I just started watching the show this week and started to DVR it. I haven't seen the shows that yall are in protest of, yet. I did see the one about the ticket for the barbed hook which I feel is a b.s. type of law. I figure he gave him the ticket for the barbed hook so he wouldn't have to deal with the misdemeanor pot bust. I will keep watching the show and hope that the next season will be located in TX.

In plus, Wild Justice is way better than the stuff I am subjected to.(Teen mom, Gossip Girl, Jersey Shore, etc)

All Im gonna say is You people need to go experience some life outside of Texas....

Time before last I called the Grayson County Sheriff's for a illegal bonfire with 9++ carloads of drunks that started a fight on the ACOE beach in front of my house back in mid December that wound up almost in my front yard and around my neighbors house to get to his driveway ...I got 2 Deputy's patrol cars and a TP&W GW rolled on the trouble call.

Needless to say the fight broke up PDQ and they had all split 5-7 minutes before the Good Guys showed up when the GCSD Dispatcher ignored my request that she NOT dispatch the call via radio but by cell phone or by the new digital comm system, as 9 out 10 of these POS's up here have some sort of scanner on their phones according to another day time Deputy that alerts them to the GCSD's radio call's.

I was standing in my front yard about 40-50 feet away from the drunk's traffic, jam cradling a "BB Gun", while talking to the dispatcher on my mobile when she dispatched the call, and saw 6-7 cars open their cell phones as the dispatch was responded to

I was sure glad the GG's showed up as the drunks were really looking for a way across my yard to get out to the highway even with me standing there and I didn't want to "ruin" anybody's day about it. The GG's even went dwon on the beach and kicked out the fire before it spread.
Ron

Not me brother!

+ 1 on that thought, it really makes you appreciate what we have here when you get back, and it also gives a person a real time point of reference in such conversations as this one.

I saw on the show last night when they used the decoy buck, the guy shining the light on the buck was "all it took" for him to get a spotlighting ticket. Stupid question, is it illegal to shine a light on a deer at night in Texas? I know you can't hunt at night, never done that at all (with deer, hunted hogs before). I've been driving along, seen some deer, used a small mag light or LED light just to check out what kind of deer we see (buck vs doe), but never in my life would I pull a trigger on them at night. Just curious as to what I'm seeing, even tried taking some pictures to show the wife. If it is illegal, then by all means I've broken the law, and won't ever do it again. I've always known you can't hunt, but am I breaking the law for just shining a light on them to see what I'm seeing?

I was born and raised in CA. Moved to TX 5 years ago and should have done it 39 years sooner. Been an outdoorsman my whole life so I can absolutely say that I have never encountered any GW's back in CA that act like these state employees (who've obviously grown up watching reality TV)

Not impressed with that Officer Beals, he sure does fancy himself, nor some of the language they use either. I can cuss up a storm at times, but some of the language they use portrays them as no better than the crack heads they're chasing around the parks at night. Not what I would be looking for as their supervisor if I was reviewing the tapes prior to airing. Real? Sure it is. Positive light? Not so much. Tough, dangerous job? Absolutely.

But that one officer cutting off bear paws and running the hills with a bear skin trailer would better serve us all by being over in Afghanistan or Iraq or?.......Yeah, we got that you like to hunt humans. Goodness, I thought he was going to start rubbing his crotch there for a second. Gets himself a little too into it for my taste.

In 30 years of fishing and hunting in CA, I have come across nothing but curteous, professional officers doing an important job in a state that's over run with idiots. Most of these officers do not remind me of those men and women I've come in contact with while living there.

People conduct spot light surveys of deer all the time on private land.

I think, and I could be wrong but I don't think so, that as long as you do not have a loaded firearm in the vehicle, you would not be in trouble.

If you were on a public road, odds are you might get stopped by a GW or someone and have to do some esplainin, but as long as you were not carrying a loaded firearm nor impeding the flow of traffic if any, you would probably be alright.

This is one of those gray areas, but I believe once the GW made sure that you were not trying to kill something from the road, things would be okay.

You would just need to make sure everything about your vehicle is legal, no burnt out tail lights, no open containers of alcohol, no fresh blood in the back of the pick up, unless you can prove it was from a legally killed critter.

I guess you missed the part where there parked 2 feet form a publice roadway and the passenger was outside the vehicle with a Rifle aimed at the Deer.

