The average sized property in the midwest is 140 acres. I can shine my own property in about 4 minutes. As stbrandt stated He shines 1/2 of Shawano county in a night yet He can only hunt on property that could be shined in 12 seconds.
That's the only positive to having wolves. They snarf bear dogs asap. Hound hunters have ZERO respect for private property but that's another thread.
We have outfitters and out of state hunters around here that drive around all day just to look at deer, if they own the land or not. Just to have the off chance of knocking on somebodies door and getting permission. I know somebody that did that a couple years ago and ended up getting permission to hunt and killed a 200" deer. And yea they sometimes do it at night even though its against the law, one outfitter in particular does this all the time and I bet if said who it was everyone would have heard of them. Guess its easier than getting a hold of a chunk of land and putting in the work to scout it other ways.
One thing we have seemed to forget in this thread is deer are not the property of any landowner and are there to be enjoyed by everyone during the daylight and where legal at night. I enjoy driving around with my family and looking for big bucks whether it is on property I hunt or not it is just fun looking at majestic animals. We also need to remember that deer can travel miles in a night visiting various food sources so just because they aren't on a property that I can hunt there is a good chance at some point they may go through or by a property that I can. But even if they never do come on a property I can hunt I enjoy viewing deer. Even in Buffalo County shining isn't totally illegal...you can shine your own property as long as you are a certain distance off the road. How is the DNR supposed to know if it is the landowner shining or a trespasser? Just my 2 cents.
With DUI they still haveta be out there catching the people, I bet drinking and driving didn't become illegal because the law got too many false reports of erratic driving that didn't lead to arrest. From the sound of it that's why that particular sheriff in Iowa wants its banned, becsuse a lot of the call in aren't producing results of people doin anything wrong. So if you ban it then everyone is guilty of something. So yea I fully agree most people illegally hunting are at night with light and making it illegal does improve chances of that person getting caught. But I don't agree that suddenly making it illegal will let the law enfourcment catch any more people that are actually shooting wildlife illegally, your gonna end up with a lot of disturbing wildlife or whatever the minimum fine is for spot lighting a deer or trespassing. Idk its half a dozen one way or the other, people that don't agree with it want it banned and those that do want it to stay around. Like with everything That show is pretty interesting to watch by the way.
In Ky. we have only one GW per county, not sure what its like in other parts of the country. During the two week gun season they will have stings every night. Pull 6-8 wardens into one area and use a small plane. This is always good for catching 1 or 2 bad guys, with a couple dozen false alarms. But it also leaves 6-8 county's unmanned with no warden at all. They thought making it illegal here would make a big difference, but it really didn't help at all. Solve a problem and new ones evolve. The electronic deer or robo buck is the best and most effective tool they have here.
Hypothetically if i knew shining was illegal in a certain given state I wouldn't go shining there because I personally like to follow the laws. Wish would bring down the numbers of shiners...and hopefully there would be a few other law abiding citizens that would also not due it cause it is illegal. Making less numbers of shiners on the road making it easier to catch the real poachers...but from the sounds of this thread seems like i would be one of the few to follow a law.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying shining is good OR bad, or that laws for OR against it are the way to go. I'm just asking how it's being determined to be effective or otherwise. With drunk driving, there is a quantifiable result from enforcement. When law enforcement cracks down, there's a measurable decrease in alcohol related accidents, injuries, and fatalities, usually determined by comparing the numbers to the year before. Personally, it's irrelevant to me whether shining is legal where I am. I can't see the point in going out at night to look for deer, when I know they're not just going to stand there and wait for me to come back during the day. Patterning the animals long term makes more sense than a snapshot. Besides, this close to the border, you don't go traipsing around the woods at night in the PRK. There are worse things than poachers out there. As for legality and enforcement, I see it like this, on the one hand, if it's illegal to shine at all, the wardens or law enforcement have to check out every light in the woods, and that DOES eat up some manpower. On the other hand, if there's a poaching problem in an area, and they know that poachers are using spotlights, they're going to be checking out all those lights anyway, right? At the end of the day, it comes down to whether or not there's a poaching problem in an area, and whether shining contributes to that problem or not. Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using Tapatalk 2
Lol! Well played, sir! There are quite a few national forests out here, and we DO have bigger trees than anyone else! I grew up in Tennessee, though, and "woods" for ME is basically anything undeveloped. A lot of the public land here in the People's Republik WOULD be more accurately described as brush or hills, though. Can we agree on "boonies?" Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using Tapatalk 2
Been here 30 years. The Sierra or mountains, high desert, low desert. Hopefully You escape before you stop using woods and boonies.
I like shining deer. It is fun to see them. Use common sense and don't shine peoples houses and you shouldn't have any problems. I own my own land.
I grew up in Wisconsin, Badger alum, been in Cal 30 years. I spend 2 months at my property and will be finally moving back next year. Am I not entitled to an opinion living on my property 2 months/year and paying the state taxes?
I thought perhaps you were one of the many 1 week a year "residents" we get that feel a non-resident license gives them all the rights of a resident.
No but the state still cashes my $464 license check and $20,000 property check with a smile. The 27,000 non resident hunters drop major coin in the state tourism coffers.
