Legal vs. Illegal "Would you shoot or not"

FIRST AND FOREMOST: PLEASE DO NOT TURN THIS INTO A WAR. WHENEVER YOU BRING ETHICS INTO A DISCUSSION IT CAN GET TESTY.

*This is not a public pole, so no worries guys.

Please keep comments respectful however remain honest. I am taking the results of this poll into a study for a write up I'm planning on doing for my blog/site, so please answer it honestly (no one is gonna get in trouble or turned in here).

I will be posting this possibly on some other hunting forums so if you see it, feel free to comment again if you wish BUT DO NOT VOTE FOR A SECOND TIME, that will only skew the results.

If you're curious as to why this topic is at the forefront of my mind you can read about a hunt I just had the 13th of this year HERE (bh.com thread) or HERE at my blog/site hunting log.

Thanks to everyone who takes part in this poll.

 

Shooting light can vary with conditions, I have watched bull feed all night long on star filled nights that were far brighter than the light in one of Pennsylvania's hemlock swamps an hour after sun up.
Be safe!

 

Unless there is a hard and fast time associated with local law, (ie: 7am is shooting light per law, no exceptions), the its subjective. Shooting light for me with near perfect eyesight might be earlier than shooting light for some old codger in his bifocals. Unless your state specifies a time, then shooting light will vary by individual and how good is their eyesight. In either case, as much as id like to take the moral high groundand say no way, I think I would be lying to myself and all of you. I know if I get another shot at that 18pointer I missed two weeks ago, if I can see my pins I'm shooting. Right or wrong its the truth. Please don't knee jerk and pile criticism on me for it, I'm just being honest. I would have taken the shot.

 

I respect the honesty, no matter whether I agree. Thanks.

 

Are there not definitive laws in every state?

 

I can't drive fifty 5 ........

 

john the whole speed limit thing is kinda old...justify one wrong by a common wrong. I get the point of it, but by driving 56mph you're not taking advantage of something or someone else, in the case of hunting when you shoot a deer illegally are you not possibly taking that animal away from someone doing everything by the book? Possibly yes, possibly not, but who makes us powerful enough to do that to fellow hunter?

I wish it was legal to shoot whenever you felt "safe" or "okay" I'd be putting light poles up in my woods with dim lights in them :D haha!

 

Well I have just never felt like much of a "member sort of guy" I hunt for me and me alone, your speeding could kill a car load of blind, poor, red headed, orphand children, well me, I killed a buck.
To each their own.

 

If i can take a good shot at him i would even if it was 15 min before legal shooting light. For those that say its wrong and "unethical", think about it like this...Do you j walk? Do you talk on your cell while driving(in states where its illegal)?

 

Its poaching ....plain and simple

 

"poaching" is such a dirty word. "preseason shooting" kinda rolls off the tonge

 

As long as it's called what it is ... poaching ... no way around it ... dirty or no...

 

I dont want to seem like an A-Hole but i take it you have never done anything illegal before right? I understand what your saying but its like driving 5 miles above the speed limit...Illegal but its allowed. If its pitch pitch black out, without a doubt i would say no.

 

I have bigger issues in this life than to time a deers demise.
And by all means I am glad for some of the rules we have to follow, but not knowing whats up next on the home shopping net work is as important to me as the minute the sun sets.

 

Maybe its my age or the existing state laws for NC, but I can barely see at the tails of the legal shooting light now. +/- 15 minutes of our legal limit is nearly flashlight worth as I hunt mostly woods.

Tyni, if you're doing research on this, there could be great variability in the definitions of 'legal' light. It might be helpful to include a crosstab/reference of 'legal light' by state.

 

You don't seem like an A hole ... you are just asking questions and I am cool with that

Here's the deal, if a cop pulled me over for going 5 mph over the speed limit and ticketed me, I would have no argument .. I broke the law

Where do you draw the line? If it is illegal to kill them at midnight, the same as 6:15pm (if it was) ... who are we to drawn the line?

Those that jacklight deer ... they are using lights and guns .. if done during the gun season, is that OK?

 

Im shooting and dont feel any guilt.

 

Its all in the "intent" Did you speed to get home and watch a ball game, or did you coast down a hill into an unknown speed trap?

Or did you sit in a tree all night with the "intent" to poach a buck, or did you arrive at your stand site early to cool off and get set for a great day of hunting when a buck showed up? One is "intent" the other is an opportunity.

 

Jim, this makes no sense to me ... if you shoot a deer knowing it is before legal time, your intent is to break the law and kill a deer illegally...

 

Intent doesn't matter. If you break the law, you are wrong in the eyes of the law.

I'd still shoot though. I also drive 5-7 MPH over the speed limit on a regular basis. Yes I'm speeding but so is just about every other driver on the road. "I'm just keeping pace with traffic officer". If I get a ticket, I get a ticket.

The difference here is you're not likely to have a game warden watching you in your stand at those hours waiting for you to shoot outside of legal shooting light.

"Sorry warden I got excited and didn't realize it was a few minutes outside legal shooting hours"