True or False (poaching a deer at night)

[ELMER J. FUDD]

my 500th post...

I heard or read somewhere that a deer shot at night has different eyes, or that you can tell if a deer was shot at night (maybe via spotlight?) by looking at the eyes. has anyone ever heard of this?

[ELMER J. FUDD]

my 500th post...

I heard or read somewhere that a deer shot at night has different eyes, or that you can tell if a deer was shot at night (maybe via spotlight?) by looking at the eyes. has anyone ever heard of this?

I'm now an "advanced NY hunter" that doesn't know the answer to this, LOL!

[Pygmy]

Never heard of such a thing, but then I have never shot a deer after dark in a light, either.

I do know quite a few guys who have shot deer under a light ( crop damage permits) and none of them ever mentioned it..

[BizCT]

Not sure, but when I was in PA I saw tons of people driving around "spotlighting", not hunting or poaching. Just driving back roads with 1 guy shining a spotlight out looking for big bucks, then hunt that area the next morning I assume?

[WNYBuckHunter]

Never heard of that. Maybe it has to do with pupil dilation or something like that?

[WNYBuckHunter]

Not sure, but when I was in PA I saw tons of people driving around "spotlighting", not hunting or poaching. Just driving back roads with 1 guy shining a spotlight out looking for big bucks, then hunt that area the next morning I assume?

Maybe, maybe not. Lots of people like to spotlight deer just to see them. I do it from time to time, but not as much in recent years as I used to.

[biggamefish]

Guys guys guys. Come of course they look different they have spots in there eyes from the bright light everybody knows that!!!!!

[Geno C]

never heard that

[arrow nocker]

I going to go shoot one now to find out.

:fie: :fie:

Just kidding.

[TreeGuy]

I got a 120# doe this year with the spotlight / rifle... Nuisance permit of course ( still felt wrong but all legal ) and I can tell you the eyes looked normal. She had a little bald spot on her head which we looked at closely and nothing about her eyes were odd. That would be my only experience night hunting

[tughillhunter]

I have heard that the dialation of the eyes is different, from the brightness of the spotlight. Read it in ny conservation a few years back. As how reliable this is, i do not know.

[joe12]

I think they can approximate how long ago the deer was killed by something in the eye. I don't think that it has anything to do with a spot light. For example, if a DEC officer finds someone with a deer at 7am, and they can tell by the eyes that it was killed 6 hours ago, it was obviously killed after legal hunting hours.

[arrow nocker]

The deer doesnt die instantly.I has time for its eyes to redialate after it gets shot.So i say no.

[crs740]

Never heard of anything like that

[ELMER J. FUDD]

Well thanks for the input fellas...

[NYDeer]

Never heard of it, but logically, it might be possible. If you think how your eye works, the iris 'opens' up during night to let more light pass into the eye. Get hit with a bright light at night, and you get night vision blindness because too much light enters the eye, over stimulating the optic nerve.. Killing a deer at night without spotlighting it would probably keep the iris open in death, and maybe 'iris' apeture diameter info is available somewhere..

[CNYlungbuster]

I've never heard of this before. Like someone mentioned earlier an ECO can approximate the time of death (TOD) by the eyes. However, to deterime the actual TOD they use a tempeture scale based off ambient temp. and temp of the deer. The temp is usually taken in the hindquarter since this is the largest muscle mass and the liver (most commonly used in humans to determine TOD in homicides and such) is usually gone by the time an ECO gets to the scene.

[growalot]

Yes an they developed a scanner...that when passed over the iris it reflect the image of person that shot it off the back of the eye.....

[growalot]

Geeeez... no sense of humor....I thought I'd get at least one of you...lol

[pawle76]

sounds like what we tell the kids when they swim in our pool. "Don't pee in the pool or you'll get a purple ring on your bathing suit" !

[Jim Droz]

Abstract

Vitreous humor and liver samples were collected from hunter-harvested elk (Cervus elaphus) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in Idaho (USA). Concentrations of calcium, chloride, potassium, sodium, urea nitrogen and selenium were determined and evaluated according to species, age, gender, geographic location, and time elapsed following death. Vitreous humor analysis yielded reliable biochemical information for < or = 96 hr subsequent to the death of the animal. Vitreous potassium concentration changes over time could be used to estimate the time that elapsed following death.

[GreeneHunter]

I heard - years ago - that an Encon Officer can tell if a Deer was shot at night by the eyes !  Maybe because of the pupils being

dialated ??? Never tried to prove it though !