Legal shooting hours

[grouse]

I just read an article about an incident in New York where a woman was shot and killed while walking her dogs just after sunset. A neighbor was hunting deer and somehow mistook her for game. In New York the legal shooting hours end at sunset so the hunter was in violation of the law.

The article caused me to think about the legal shooting hours in Missouri, where I hunt. Our legal shooting time begins one half hour before sunrise and extends until one half hour after sunset. Our archery season begins on Sept. 15, when the trees are full of green leaves. If you are deep in the woods a half hour before sunrise on a cloudy morning in mid September it might as well be midnight. Earlier this month on the opening morning of our firearms season I had a deer walk about 35 yards from my stand. It was about 5 minutes into shooting hours on a cloudy morning and I could see antlers and the blocky body of a mature buck. We have a 4 points minimum on one side for bucks in the county where I hunt and there was no way on earth that I could see well enough to count points in that light, even at that close distance. Incidentally, I had already heard several shots from the surrounding area.

In the morning I always get into my stand early but in the evening I leave my stand around sunset unless deer are present. Blood trailing in the dark and leaving a deer to the coyotes are things I want to avoid. What are the legal shooting hours where you hunt and what are your thoughts on this subject?

[bigbowman]

Where I hunt in Wisconsin I have to add 4 minutes to the times that are on the chart below that is provided on the DNR's website and also inside every year's hunting regulations booklet. Those are the legal shooting hours here:

[papabear1]

Wrong topic sorry.

Dave

[xcaliber]

How anyone can mistake an animal over a human being just puzzles me. No excuses, sorry! You have to be the most incompetent hunter around, or trigger happy.

[Normous]

How anyone can mistake an animal over a human being just puzzles me. No excuses, sorry! You have to be the most incompetent hunter around, or trigger happy.

Back around 2003/4 I came out of the woods after last light during M/L season and found Joe 6 pack pointing his muzzle at me from a nearby position near the field edge.

Not only was he trespassing but too F- up on beer to walk straight. It was a real eye opener and prompted me to start using a inexpensive children's safety blinking Halloween light after that when exiting the woods.

I'm not sure where he came from because I searched for his vehicle to report him. The way I see it, alcohol can play a role in such cases mistaking humans for game. Bad news for the unfortunate.

[catclr]

"Rosemary Billquist had worked a little late on Wednesday, so by the time she returned to her home in western New York it was already getting dark.

She took her yellow Labrador retrievers, Sugar and Stella, for a walk around 5:30 p.m., while her husband, Jamie, stayed behind at their home in Sherman, N.Y., about 65 miles southwest of Buffalo.

But 15 or 20 minutes later, Sugar and Stella came bounding back without her. They were peering backward, barking with unusual urgency.

“They obviously knew something happened,” Mr. Billquist said in an interview on Saturday night. “And I’m thinking to myself, ‘This isn’t right.’”

Mr. Billquist reached for his phone to call his wife. When he looked up he saw an ambulance barreling into view. There had been a shooting, a volunteer medic told him. As he would soon find out, the victim was his wife.

The authorities said Ms. Billquist, 43, was walking when one of her neighbors, Thomas B. Jadlowski, believed he saw a deer in a field and fired a single-shot pistol.

Mr. Jadlowski heard a scream, and then ran about 200 yards to where he found Ms. Billquist with a gunshot wound, the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. He called 911 and applied pressure to her wound until medical help arrived. She was pronounced dead at a hospital in Erie, Pa.

Mr. Jadlowski, 34, had fired his pistol after sunset, and it is illegal to hunt deer after the sun goes down, the statement said."

The above is Quoted from a on line write up.

As stated above, this guy was hunting illegal for his state, and if he thought she was a deer, what did he think the two lab dogs were?

Here in Pa. our shooting start & ending times are like "bigbowman" in Wisconsin. In my area we need 3 pts. on one side, so on Monday 11/27/17 hunting hrs. would be 6:43am, first shot I heard about 200 yds. from my stand was at 6:35 am. in fields, & no way that person could tell if deer was legal unless he was a monster with high tines.This wasn't the only shooting I heard before legal time.

