Deer spotlights?

[Cityboyfarmer]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have known of a few people that let spot lights bug them but I do not understand it. If they are not using the lights to shine your house or snoop around your yard and only to see deer in the fields then why does it bother some people so much?)</font>

Are you shining your spot lights on other peoples private property?

Does NY law give you the right to shine your lights on property you do not own or have written permission to shine?

Are the rights of individual property owners to enjoy their private property unmolested being taken into consideration when you participate in this activity?

If NY law allows the activities described above, does it enhance or endanger your future hunting rights?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Oh how I missed your conversation /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif


Are you shining your spot lights on other peoples private property?

The land I shine is private land. It is open crop fields and I do not shine buildings, pastures or peoples houses.


Does NY law give you the right to shine your lights on property you do not own or have written permission to shine?

NYS law allows the use of spot lights on any land except certain areas like airports and other such places. Also, NYS law does not require written permission to use private land that is not legally posted. If you own 500 acres up here and don't post it then you are by default allowing people to use your land. This is the law. If you ask the people to leave they must do so. Is this law right, no. I feel all people should have written permission to use any private land but our laws do not agree. Shining a light over a field is no different the using a boat in a shared lake. You can take your boat up behind other peoples houses and down creeks across private land. The only thing you can't do is anchor.

Are the rights of individual property owners to enjoy their private property unmolested being taken into consideration when you participate in this activity?

Spot lights work best after dark, you can try to use them during the day but I don't think you will quite catch the full effect but hey, thats your decision. Having said that, most people are in their homes when I am using my spotlight. If I see a camp fire or headlights in a field indicating someone is out there I do not spot the field.

If NY law allows the activities described above, does it enhance or endanger your future hunting rights?

The only danger to our hunting rights are the anti hunters who wish to impose their beliefs onto others. Spot lighting is not illegal here and if any homeowners house gets shined on then all they have to do is call the police and the nice gentlemen with lights on their roof come over and talk to the people who used their light the wrong way.

I have a lot of friends in DEC and the state, county and local police departments. Heck, I help my friend (who is a DEC officer) with equipment decisions for his Kubota. He uses our equipment if he wants to and we get along quite well. We talk to him a lot about the laws regarding different hunting situations and help him to enforce the law in regards to poachers (we meet a few of them, always the same guys year after year).

So do I have a problem with spotlights, no. I have had people spot light our fields and I didnt' care. They can't hunt there but they weren't hurting anything with a light bulb. The only time I had a problem was with some guy lighting up our deer pens and house and my grand fathers place.

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Oh how I missed your conversation /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif)</font>

Ditto. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Robert_in_NY]

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Enjoy the day.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

No matter what topic we discuss you will always get stupid people who ruin it for a lot of others.

One thing I forgot to mention before, if you don't want people shining your fields all you need to do is hang a bunch of reflectors along the tree line. There is nothing worse then shining a field and having the entire field reflect back at you (for those who don't know, deer eyes give off a reflection at night making it easy to spot them, reflectors make it a pain to locate deer quickly at a distance).

 

[Boomerang1]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I was told one time (tongue-in-cheek) by a law enforcement officer that should a "black box" similar to airplanes, be installed in pick-up trucks, the #1 thing you'd hear before most pickup crashes would be, "Hold my beer and watch this"!

I don't doubt it for one second. )</font> What do you mean should a black box be installed in pickups? They are already used in vehicles. Also, anyone that has On Star has one. Like their commercials say... Always on, Always there What make people think they can't here you until you press the button? Some people are very naive.

