I've got another good one...

[deerpassion]

how about that afternoon hunt when the magic hour hits and you have 10min left of legal shooting time and that buck of your dreams steps out and offers you a chip shot, but oh no, did i hit him, was it too far back, i didn't see him go down in sight, or maybe you smoked him but still wanna give him a half hour to be sure and you heard him go down 60 yds away.... well now dark is ever near as you get down and find your arrow... good blood, now its dark, AND IM NOT ALLOWED TO GO GET MY DAM DEER?!? i've heard numerous responses on this one including mixed reviews from a bow instructor and an officer.... provided that you have taken your gear and your bow or gun an locked it all in the truck, are you legally allowed to track a deer at night within reason, with your basic pen light( no mag lights or q beams ) ? just can't see how they can justify wasting deer like that especially if i live an hour and a half away, and can't just walk out the back door n go find em in the morning or risk yotes or another hunter finding em... what's your experience with this?

[wdswtr]

What???????? Please point out where it is illegal to track a deer after dark? I will tell you a personal story of this very scenario happening to me. Went home dropped off bow and returned with flashlights. At one point I followed a blood trail to edge of a field on bordering property I have permission to be on. In short order there as a SUV charging through the field with spotlights searching area. I stepped out into field and it was DEC. I told him what was going on and he was just following up on a call from a neighbor of lights out in the field. Not only did he say carry on but he even helped out. Mag light, flashlight, spot light, pen light whats it matter none are illegal to own or use. If your trespassing onto someone elses property then thats a whole nother story. Now mind you this is all on private property but I have never heard this to be illegal on state land either.

Edited August 21, 2012 by wdswtr

[Paula]

deerpassion, you said you picked up your book and i take it that you haven't read it yet. in the question section it says that you can look after dark without your weapon.

Edited August 21, 2012 by paula

[fasteddie]

Never heard it to be illegal .A youngsterwe let hut at camp ( legal age with license ) hit a deer before dark. We went back to te cabin , put away our guns , chnged clothes and got omethin to eat while waitng for the deer to expire . We tacked with lights and go to where there was a drop of blood here and there . Didn't find the deer .

The next morning we went out to another spot to hunt . It was before daylight . I told the kid , as son as it's legal time go pick up the trail . He found his deer and it was just off the trail that we had walked down in the am .

I used o quit hunting and get out of my stand an hour before it was time to quit a I didn't want to track in th dark and possibly lose a deer . It's really not a problem if you have a light . My oldest son has one of the Gerber Tracking lights and I think it sucks .

[WNYBuckHunter]

Yeah its perfectly legal. As long as you dont have your gun or bow with you, use whatever kind of light you want. When i track at night, I use my rechargamble spotlight, the LED ones last a long time.

[deerpassion]

deerpassion, you said you picked up your book and i take it that you haven't read it yet. in the question section it says that you can look after dark without your weapon.

paula, believe me i did read it cover to cover, I missed that question section, ever looked it cause it was next to some advertising ... so officers have no idea what there talking about as well

[Fletch]

I have dragged out plenty of deer after dark all shot before dark of course.

Not to highjack the thread. But say I am an hour walk back in, shot a deer a half hour before dark, find it, gut it drag it for two hours. I still have my unloaded weapon with me as I come out of the woods 2 hours past dark. Can I get ticketed for having a firearm in the woods after dark? I am not going to walk two hours to bring my gun out.

I always end up back at the truck at least 30 minutes to an hour past dark depending on how far back I am in. And I am always carrying a weapon. Or later if I am dragging out a deer. And I have actually had DEC waiting for me more than a few times and it has never even been brought up.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Just unload your gun, no worries.

[wdswtr]

Not really sure on that Fletch. One time when I returned to my truck bowhunting with a buddy we had a DEC stopped by our vehicle. First thing he asked was lets me see your wrist. He was looking to see if we still had our release on. I didnt buddy did. He let him go warning him to remove the release at dark as it was considered the same as carrying a loaded weapon after sunset. I have also dragged out a deer or two in my time with an unloaded gun after dark. I have to check into this but would guess as long as your empty it wold be okay. One thing to help secure that is maybe put a trigger lock on the gun as well just to show if you got stopped your intentions are indeed true and being safe as possible. Just a thought.

