Interpretation of hunting hours

[bubba]

yes I said that I would call the law file a complaint have them arrested on the spot same as you could. So sad people can not comprehend simple English. I am starting to think you like me a little too much following me around picking apart my posts. Sorry dude I am straight. Again I can only give the advice to read better, comprehend completely and stop posting things that are frankly making you look pretty ignorant.

[Lawdwaz]

yes I said that I would call the law file a complaint have them arrested on the spot same as you could. So sad people can not comprehend simple English. I am starting to think you like me a little too much following me around picking apart my posts. Sorry dude I am straight. Again I can only give the advice to read better, comprehend completely and stop posting things that are frankly making you look pretty ignorant.

You said this:

"They were promised next time there will be law involved and I will arraign them on the spot and send them to jail. I can not do that, but they do not know that. "

[bubba]

yes as a jp I can arraign people who have been arrested. Maybe you better look up the meaning of arraign. Although, I am willing to bet you have been arrainged a few times. Law involved means I will call the law and file a trespass complaint. After they were arrested I could arraign them. I hope now that I have explained this at least twice if not three times, you finally get it. If not google it as I can only do so much to try to help you not look like a moron ok. Sorry

[Dinsdale]

Ask Doc I guess his life is so boring, he has nothing to do but reads the encon laws. But first go back and read all the posts, and your answer is there.

Sorry don't know how to multi quote but here's an early post of Bubba's from page one.

"As I said it is not a law it is a recommendation form a local dec officer."

So ; since you hinge the argument on the whats constitutes hunting,ie harassing and worrying, I was thinking thats what you would have at hand and maybe bookmarked for chapter/verse on the legal end.

Personally I know a few ECO's (one is my neighbor).....I still have yet to meet one that "shook people down" and I've met quite a few.

[wdswtr]

Just got a call, from someone "in the know" he drives a green jeep with emblems on the doors and light bar on top.... He said you can have your gun loaded,arrow knocked in complete darkness there is nothing written in the law against it. You could sit in your stand at 2AM with a loaded gun and untill you FIRE at a deer,you've done nothing wrong. He even mentioned coyotes.... which you could shoot.

Now if your creeping along a field edge watching,stopping ect. you could have an issue.One such time he arrested the guy because he asked him "what are you doing? and he said he thought something might pop out..". If the guy did not say that there was not much he could have done.

We're going to meet up next time I hunt,if anyone has more questions.

So wait if you got one officer telling you this and I got a few telling me different which one trumps the other? LMAO I think Jennifer pointed out the obvious and that it is probably more dependant on the officer and the area they are from and the bull they see from day to day. Probably depends on alot of the time they have been doing law enforcement and the different situations they have seen over there career. I do however find it hugely funny that one one member mentions that he was told by two different officers at two different times and was checked for the same thing with 2 different weapons that it goes ignored but yet when another member post up an I asked and this is his reply the ones that want to hear what they want to hear start clicking the like button. How about if I go ask my cousin the town judge and see what his take is on it too. What some of you seem to fail to recognize is that I hardly doubt and personally know no one who carries the necessary lights to claim coyote hunting in the dark to begin with. I easily recongnize a handful do and a couple have spoke up but lets face the limited number that focus there time to do and carry the resouces to actually be able to see a coyote and take a shot at one in the dark when they are deer hunting aside from sitting in a tree stand, which by the way I have not even mentioned anything about that but some seem to like to add scenarios that Im not even discussing to make it perfectly acceptable for them to disagree. So Here is what I will leave you all with. YOU are absolutely correct, the encon officer that have stopped and checked me for a loaded weapon coming out of the woods in the dark from deer hunting and the ones I have spoke with are absolutly incorrect, have nothing better to do, need to focus on chasing just criminals and not ones that might actually be a criminal that they would not even consider to be one unless they did there job and checked them for potentially wrong doing to begin with such as carrying a loaded weapon around in the woods after dark because everyone of you hunters that do that in no way possible could even think in an officers eyes possibly or actually be hunting illegally now could they? Boy that was alot of ands, and one run on sentence. Carry on doing things however you feel is perfectly acceptable and just like last night when I came out of the woods bowhunting for deer (even though I never shot a deer I guess I wasnt actually hunting lol) after dark due to a very long hike to that particular stand I spooked and jumped a deer as soon as I hit the seasonal road my truck was parked on. And that is no BS story either. So do tell me what do you think if an encon officer was waiting at my truck to check for a license and seen this happen if I was carrying a loaded weapon (on state land non the less too)? I also find it truly sad that a thread with advise about helping you not get a ticket and letting the judge decide, wasting your time and court fees turns into yet again another bashing about how everyone is absolutely correct and must find ways to twist and turn things to make them feel like they know it all and no one else trying to help them actually has a clue. I will from now on refrain myself from getting sucked into a thread when no one actually cares to even consider another hunter trying to point out that a simple thing as unloading a weapon might save them a trip to court. I also appologize WNY for some of my language as you are right I am well above and better than that myself. I aslo appologize for trying to help other hunters, I will refrain from doing that ever again after reading the ignorance posted on this here thread. Have a great hunting season.

