Can someone please let me know whether it is legal to hunt / shoot with a spotlight in any US states . I gather it is illegal in some states .
Spotlighting is very popular in Australia as a method of controlling feral animals or vermin .
We make a magnetic spotlight mount to suit the Lightforce spotlights and wonder whether there may be a market in North America .

In a lot of states you can use a light on varmints but not game animals.

Bushchook

It is legal to hunt varmints in some states but not all states.

A lot of people in my area use the magnetic mounted wireless remote Gott light, there in the $300.00 range.

The magnetic mount is great because you can use the light on several pickups with out boring holes in each one.

The Gott light is wireless remote and that cuts down on the wires getting tangled up. The light itself is o.k. but not great.

I used a roof mounted Lightforce spot light years ago and it was a hight quality light, it was a roof mounted unit that require a large hole in the roof and the "T" control handle stuck down in the pickup cab and was in the way when not in use.

Does Lightforce make a wireless remote spotlight now, with magnetic mounting?


Hal

Would not swear to it but I think in Texas it is legal on private land for varmints and such. Not big game. I think they request you notify the game warden as well.
Okie

I looked into it here in Idaho and the process is daunting to say the most. It's really set up to make it the most inconvenient for the hunter and to set up the most hoops to jump through.

On Private land you need the written permission from the landowner in possession, on Federal/state land you need to contact the responsible agency 24 hours in advance for permission. Additionally you need to contact the local sheriff's office to give a description of the area that you will be in, whether private or public, and description of your vehicle, and the date and hours that you will be shooting. I'm not sure, but think that Fish & Game folks want to know before hand to see if there are any big game animals in the area.

Clearly designed to discourage night time shooting. We looked into it to see about shooting the tremendous number of badgers we have in the area and gave up after seeing all that must be done. They win.

In Texas it is legal to hunt non-game animals ("varmints" like coyotes, bobcats, skunks, and even rabbits and hares; as well as feral hogs) at night with artificial light.

The law is somewhat antiquated in that it says "except where deer are known to roam". When this wording was adopted a half-century ago, perhaps fewer than half of the state's 254 counties had viable deer populations; now almost all of them do.

In terms of enforcement, virtually all Texas land is private land. Thus, the landowner is largely in control of activities on that land. As a result, if law enforcement has no reason to believe that a spotlighter is taking or attempting to take game animials the spotlighter is usually free to hunt as he will. In other words, game wardens typically respond to landowner complaints of spotlighters rather than going looking for them randomly.

In Pennsylvania, you can use a spotlight to hunt foxes, raccoons, coyotes, skunks, weasels, and possums, but it has to be handheld or mounted on your gun.

You can legally spotlight deer and other game animals (from a vehicle or on foot), but you can't be in posession of a gun/bow while you're doing it unless you have a concealed carry permit and the gun is your carry gun (not a rifle/shotgun).

It varies by state, but it is legal in large parts of the USA, a magnetic mount would certainly be of interest to a large segment of the county

Thanks for the replies all . Our unit is manually operated and quite different to the electric remote units that have been around awhile . Much easier to control light position accurately with ours. Selling very well here in Australia where spotlight shooting is very commonplace . Have attached a link to a website with some photos for those interested. Looks like it would be worth us investigating export to the USA.
Who would you suggest we use as a distributor ?
http://www.australianhunting.n...x.php?topic=102964.0

You can legally hunt non game animals in Texas with the use of spot lights.



When I am going out to a particular area to hunt coyotes or hogs I try to let our county game warden know just in case someone sees a light and calls the county sheriff’s office, who in turn calls the game warden that then has to get up at 2-3-4 in the AM and go check it out. He does appreciate that. A little courtesy goes a long way.

In Wyoming, you can spotlight hunt predators and vermin- jackrabbits, no cottontails. No game animals. On private land only and with written permission of the land owner.

http://wgfd.wyo.gov/web2011/De..._BROCHURE0000088.pdf

quote:

Originally posted by GoWyo:
In Wyoming, you can spotlight hunt predators and vermin- jackrabbits, no cottontails. No game animals. On private land only and with written permission of the land owner.

http://wgfd.wyo.gov/web2011/De..._BROCHURE0000088.pdf

On one of our adventures my cousin was shining the spotlight around and came across a pair of eyes which he thought were coyote and he shot, it was an antelope and i'm glad he missed.
Stepchild

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

The law is somewhat antiquated in that it says "except where deer are known to roam". When this wording was adopted a half-century ago, perhaps fewer than half of the state's 254 counties had viable deer populations; now almost all of them do.

I think that language was finally deleted a while back. We no longer have to call in or avoid deer areas. But now we often have the ICE helicopter drop down on us like a SEAL team on Bin Laden. Really spooky because you don't hear the chopper over noisy vehicles and conversation until it pops on the search light from about 200 feet. They hover and blind you for about 2-3 minutes and then quietly vanish as fast as they came. It would be worth it if they'd pick up the occasional wet but I guess those days are over for now. Probably contract their pilots from PETA.

Tigertate: My original quote ended with the words "now almost all of them do". The last three lines are not mine. I'd appreciate it if you would delete those from the section that is attributed to me.

THANKS!

I've never had the helicopter experience. Sounds interesting, to say the least.

I had friend that lived with a woman that had around 55 sections here in Texas. We spotlighted jackrabbits which were very abundant. With a scope you only need light on the target. We used hand held spotlight. .22 centerfires with cast bullets was the ticket. Shooting from inside a pickup, you get a lot of blast and the cast bullets had much reduced blast over jacketed bullets---and was much cheaper shooting. One hundred shots in a night was not uncommon. The bullet was a 58 grain RCBS mold bullet around 2000-2200 fps and it would reach out to the jacks about as far as you could spotlight them.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
Tigertate: My original quote ended with the words "now almost all of them do". The last three lines are not mine. I'd appreciate it if you would delete those from the section that is attributed to me.

THANKS!



I've never had the helicopter experience. Sounds interesting, to say the least.

Done. Sometimes Windows7 & and the AR Forum posting window befuddle me


We're in Brooks County, south of Falfurrias and just a couple miles south of the check station on US Hwy 281. So there's lots and lots of foot traffic and vehicles moving people around the station. We set up a game cam in a high traffic area for a week and got 80- individuals crossing the ranch in that period. I'm pretty sure when ICE nails us in the light like that they are running plates BUT, they also fly the choppers at night with night vision goggles and FLIR that could read the plates from outside the property line. So maybe they're bored and just want to screw with someone. Sign of the times, I guess.