[deerpassion]

ok ok, i read in the manual "the bible", and missed the Q & A sectoion which does state that you can track a wounded animal at night with a light but you may not posses a bow, gun, etc... I am bagging this manual and packing it with me so I can take it out and show the officer in black and white.... frustrating , cause during bow class we had an officer come in and do a lil speech and then fielded some question... this being my question... and she said NO... her argument was , well there is a fine line between hunting, pursuing, and harassing game, and what are you gonna do if you do come on that animal and its not expired, can't shoot it at night... well that's easy mark the spot of last sighting, back out and try again tomorrow... they kept telling me to call the deer trackers which Im sure all of you know is a free service for tracking with dogs... thanks for you input guys! I'm sure by the time I graduate grad school and its time for me to leave I will have just about figured most of it out, lol...

[phade]

Not really sure on that Fletch. One time when I returned to my truck bowhunting with a buddy we had a DEC stopped by our vehicle. First thing he asked was lets me see your wrist. He was looking to see if we still had our release on. I didnt buddy did. He let him go warning him to remove the release at dark as it was considered the same as carrying a loaded weapon after sunset. I have also dragged out a deer or two in my time with an unloaded gun after dark. I have to check into this but would guess as long as your empty it wold be okay. One thing to help secure that is maybe put a trigger lock on the gun as well just to show if you got stopped your intentions are indeed true and being safe as possible. Just a thought.

Since when is a release required to shoot a bow? That makes no sense. Just because it is on doesn't me it's attached to a bow with a nocked arrow.

I think that's a personal DEC officer judgement call there.

[deerpassion]

I have dragged out plenty of deer after dark all shot before dark of course.

Not to highjack the thread. But say I am an hour walk back in, shot a deer a half hour before dark, find it, gut it drag it for two hours. I still have my unloaded weapon with me as I come out of the woods 2 hours past dark. Can I get ticketed for having a firearm in the woods after dark? I am not going to walk two hours to bring my gun out.

I always end up back at the truck at least 30 minutes to an hour past dark depending on how far back I am in. And I am always carrying a weapon. Or later if I am dragging out a deer. And I have actually had DEC waiting for me more than a few times and it has never even been brought up.

well thats good to know, i also posed this scenario to the officer at bow class and she gave me a willy nilly response like, well its all gonna depend when we interview you back at your vehicle... what the hell is that... i told her im not gonna walk an hour back to the truck, an hour back to the deer, and then a hour or two drag back out,, im in good shape but dammm... Im gonna do my best to get the shot on my gopro and if they try to pull some bs saying i shot it after hours i'll say , just review the footage with time and date stamped on it! and they also kept responding , call the dec when a situation like that arrises and let them know whats going on, do you know how many phone calls they would be handling at any given hour, impossible...

[Paula]

i guess what makes it ok is that you don't have your weapon.

paula, believe me i did read it cover to cover, I missed that question section, ever looked it cause it was next to some advertising ... so officers have no idea what there talking about as well

[ants]

My buddies and I have shot, I don't know how many, deer right before dark. Even if they dropped on the spot by the time we dressed them out and got them loaded on the 4 wheeler it was well past dark and we still had our guns/bows with us. So if DEC stopped us they could ticket us?

Seems like they should put a time limit on it. Like you can be in the woods, tracking or with the deer you got, and still have your gun or bow with you up to one hour or two after dark. too much gray area

[fasteddie]

Seems like they should put a time limit on it. Like you can be in the woods, tracking or with the deer you got, and still have your gun or bow with you up to one hour or two after dark. too much gray area

That would make for too many rules ! There are enough rules already . Just abide by them .

[Paula]

isn't the time limit that is stated now "dust" or "dark"? that is not too gray

Edited August 21, 2012 by paula

[deerpassion]

seems to me that the bottom line is your story had better check out... such as, " I was a 45 minute walk back in, took me 20 minutes to dress em as it was getting dark, and I'm a big guy but draggin a deer out that far took me for everything I had so it took me quite a while with a few breaks every now n then... " that would put you back at the truck at around 7/7:30/ 8:00 if its a pig of a deer... I truly don't think they would have a problem with that... now if you wander back to your truck with your gun or bow and its 9 / 10 oclock at night with a deer, somethings a little fishy...