I was reading a couple of post about spotlighting and shooting at night and he said that he was "sure it was a poacher", but how?? We go out 2 or 3 times a week and shine spotlights and shoot hogs, or whatever. So shooting at night with a spotlight makes me a poacher? I think that people around deer season jump too fast. There is no law that says I cant shine a light ot shoot at night. I have heard people say that they call the local GW when they go spotlight, but why? Further, I've been in a field with 100s of deer in it and shot at coons.....

You're obviously talking about me and I knew because I talked to the only guy who leased the land as well as the landowner, both of whom confirmed there should in no way, shape, or form be any shots coming from his ranch.

Yeah it was your post and another that got me thinking, I'll bet folks in our area think that we are killing all the deer!

I was out there with spotlights shooting hogs. That's not why I said I knew it was a poacher. I only have 2 neighbors and only 1 guy leases the 2000 acres that completely surrounds me. If it's not him or the landowner (or someone the landowner specifically gave permission to), it's a poacher.

People call the game warden to let him know where they are and what they're doing so he doesn't waste his time following up on a call that there are "poachers" shining a spotlight and shooting at night.

That's what our local game warden suggested we do many years ago.

ppl prolly think we slaughter deer at night with all the shooting going on.....GW isn't going to show up to check on us, no need to call and bother them.

now at my parents house..one of their neighbors was a GWs sister and my parents are between them and the game preserve. Anytime I shot at night that friggin woman would call the law. Finally got to where it was annoying and turned into a game, so I would unload a 12ga and walk in and go to bed when I got in from "chasing" at night. She was that nosey person that drove me up a friggin' wall.

it's a courtesy call, it say's in the hand book you are required to like the gw you will be spot lighting . that way he won't be coming to visit, when people call him with the location he willknow who it is. he may still stop by but will have a better attitude.

I was just looking for that in the book, but couldn't find it?

I think that he'd get sick of hearing from me.....and I've never had one show up.

i use to spot light all the time. i was never doing anything wrong so i didnt worry about calling in. funny thing i never got checked by the warden either.

I think since hog hunting at night has become so popular they probably give much less attention to a spotlight or shots fired at night now.

20 years ago we didn't have hogs around my area. If a light was shining at night, there was a 50/50 chance that someone was up to no good. There weren't many deer surveys at night in this area so you were either varmint hunting or deer hunting.

Yep, GW said "just give me a call and let me know that its you" usually tells the caller he will check it out, and goes back to whatever he was doin'. It dont hurt that the GW knows you.

could always put a little fear in the neighbors so they won't make the call.

shine , shoot , run, if its brown its down.....lol

I was hunting Christmas night, saw a few does and three young bucks right as it got dark. Watched them walk towards the county road 600 yards away, then looked at my watch seeing that it was 6:06pm. Right then, I heard a shot from the direction the deer were heading.

Landowner across the road is never there and another neighbor leases the property for cattle. Called him and he said he didn't shoot.

I drove to the gate and two pick-ups took off and were gone before I could get out the gate. Neighbor saw them come back 30 minutes later, tried to drive down to get to them, but they took off when they saw his headlights. Gamewarden sat in my pasture until midnight, but they didn't come back.

Definitely poachers.

Page 57 of the Texas handbook

• Non-protected nongame animals and fur-bearing animals may be hunted at night with the aid of an artificial light on private property. If hunting at night, please make a courtesy telephone call to your local game warden.

I would agree about the courtesy call to the warden, if he does show up at 3am even if you are not breaking the law he could be rather unhappy about being woken up for no reason.

Which may inturn lead him to check EVERYTHING he can and look for any reason to fine you.

I don't do much night hunting at my place, but I've gotten to know my gamewarden pretty well over the last couple of years. They can be a great asset if you get to know them. Making courtesy calls such as that would be a good way to get to know them and they would appreciate it.

Might save yourself some grief in the future as well. What if someone is out at your place poaching and you're not there? The GW sees them and gives you a call? I've had that happen with me and I know I was very appreciative.

Shining a light at a deer while in possession of a firearm is trouble, wether you shoot or not, from private property or not... I visited with some young men recently who said "Ah don't bother the GW, we're just hunting hogs"

We he got there, they were driving a field, shined a light from the county road, but had rifles with them... Big Tickets.

If we do something at night, we let them know. I'd rather be safe than sorry. This is one of the few times it is NOT better to ask forgiveness than permission.







Now someone will come on and tell me why it's ok, and I am sure you are OK with your game warden, but it's a good idea to call ahead, "courtesy call".

I've never gotten calls from a GW on something that is out of the ordinary...the local troopers & SDs will blow a phone up though.

Unfortunately, the reason I've gotten to know my GW over the past couple of years is because of the tremendous amount of issues we have had on our property. He's been great to work with and has made a couple of arrests and we've seen a big drop in activity over the past year. I was a bit shocked at that shot Christmas night. What wasn't shocking is that the trucks looked like the same ones from the arrests a year ago.

I can't stand road-hunters. At the same time, if I thought someone was poaching because that was the only way they could put food on the table, I wouldn't have that big of a problem with it. I'd still have a problem with them firing a weapon without my knowledge on my property, but wouldn't care about losing the animal. However, those situations are few and far between.

Exactly. Our game wardens in every county work great for us, especially in Foard/Hardeman county. The GW and SO both have called about things at our lease when we were not there. Good to have good relations with them!

What law did they break looking at deer with a spotlight??? Take guns on game counts, so what's the difference??

ones for our Co just don't come around...about the only time we see them is when they are training.... it's a sure thing they will be messing with BSWIT's crew and when we invite them out for fish frys and steak dinners. We do not go out at night during hunting season with the intention of shooting something on the inlaw's deer preserve, deer season just happens to run with calvin' season and while out checking pastures and tagging/pulling if hogs or yotes are present they'll get shot, no big deal, but you can bet from Nov-Jan, spotlight is being run nightly.