 

[Junkman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( No matter what topic we discuss you will always get stupid people who ruin it for a lot of others.)</font>

Are those the people that don't agree with you or the people that you don't agree with????? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[JTC]

Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean people aren't talking about me.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

What I was actually referring to was the activity that is being discussed. You talk about hunting and people think about poachers. You talk about baseball and people think about the steriod issue. The stupid people I am refering to are the poachers and the other idiots who give a sport a bad name. Well, them and the ones who don't agree with me /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Spot lighting deer is just that, you shine a light on them. It is illegal to hunt deer at night. This thread isn't about hunting them, it is about seeing them.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

</font><font color="blueclass=small">(

I have known of a few people that let spot lights bug them but I do not understand it. If they are not using the lights to shine your house or snoop around your yard and only to see deer in the fields then why does it bother some people so much? )</font>

I live in the country for various reasons, not least of which is for the solitude and privacy. I paid a large sum of money for the land we live on. It's mine. I don't want to be sitting in my family room, on my front porch, or in my bedroom, and have 2 million candlepower of spotlight hit me in the face.

Deer or no deer.

That's my right. I shouldn't have to go out of my way to discourage someone from invading my privacy. That's THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to respect.

Deer or no deer.

In spite of anyones wishes to do otherwise, it's well within my rights, the law, and common decentcy to EXPECT folks to honor that right of mine.

deer or no deer.

I respect your right to admire deer, to spend your free time watching them, and to use PUBLIC LAND, land where you have owners consent (or your own land) as you see fit, so long as it's (1) within the confines of the law, and (2) shows proper respect for other peoples rights and freedoms. Cross that line in the sand, and you are no different in my book, than someone out driving in my fields with a 4-wheeler, or someone hunting or fishing on my land without my permission.

deer or no deer.

As I said, you have a right to a different view. You may well choose to allow people access to your land, and to condone, even promote folks pointing lights at your property all night long. That's your choice. Just because you don't understand MY view, most certainly doesn't make my view WRONG. (And they do spotlight all night long at times. Had it go on at 4;30AM last week)

Deer or no deer.

 

[MikePA]

What's the point of spotlighting deer on property you can not hunt on? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Farmwithjunk]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( What's the point of spotlighting deer on property you can not hunt on? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif )</font>

Trying my best to understand that myself.... I can appreciate anyone wanting to admire nature in all her spledid glory. I like watching deer as much as anyone. But just as I understand why I can't HUNT on someones land without their approval, I don't see it as "proper behavior" to spotlight deer on someone elses property without their approval either.

 

[ByronBob]

Hey Bob,

Last night I read the booklet that the NYSDEC give you with your license. It said you can shine a light as long as your not within 500 feet of a home or building.

So if someone was in the street, shined a light at my home, technically I couldn't do anything about it because my home is 650 feet from the road. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[ratter]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( </font><font color="blueclass=small">( What's the point of spotlighting deer on property you can not hunt on? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif )</font>

Trying my best to understand that myself.... I can appreciate anyone wanting to admire nature in all her spledid glory. I like watching deer as much as anyone. But just as I understand why I can't HUNT on someones land without their approval, I don't see it as "proper behavior" to spotlight deer on someone elses property without their approval either. )</font>

That's a big part of the issue for me too. Because it makes me wonder if people think that because they can spotlight my land, that I won't mind if they come hunt it, come October. If that's what they think, then there's gonna be a problem.

Now, during the daylight hours, any number of people stop in their cars as they're driving through (my property is on both sides of the street for a short stretch) and snap lots of pictures of the deer with their cameras. Now this I have no problem with. The intentions of the people with cameras are a lot clearer than the pickup trucks with spotlights driving by slowly at night. Maybe that's a prejudgement on my part, but oh well.

ps - I'm not anti-hunting at all. I don't hunt myself, but I have no problem with the people that do, so long as they abide by the laws and are courteous about their use of private land.

Thanks for all the thoughts on the subject. This has been an enlightening thread for me! Ba-da-bump!

 

[Farmwithjunk]

There's a big difference with folks taking pictures during daylight hours. I can see them, they can see me. It's just not the same as blasting my property with high-powered lights in the dark of night. Thing is, even if they don't directly aim at the house. a light that bright, pointed in the general direction of the house, illuminates everything. Deer, trucks, barns, tractors, me and the family, ect, ect, and so on.

I have no hunting signs posted, I have no tresspassing signs posted. It seems to me that spotlighting is covered somewhere in that realm.