[nchunterkw]

Hours in NC are 1/2hr before sunrise to 1/2hr after sunset. And I totally agree with grouse. AT least for me, I can't see too much in the woods at the start of or end of legal light. I don't mind tracking at night, but I typically only sit until with my naked eye at 30 yds I would have a hard time seeing a deer very clearly. Usually that is 10 to 15 min after sunset. Understand that at that time, if I look through my scope (Hawke Pro SR) that there is a little more light gathered and I could probably make the shot, and based on that I could sit a bit longer, but I generally don't. It'ss just the way I handle it.

Now when I was in Ohio and hunting an open field, I would stay until 30min after sunset (legal light for archery there) as I had no problems seeing at that time. But in the NC woods - lots of pines - it gets pretty dark early on.

[Bcxbow]

Same legal hours here in Ga. I can see good enough maybe 15 minutes after sunrise and get out of tree or blind about 10 minutes after sunset. My eyes aren’t what they used to be.

Billy

[mikej]

How anyone can mistake an animal over a human being just puzzles me. No excuses, sorry! You have to be the most incompetent hunter around, or trigger happy.

I agree

[Patcon]

I saw the article on the shooting and had multiple thoughts on that shooting. First he is taking a shot at a deer with a pistol at 200 yds. That is a long shot even if he had a scoped bolt lock pistol. Second how can he tell what kind of deer that is at 200 yds? I can sometimes barely count points at 50 yards. Lastly he is very young judging by his photo, late teens or early 20's. This is gonna change his life forever. The town where this happened is small like 1500 or so. So everyone knows everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if he knew her. Tragic all the way around...

As for legal hours, we can hunt an hour before sunup and an hour after sunset. Down in the creek bottom where I hunt it gets dark quick. On a clear day it's really dark 10-15 minutes after sunset. On a cloudy day, even earlier...I hear people shoot after these times and wonder how they know what they're shooting. I normally climb down when it becomes too dark to id a deer through my binos. They have better glass then my scope so if I can't see it with the binos no way I can id it through the scope

[IronNoggin]

The vast majority of North American jurisdictions have the 1/2 hour before sunrise, and half hour after sunset hunting clauses.
Some are more restricted.
Few are less.

Among the less ones: Here in BC the rule is one full hour before sunrise, and one full hour after sunset.
Given the mountainous and timbered terrain I have always thought that a little on the nutso side.
May as well be smack dab in the middle of the night!!

Another on the less side is the Arctic. When we lived in the NWT there was NO daylight restriction whatsoever.
That came from the sun not clearing the horizon for 3 months and change.
Did have one hell of a "twilight" period every day though...

As for that fella in New York, I hope they toss away the key, and he never allowed to hunt / own firearms / bows for the rest of his life.

Cheers,
Nog

[DuckHunt]

All of the states I have hunted in have 1/2 before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset as the legal hours. I'm fortunate that the vast majority of my seasons are either sex, so I could theoretically hunt until its practically dark if I didn't care how big the deer was. On a cloudy day, it gets hard to see horns or crosshairs 15 minutes after sunset. The toughest situation for me is during the early doe-only season. In low light, it is darn near impossible to tell a doe from a small spike. For that reason, I climb down right at sunset during the doe-only season. Heck, I don't want to be out after dark tracking a doe anyway.

DuckHunt

[longbow joe]

As l get older l usually find myself in the truck by quitting time l hunt on private property but A---holes still sneak in.l try to wear a light when in hauling my decoy or orange vest walking out never know!

[galamb]

In Ontario the legal hunting hours are 1/2 hour before sunrise until 1/2 hour after sunset.

But "ethical" hunting hours may not extend anywhere near either of those "legal" hours.

I hunt very dense hardwoods and if it's overcast it is sometimes difficult to see right at sunrise or sunset, never mind half an hour either side.

So at least "for me", if I can't see I don't shoot. And in the evening I'm usually out of the woods before my bow has to be "cased" (1/2 hour after sunset) so that I don't have to take a case in with me if at all possible.

I read the whole store noted. The guy was hunting after dark and took a shot at the woman (deer he thought) who was walking her dogs on his property. At the very least he is guilty of attempting to poach a deer and should lose his privileges to shoot at any animal even if they forego criminal charges.

[xcaliber]

I'm sorry, but explaining what the legal hours means crap. For some bone head to shoot a person is just not acceptable in my mind. How can anyone reason that? A hunter recognizes there game, and puts there sights on a clean kill! If I were a Judge hearing any of these cases, I would punish these guys to the full extent of the law. I cannot imagine how I would have been able to raise my two girls without their Mother in their spam Years!