bristowboy_20

LOL.... yes its legal here in Indiana if you dont have a weapon, and I didnt. Jim, I live in Perry County.

Last week a friend of mine told me that they heard it was illegal to use a spotlight, and that kinda bummed me because its fun. The hunting and trapping guide here says its legal if you dont have a weapon. So I emailed the DNR about it, and they gave me the info I was looking for. lol. They told me that its LEGAL as long as you dont have a weapon.

And yes spotlighting a deer and shooting it after dark is 100% poaching. Shame on anyone who does that. Ive watched people do it. Ive turned people in for doing it.And will continue to do so.

As far as the DNR pulling over spotlighters, Ive been pulled over plenty times! They do a decent job here in perry county. And as always, when theyre done, they say "have a good evening" lol.


My brother shot a deer at 10pm once....while I was shining a spotlight on thedeer......right in front of a cop. I just got done stabbing it with my pocket knife, which wasnt sharp enough to cut its neck, so my brother shot it and finished it off. WHILE THE POLICE OFFICER FILLED OUT THE ACCIDENT REPORT, and after the cop shot at, AND MISSED the deer 15 times with a .22at 20 feet away lol( this is probably gonna be attacked by uncle matt) true story though.

BTW, we always carry a spotlight, even with weapons in the car, we just dont use the spotlight at that time.

rchunter

Spot lighting is ok for deer count, i have done it in Oregon and New york, it helps The DEC to help determine aprox. how many deer per square mile. It doesn't hurt the deer at all, and most deer don't even pay attention to you. I use to do it alot in Eastern Oregon with Mule Deer, use to see alot of really nice bucks...We ahd alot of fun counting deer, also where deer and elk are hurting crops, DEC will hire you to do counts and chase them off the properties, sometimes it works and other times it don't...Deer and Elk can put a hurt on newly planted trees, now they are getting to where they also put up real high fences in smaller places, but you can't do that in a 1000 acre place, well you can but it will cost alot..Just like on the Oregon coast where people grow cranberries, Dec will issue permits for the owner to harvest deer to cut down on the harvest damage....But back to the issue at hand, spotlighting is good for counts or observing, not for people who hunt that way...(Not very sporting in my book)....Not saying anyone here said it was..

bristowboy_20

yep. We use em to see how many deer are in the area, to see how big/many bucks there are, The buck/doe ratio ( out of 80 deer, only 5 of them were bucks, not counting button bucks or male fawns though because thats kinda hard to do unless you get one of those curious ones that will almost stick its head in your window, which has almost happened!)

Thats another cool part of spotlighting.... you can use a deer call and the deer will sometimes actually walk towards you! and we have had deer literally 2 feet from the car or truck! All you can say is "WOW" lol.. and a few times I think we have accidentally started fights out there in the fields, though most of the time its just light sparring. I have seen some full blown fights though. Just some of the cool things you see out there.

rcaddell

As long as you don't have a gun or a bow, its perfectly legal to shine in Michigan from dark till 11pm, with the exception of the two week gun season when its illegal to shine whether you have a weapon or not.

Personally, I don't think there is anything unethical about shining, as long as your not doing so with the intentions of illegally killing deer.