Same thing goes in Texas. If your just shining an artificial light your fine, it when you add in the the stepping out of the truck with a rifle. Having done ride alongs where they do that sting in Texas here is the list of violations.

Shooting from Highway/roadway
Shooting across property line
Shooting a Deer at Night/Via Artificial light source.
Possibly Shooting a Deer without landowners permission although thats a stretch.


As far as the Show its a very up-showy drama, but thats the People Democratic Detention Center of California for you. Although Unlike some I agree if its a law there and they break it they are a poacher, end of story it does not matter if its legal here or else where there its not.

We are so lucky to be here!

I almost feel like I live in California being in Austin, at least the deer lease is only an hour away!!!

YOU can spot;ight in tx on private land even if there is deer there,but can't shoot one!you can shot all the varmints pigs!Growing up in our little town we used to start hunting on one side of the county and go north and south hunting dogs.but those days are over,if you shine your light on the road and you have a rifle or gun that looks like you been hunting they will give you a ticket..it can ruin your day i think its class A misd. but if its your first time they give you a ticket for on close season.150.00 fine

If you are on private land you can spotlight all you want, and it is not illegal to have a loaded firearm with you. There are tons of people who hunt predators/hogs at night with spotlights. As others have mentioned, I would not be spotlighting on public roads nor would I be aiming any guns if I were spotlighting deer unless you would like a ticket from the GW.

Well I think I'm ok for most of my "spotlighting". The last time I did it was from a public road and even inside a state park. We were on our way back from hunting the evening hunt (last day) and as we were driving out of the national forest, we saw 4 deer run across the road (maybe 10 mins past legal shooting time). I slowed my truck to a crawl and used my flashlight just to see what was what (3 does and 1 buck), and then we drove on. When we got to Ratcliff State Park, driving in the entrance road, a ton of deer were all running around (about 30 mins past legal shooting time), and we did the same, slowed to a crawl and used a flashlight just to see how many were bucks. Both our guns were unloaded (completely, nothing even in the magazines) and were stored inside their gun cases on the back seat. I guess just so I don't enter that gray area anymore, I won't do it. I'm one of the 98% of the people who the GW on Wild Justice talk about, that follow the rules and give them no problems.

I realize there are GW's on here that read this, and I believe in honesty. If I'm breaking some laws its only because I'm not aware of it, and that's why I'm asking. If any of you want to PM to help clarify, please do, as I want to make sure I'm walking the right side of the fence.

Thanks for the help guys!

X2 Everything I need is here...

I think instead of pm'ing folks, it would be good if there are GW's that participate on here, for one of them to describe as much as they can, what is the actual law concerning the use of a spot light.

The only thing I can find is that an artificial light can nlot be used as an aid in hunting.

Nothing about just driving down a road and shining a light out into the pasture.

Amen to that Wanderer.

On the spotlighting issue. If you are on a public road with a firearm in the vehicle then you could be ticketed even when just using a flashlight to look at deer. Not saying that you would be but it is possible. I have also heard of people getting ticketed for "Harrassing wildlife" as a result of shining a light on them. This particular case headlights on a truck were used to see what was in a wheat field off of a road. No guns were in the truck according to the guy who got the ticket.

I guess I have been lucky or something, but I have been stopped for spotlighting from the road and when the GW saw that the gun I had was not loaded, he let me go on my way.

In nearly every case where a ticket is issued, something else is at play, up to and including the attitude of the person being stopped.

Swinging a vehicle out into the ditch or turning sideways across a road, esentially blocking it, is one thing, staying on the road/edge of road and just shining a light out into a field, is different.

I have noticed over the years that copping an attitude with a GW ain't one of the smoothest moves a person can make.

I'm going to play it safe and just not do it then. Better safe than sorry.

first off its not against the law to have a loaded fire arm on public road,just not safe.now you can't have it on goverment land or national forest in texas.there is not a law against the sotlight on the road way but its not safe for others.

The law used to be that you could not have a loaded fiream and be running a spotlight in an area where deer were known to range.

Laws have changed, and as you said, it is not illegal to have a loaded gun in a vehicle, but it does pose safety problems, and I would bet that if you were caught on a public road running a spotlight with a loaded rifle by your side/within your reach, and a GW stops you, your gonna have a real long night of it.

Big difference between hunting vs. merely looking when it comes to making a road hunting case involving deer, guns and spotlights.