Edited October 22, 2012 by wdswtr

[bubba]

Sorry don't know how to multi quote but here's an early post of Bubba's from page one.

"As I said it is not a law it is a recommendation form a local dec officer."

So ; since you hinge the argument on the whats constitutes hunting,ie harassing and worrying, I was thinking thats what you would have at hand and maybe bookmarked for chapter/verse on the legal end.

Personally I know a few ECO's (one is my neighbor).....I still have yet to meet one that "shook people down" and I've met quite a few.

Again go back and read. Doc put the exact law I am talking about in a post on this thread. Plus if you look in your hunting regulations guide, it is also in there. Do a little homework yourself rather than expect everyone else to do it all and copy off them.

The real sad part is the majority of the posts on this thread were all about trying to find a way to get around the legal hours, some even admitting they do so. Says a lot about the mentality of MOST people who hunt. I am to the point that calling some of you hunters is a stretch. On that note have a great day and a productive season even if you have to bend the rules a bit to do so.

Edited October 22, 2012 by bubba

[erussell]

With all the Bears I have around my hunting area, I walk out in the dark with a loaded gun or an arrow on my bow. But when I get a safe distance from the road I unload.

[Doc]

kinda sad Doc that you brought reading material out hunting with you. You could have saved yourself time and read what was said. He said it wasn't a law on the first page he said a dec officer comes to the class and suggested it. hope you didn't miss a deer, it was a great day to be out there thats for sure.

In case you might have missed it, there has been a few pages devoted to the discussion of a reply made on the first page of this thread, mainly:

you do not have to be out of the woods by sunset. However your bow has to be disabled and your gun unloaded. By disabled, it needs to be unstrung if a recurve or a locking device so the bow can not be pulled back if a compound. A simple remedy is a padlock around the stings. Regardless of the time if you do not do these things after sunset,the intent is there to be hunting, and you can be ticketed.

Since I had the resources and the time I figured I would go to the source.

But, thank you for being so concerned about my hunting, however I doubt that I missed anything. I've become pretty good at multi-tasking .... lol.

[WNYBuckHunter]

If you read the definition of hunting, and when after dark you are walking out of the woods, with a loaded gun and you bump a deer and it runs off, you are hunting according to the definition as you have harassed and worried the wild life. Better not get caught doing it by the officer who may be waiting for you when you get to your vehicle and the gun is loaded. GOOD LUCK to you all. I apologize for pointing out the obvious and seeing all who prefer not to play by the rules.

Bumping a deer is now hunting? Dont you think you are going a little far with your interpretation? If you arent, then I must be a big time poacher. I see and bump deer all the time while I am out coyote hunting, riding my bike, walking through the woods all times of the year.

[RTF]

If you read the definition of hunting, and when after dark you are walking out of the woods, with a loaded gun and you bump a deer and it runs off, you are hunting according to the definition as you have harassed and worried the wild life.

So Bubba, are you stating that if our weapons are unloaded and or disabled, we will not fall under that definition?

[Dad 6424]

^{In my eyes the whole system is a mess it all needs to be reworked but then even if it was set the way some want the others would not want that the only way to get these folks to relook the laws over is to act as one and theres to many that disagree so lets just play by there rules and shoot some deer}

[Lawdwaz]

30 minutes before and 30 minutes after, just like PA. AND, AND why wear that damned back tag in our neck of the woods? Crazy..... (drop that nutty law like PA also)

Thoughts?

