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Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? #6965420 11/19/17 04:45 AM
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DoveMaster Offline OP
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Just curious if i am hunting on my own land would i be able to hunt rabbits at night or have to stop at 30 after sundown? Denton county

Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: DoveMaster] #6965480 11/19/17 09:48 AM
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machine73 Offline
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"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"

Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: DoveMaster] #6965601 11/19/17 02:59 PM
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Thanks Machine!

Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: machine73] #6965628 11/19/17 03:26 PM
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Originally Posted By: machine73
"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"
+


hold on Newt, we got a runaway
Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: DoveMaster] #6966295 11/20/17 11:39 AM
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machine73 Offline
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Local areas might have additional ordinances. I don't know how to find that you, unfortunately. Good luck and good hunting!

Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: DoveMaster] #6966697 11/20/17 05:19 PM
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might call the local gw just to let him know you will be spotlighting bunnies since its deer season.save him a wasted trip

Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: DoveMaster] #6967231 11/20/17 11:31 PM
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a74aggie Offline
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Absolutely notify the local game warden. If he comes out, how are you going to prove you aren't deer hunting? If you are charged, or worse, arrested, it's your word against his and you are going to lose.
CALL HIM, or pay the price of possibly being put through the ringer.


�The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.� Edmund Burke

I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person
Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: a74aggie] #6968536 11/21/17 11:32 PM
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Originally Posted By: machine73
Local areas might have additional ordinances. I don't know how to find that you, unfortunately. Good luck and good hunting!


I've never heard of a local ordinance regarding night hunting.

Originally Posted By: a74aggie
Absolutely notify the local game warden. If he comes out, how are you going to prove you aren't deer hunting? If you are charged, or worse, arrested, it's your word against his and you are going to lose.
CALL HIM, or pay the price of possibly being put through the ringer.


While it is a nice gesture to call the GW to let him know what you are doing, the above statement is ridiculous. I've never heard of a single story where a GW hassled someone and accused someone of spotlighting deer when they were varmint or small game hunting. I've spotlighted for pigs, coyotes, bobcats, etc for 30+ years and never once have had a problem. If it makes you feel better go for it, but prosecution because of a misunderstanding when you have a sack of dead rabbits and a .22 isn't going to happen.

Last edited by rexmitchell; 11/22/17 02:03 AM.
Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: DoveMaster] #6969091 11/22/17 07:37 AM
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machine73 Offline
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I've not heard of any either, but that doesn't mean someplace somewhere might not have a law about discharging a firearm at night. Unlikely, but possible. No harm in checking local laws.

Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: DoveMaster] #6969472 11/22/17 04:49 PM
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Originally Posted By: a74aggie
Absolutely notify the local game warden. If he comes out, how are you going to prove you aren't deer hunting? If you are charged, or worse, arrested, it's your word against his and you are going to lose.
CALL HIM, or pay the price of possibly being put through the ringer.


How is he going to prove that you are deer hunting?

If the game warden is willing to falsify his claims about what you are doing, then giving him a call isn't going to keep him honest.

I notified the game warden in Bosque County a couple of years ago that I would be night hunting and he could not have been more disinterested. In Montague, I haven't seen a game warden after dark since I started hunting there in 2008.

A LOT of people legally hog and varmint hunt at night, probably thousands on the weekends. I doubt too many are calling.


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Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: DoveMaster] #6969668 11/22/17 08:23 PM
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It's a ridiculous statement if you have never been hassled.
My comment is based on past experience.
Seems to me it doesn't hurt to err on the sign of caution.
I guess it does depend on your area. Where I live, spotlighting seems to be a rite of passage.


�The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.� Edmund Burke

I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person
Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: a74aggie] #6970047 11/23/17 02:47 AM
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Originally Posted By: a74aggie
It's a ridiculous statement if you have never been hassled.
My comment is based on past experience.
Seems to me it doesn't hurt to err on the sign of caution.
I guess it does depend on your area. Where I live, spotlighting seems to be a rite of passage.


Fair enough, where I hunt there I one GW for the entire county. To say he is stretched thin is an under statement. We can't get a handle on the folks shooting deer from the road so I doubt someone spotlighting on the interior of their property is going to even get noticed by a neighbor much less the law. Either way, if you are spotlighting and not shooting deer, it should be pretty easy to explain what you are doing.

Last edited by rexmitchell; 11/23/17 02:48 AM.
Re: Hunting rabbits on my land after dark? Legal or no? [Re: DoveMaster] #6983728 12/05/17 04:39 PM
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East of I35 I recommend calling the GW and telling him whats up. Seems the more easterly GW's are working with a different set of rules.

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