I know the legal definition. What does it mean, to you? I'll admit, I've never looked at my watch (and I wear one 24/7/365) in the AM's, to decide if I'm "legal".....or not. PM's? I've come down plenty of times, when I knew it was past time. I've also NOT looked. Whether that's out of "convenience" or not......I don't really know. But I (again, admittedly) don't make it a habit of looking. You?
I hunt where I can trim limbs. I KNOW nothing is in front of me. If I can see the deer clearly, my pins, and know the yardage (I have markers) it's legal to me. Bugs the hell out of me cuz I'm an ethical kind of guy and I know it's not legal. Have I ever shot past legal light? No. Do I think I will some day. Yup...
Its my responsibility to know the legal hunting times. I always do and I'm always aware of the time while on stand! Most of the time I really can see my spot when its close to closing time. I always wait until dark to get down, bow is on the ground by close!
ill bite, here in mo it is 1/2 hour after sunset and those times are set by the state dnr, but it gets dark in heavy wooded cover, verses field edge hunting and also hunting in a dark valley will throw ''good shooting light" and after legal shooting light, a personal decision as to your setup. as to what is th legal/stop hunting aspect of this, does this mean time to get out of your stand or does it mean be at your truck ? some states make you carry your bow in non-shooting form like, in a bow case or locked so the bow cant be fired. for me it's a personal decision when i feel i can see my target well enough or not then i will rap it up for the day.Then i will wait until i can still see my tree steps and climb down and wait at the base of the stand until dark, dark enough i use a flashlight to get out of the woods. this may not be deemed legal, but it is a safety issue for me i dont want to be mistakenly shot for being a deer moving around at dusk, hence the flashlight. I value my personal safety over a chance of a ticket. and i can take the ticket up in court. but at least not shot.
I suppose we could take this a step further......... "Shooter" buck strolls by you at 10yds.............2 minutes before legal shooting light.....but there's NO QUESTION you could get off a perfectly ethical (ethics and legal don't always jive) shot. Do you shoot? Do you know (it's not yet legal shooting light)? Do you care?
People don't buy $130 sights with 5 miles of glowing fiber optics to quit with shooting light left. I'd wager 90% + hunt until they can't see their pins/target, time be damned.....myself included.
Jeff, if i answer "yes" to your question, doesn't that technically incriminate me? :D Are you a DNR nark doing a probe
So if I shoot this big buck after legal hours close, what am I going to do, put it on the wall to remind me I illegally killed this deer! Not thanks, I play by the rules! Like I said, I always know what time it is! I got a shot off the last day with 2 minutes left in the season, I knew exactly how much time was left!
Nope. Just an honest (with myself and everyone else) hunter.....in a sense pleading the 5th, myself. I don't look (at my watch) very often. And, I ESPECIALLY wouldn't look if I thought I was "close".
I gotta tell you that in my primary hunting area(s) it is not much of an issue. Seldom is it that I can still see my pins AND the target through a peep sight(even a large one) before or beyond the beginning/end of legal shooting time. Bright moon might extend it a few minutes....cloudy day might shorten a few minutes, but nothing substantial or extended long enough that I am gonna worry about it.
For me I don't start till it is way after sunrise and I come down way before sunset times because we are filming and the camera tells us this, and as soon as we can't film we are out of there so the desire to shoot something off camera isn't there. Walt
Legal shooting light is whatever the state regs say it is. Pretty Simple! I always got a kick out of the Traditional shooters that voted lighted sights be illegal for P&Y. As those guys can shoot at a shadow. When I shot a recurve we actually had some fun shoots that were all but in the dark. Personally I am always out of my Treestand before legal shooting light has ended. Once I can Not judge a Deer's rack with accuracy I am done for that day. Ethics are always up to the individual. I could abide by every law in my state and still be unethical in my opinion. Laws will Not keep a hunter ethical. Dan
If I can make out my pins & the deer, I'm going to shoot. I don't know or care what time it is. That said, I know I have gotten down before "legal" time, on very cloudy days hunting in a very dark timber. I suppose too, as I've gotten older, if I am in an unfamiliar tree, far from home, and far from the car, I won't quite push the limits as much, just because I don't care to deal with potential consequences of hitting a limb.
I always got a kick out of the Traditional shooters that voted lighted sights be illegal for P&Y. All who voted against this......shoot traditional? When I shot a recurve we actually had some fun shoots that were all but in the dark. "We" still do this. It's a blast.
I have bucks/does come by before legal shooting light every now and then... and often have them come by right at last light. It's just part of the game. It wouldn't make much sense to challenge myself by bowhunting for deer and then breaking the law just to score on a deer. I almost always lower my bow before the end of shooting light. If nobody is hunting nearby, I'll have my climber down by then too. In the mornings, I'll check my cell phone to see when shooting light starts. I usually wait until after that anyhow because my range finder needs quite a bit of light and I rarely hunt the same spots twice so I like to use the range finder.