[Culvercreek hunt club]

id like to see you tell the dec to pound salt. that would be funny. like i said though, my buddy got a ticket for shooting a deer before "sunrise". hunting hours are sunrise to sunset as defined by the hunting regs book, pg80. that is in black & white

Because he shot a deer after hours...and he should have gotten a ticket. That is a whole different animal than having a loaded gun.

[mxsmitz201]

this state is just so F'd up, god i cant wait to get the heck out of here.

what kills me is the laws that are written that apply to this scenario of walking out of the woods with a loaded weapon are so vague when you think about what the definition of "hunting" is and how an ECO/Judge can apply it to a situation and stick it so someone who wasn't breaking the law.

like seriously, an ECO depending on his mood, is going to tell me that I was hunting deer if I walk out of the woods with a loaded weapon and kick up a few deer when i could very well be hunting coyote?? Then a judge is going to tell me that by "definition of the word hunting" i was technically hunting those deer and take the side of the ECO?? wheres the common sense?? get your nose out of the book interpreting words to twist the situation and use your brain. and while your at it quit making law abiding citizens feel like a damn criminal, you wonder why we appear so ignorant.

[Geno C]

Honestly i am willing to bet for the most part we all know what is legal shooting light! we know guys shoot outside that window but if you cant tell when you should be shooting then you should not be in the woods... google it, it tells you the approximate times and its a great way to get you ball park. we can all use our better judgment, it changes day by day!!! If you can see a silhouette of the animal its not brain science to know your not legal. I mean what are you guys looking for exact times??? day to day? If your in your car texting while driving your breaking the law, if your shooting a deer when its dark, you guessed it... breaking the law....

I mean stop and think about this, is it really that difficult for a hunter to determine if its legal to shoot or not? seriously?

[Lawdwaz]

If you can see a silhouette of the animal its not brain science to know your not legal.

Depending on the distance, cloud cover etc. your only about 30 minutes too soon or too late.

I'd bet 99% of the bowhunters are NOT obeying the law on sunrise/sunset. Who wants to argue that one?

[Geno C]

Depending on the distance, cloud cover etc. your only about 30 minutes too soon or too late.

I'd bet 99% of the bowhunters are NOT obeying the law on sunrise/sunset. Who wants to argue that one?

agree 100%... id like to think its less then 99% of the hunters tho but i bet a good amount push the envelope on their hunts and KNOW they are doing it. If your questioning yourself, its prob after sunset and not legal...

guys know when they are in the wrong, bottom line...

[bubba]

So Bubba, are you stating that if our weapons are unloaded and or disabled, we will not fall under that definition?

correct because an unloaded gun means you are not hunting in the eyes of the law.

[mxsmitz201]

correct because an unloaded gun means you are not hunting in the eyes of the law.

but according to the definition of hunting, any kicked up deer on your way out after dark could be deemed "hunting" regardless if you have a firearm or not.....

[bubba]

umm if your gun is unloaded, you are not hunting. The intent (Yup there is that word again) is with the loaded gun or an arrow nocked. Realistically the chances of getting a ticket are less than 50 percent in my opinion. However the chance is there. My simple point is why would you want to risk that chance. The line of I was coyote hunting is pretty lame and to say I leave my gun loaded in case of a bear. If you shoot the bear while walking out of the woods, you are hunting after legal hours. Are you going to claim self defense. Like I said earlier, it seems that people are just digging for an excuse to hunt after legal hours. Now good luck and happy hunting.

Edited October 22, 2012 by bubba

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Or they just don't want to walk out of the woods without a loaded gun.

If I walk out to check trail cameras a day before the season and I have my pistol with me I must be hunting out of season too.

[bubba]

apples and oranges but again just an excuse justify breaking the law. All I can say

[growalot]

Oh great psychic..one...lol

[nyantler]

I'm pretty sure an officer can arrest you if he sees cause and just let the judge sort it out... bumping a deer after dark in the woods could probably be considered hunting.. it might be up to the officers discretion... and would depend on your explaination for being in the woods after dark especially with a loaded weapon... the law says you can't hunt deer before or after shooting hours... if the officer thinks you were... you're getting ticketed.. no matter how anyone rationalizes it on this thread.

[tj1187]

If you're coming out of the woods after legal shooting hours during deer season, with a loaded gun, you have a lot of explaining to do if a DEC officer spots you. Why would you want to put yourself in that position.