Ok

There is no law against hunting at night for hogs. It is illegal to hunt deer at night, BUT you can after 30 minutes of sun going down and 30 minutes before sun is up

What Texasbdog is referring to is that the warden did not buy his story about hunting just for hogs. The warden was going to be there to issue a ticket for hunting deer under the presumption that he was going to hunt hogs. In case he got a deer that is.

What my original question was: What is the logic behind this law?????

Partly because if you shine a spotlight into a deer's eyes, it blinds them -advantage hunter
A lot of deer are hit by vehicles on the roads at night because when they start to run across and look at the lights they freeze and stand there. Seen deer before actually zig zag toward us with our brights on

I believe it is a fair chase issue in regards to hunting deer at night. Hogs are a nonnative nuisance species, and like other exotics, can be hunted at night.

Man I cant beleive this is even a topic of discussion. Either you are really new at hunting, not from around here (America), or you're a Game Warden who has way too much time on his hands.

But while we are on the topic, why cant we lace our deer corn with cyanide and just pick up the carcasses at the end of the season? Deer are way too over populated in Texas anyways, right?

Smartest comment so far....

None of the above apply and obviously you need to re-visit the purpose of "hunting". You may want to look up the term.

Hey guys I agree, I'm just telling you what she told me. I saw her today in fact, first time I had actually met her face to face. In her defense, the area I hunt has had a big problem with night hunters poaching deer at night, I think she had just had enough. I called her because of that fact and after meeting her today, I have no doubt she meant business, 5' tall with a can of snuff in her shirt pocket lol!

Well hunting hogs at night is legal even in deer season but if I saw somebody shining a light on my place during season it would get ugly quick that kind of stuff is for the off season deer season is for deer hunting if a hog shows up by all means blast it but play time can wait until January, there is a 16 year old who hunts on my property who wanted to go varmint calling back in November fortunately he said something to e first and I was able to shut it down before he went and stirred up all the deer.

I seem to recall that, at one time, a landowner or his agent could hunt hogs without a license for depradation control. No idea whether that is still true.

BTW.. determining "when" a deer was shot is not difficult for a Game Warden. They do it that same way a coroner does by taking the temperature of the meat and calculating the cooling rate versus the outside temps.

Had a buddy that was a game warden in NY State. There is a processor there that gives prizes for the first buck of the year and for the biggest (heaviest) deer of the year. He would write a bunch of tickets every opening morning to guys who had jumped the gun on the season and shot a buck the day or night before. All it took was a meat thermometer to bust those poachers.

That's true I didn't think about that.

From http://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/licenses/hunting-licenses-and-permits:

Exceptions

A hunting license is not required to hunt the following:

Coyotes, if the coyotes are attacking, about to attack or have recently attacked livestock, domestic animals or fowl.
Depredating feral hogs, if a landowner (resident or non-resident) or landowner's agent or lessee is taking feral hogs causing depredation on the landowner's land.
Fur-bearing animals, if the hunter possesses a trapper's license or if the fur-bearing animals are causing depredation.
Note: All laws and regulations governing hunter education requirements still apply.

Thanks Carlos.

This is a serious question...can you shoot an axis deer at night?

Yes

Yes if you are or have permission of the landowner, axis being an exotic animal are considered property of the landowner and are their deer as long as they are on the owned property.