my natural night-time vision (which is about average), my skill with the bow, the distance to the deer, the angle of the shot and, of course, how much light there is, which is affected by cloud cover, moon phase, etc.

I’m with Rob on this. My ethics aren’t solely determined by what’s legal. Sometimes doing what’s legal isn’t what’s most ethical. Look at requirements to turn in Jews in Germany or Poland during the Holocaust. Was not doing the legal thing unethical then? I don’t think so. David, I am pretty sure you didn’t mean to make a blanket statement when you said “From a hunters stand point and to do the right thing, I'd say illegal is never ethical,” but I don’t think that statement applies to all situations, as you yourself seemed to indicate. If I saw a wounded deer suffering and it was after dark, I’d shoot it in a heartbeat, with qualms whatsoever.