New Shooting hours

[Doc]

So what do you all think about the new hunting hours (1/2 hr before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sun set)?

[dlgerow01]

It's plenty light in most areas anyway 30 mins before/after. I think it's a good change.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[landtracdeerhunter]

Less people will be breaking the law now. Still get some , no doubt.

[Doc]

I still heard some shots before the legal start. I have no idea what the heck they were shooting at because it was barely light. But that is nothing new, I remember that there were always shots in the dark before too.

I have to say that where I was, it was pretty darn dark. I was hunting in a very dense hemlock woods. I might have been able to see a deer in there if it was close enough. But it would have been a bit difficult to see the crosshairs through the scope. I know that if I had been on the edge of a hay lot or something there probably wouldn't have been any problem. But where I was, it was quite questionable. And that was with only a partly cloudy sky. If it had been a drizzly situation, I would not have really been able to shoot. I don't think I would have had much of a problem seeing blaze orange though.

[Daveboone]

Most days I cant see squat by legal sundown any way...especially if I am using my open sighted ML. Once snow is on the ground...the extra 1/2 hour is great!

[wolc123]

I took this picture thru my scope at exactly 30 minutes before sunrise yesterday from a stand in a hedgerow by between two hayfields.  The crosshairs on my Redfield/Leupold Revolution 2-7x scope set on 2x were very clear at that time. 
 

In evergreen woods or with open sites, or an old cheap scope, you are probably limited to about 15 minutes before sunrise.  
 

The first year of the change, I took a nice buck in the snow at 7 minutes past sunset, using the old 1.5x Weaver scope on my smoothbore Ithaca 16ga model 37.  That scope ain’t the best in low light and probably would have only been good another 5 minutes or so, even with the snow. 
 

i really like the extra half hours and have taken 3-4 deer, that I wound not have been able to, prior to that change.  None in the morning and none were more than 10 minutes into the evening “overtime” period.  
 

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by wolc123

[New York Hillbilly]

I's cool with the new time as long as people use good sense and are safe. Myself, I don't really like to fumble around in the dark or sit there forever waiting and freezing, so I probably head to my stand later than many people. I had enough of that in my younger days.

I never gave to much thought about the time change since they implemented it, but after reading this thread I decided to actually check the sunrise/sunset chart while on stand tonight and actually learned something. I think I still typically leave before I'm legally required.

Unless I'm trapped in my stand by deer I don't want to spook by getting down, I leave when my internal clock and my eyes tell me to leave. Tonight I tried to hang in until the half hour after sunset, but I needed to leave with 10 minutes still to go. There was no way I could see well enough to safely identify anything or shoot, and did not want to risk a fall coming down my ladder.

[wolc123]

1 minute ago, New York Hillbilly said:

I's cool with the new time as long as people use good sense and are safe. Myself, I don't really like to fumble around in the dark or sit there forever waiting and freezing, so I probably head to my stand later than many people. I had enough of that in my younger days.

I never gave to much thought about the time change since they implemented it, but after reading this thread I decided to actually check the sunrise/sunset chart while on stand tonight and actually learned something. I think I still typically leave before I'm legally required.

Unless I'm trapped in my stand by deer I don't want to spook by getting down, I leave when my internal clock and my eyes tell me to leave. Tonight I tried to hang in until the half hour after sunset, but I needed to leave with 10 minutes still to go. There was no way I could see well enough to safely identify anything or shoot, and did not want to risk a fall coming down my ladder.

Ive noticed the same thing in the evenings.  The first 15-20 minutes after sunset are doable, but not the last 10 minutes or so.  Maybe on the edge of a field with a good scope and snow.  The whole extra 1/2 hour in the morning was good though.  

[farmer 52]

I like to get into the woods way before light,with that said when its light enough to shoot do it.As far as at end of day it seems like about 15 min. after sundown is about all that works for me.

[landtracdeerhunter]

Sunny days, I have no problem seeing in open fields, half hour in and out for safe shooting. In the woods, air on the side of more restriction . If I cannot see in a woods, I don't hunt it. 

Stating and ending times start after sunrise and end before sunset with central dense overcast. When those thick lake affect snow clouds come a calling, the middle of the day plays unsafe to release a bullet.

[Hock3y24]

I mean, just about every one shot before and after the sun anyhow, and most all states are this way. I like it

[Shoots100]

As long as hunter deaths don't rise and more deer are taken, it's a thumbs up from me.

[Doc]

We went out to dinner last night and I was coming home about five o'clock. There was a drizzle all the way home and I can say for certain that the only deer I could see were in my headlights. With that drizzle, the daylight was completely gone and even the blaze orange would not have shown up.

There are  lot of things that can affect visibility, so there is no one situation that fits all when it comes to adequate identification. Yes, people have been cheating on the old legal hours. And some times that cheating ends tragically. Like I commented above, the dark conditions of a heavy overstory like hemlocks can make a difference and now I have seen what a drippy, drizzly day can do to available light. Throw some fog into the situation and it just makes everything even worse.

A wide open hay lot is a very forgiving situation. Snow is great for shooting outside of sunrise and sunset. But of course the law cannot take all of these variations of situations into account. So it all becomes kind of an interesting condition and makes for an interesting discussion.