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Shining

I agree with you dbltree. I really do. I'll possible have a job with the DNR someday down the road, and anyone can agree those guy's jobs are tough. It is challenging, a hassle, and just plain annoying, to try and catch poachers...... but that is not going to change..... with or without legal spotlighting.

Is there some evidence that the majority of sportsman oppose shining?
 
I hunt private land, seen deer taken off our land illegally, i know who did it and i can't do a thing about it (long story). Either way, poachers will find a way to poach one way or another but if this helps the DNR to stop them, then i say fine with me. I'm not for giving up rights but my tree stand sits 80 yards from a main highway (doesn't sound like a good spot but really it is), and the last thing i need is a spot light shining on me or rifle shot zipping over my head.
 
With the number of Co's we have now it does not make a difference it will only help the poachers.
With more budget cuts it will only get worse. I live in the sticks also and by the time the Co's get there the poachers are miles away. I am not happy at all with the poaching but we need more Co's and stricter penalties. Kind of hard having one or two Co's patroling a county.
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I can also see both sides of the issue. If you give an inch they'll want a mile. But...... my house sits 300 yards off the road surrounded by timber draws and C.R.P. If I see a light in my fields, whoever cast it better be in for one helluva chase because I'm going to find out who they are and what they are doing shining my fields. Would those of you that don't own land appreciate me driving through town at night shining your lawn and belongings sending your wife and children into a panic wondering what's going on out on your own property? It's all about respect. Some folks have it some folks don't. I hate to see the "good guys" loose something they like to do because of the pukes that ruin it for everyone but I think that's the way it's always been and the way it'll always be. Overall I think the bad outweigh the good on the spotlighting issue.
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Now this is plain crazy. ( SCOUTING WITH A SPOTLIGHTING ). I have never heard these two words in the same sentence before... I guess it might be the way for the lazy. Call me old fashion but scouting to me is to put some leg work in and to do some homework. I will admit that I have spotlight many years ago and I always felt like a criminal doing it, even though I was not doing anything wrong. I still can not see how some can call spotlighting a scouting tool...

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Has worked well for me up to this point. I would of never knew about that buck in my avatar if I relyed on only the sightings I see during the daytime. I must be a lazy hunter I guess.
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I would support a ban in November.
 
I see both sides of this argument, but I will be very sad when it passes. Have had a lot of fun going out and shining big bucks. I really doubt that it will put a damper in poaching as well. This is one of those issues that the majority of people are either strongly for it, or strongly against it, and no amount of discussing will cause a person to change their mind.
 
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It's all about respect. Some folks have it some folks don't.

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Very true, I agree 100%. Being a person that will go out and look at big deer with a spotlight I take GREAT care in not shining anywhere near a house just because I know I wouldn't want anyone shining a light up into my place.

Anyone wanna buy a 3 million candlepower spotlight? Gotta feeling it's going to be worthless pretty soon.
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Although unlawful, a criminal will still use a gun to rob a Qtrip and a poacher will continue to use a spot light to aid in killing deer illegally. They are already breaking the law!
 
It will be interesting if it passes to see what the penalty will be.
Seems like illegally shooting one is a slap on the wrist so how bad could the penalty be?
People will still do it either way.
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Maybe after three times they take away your license.
 
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Although unlawful, a criminal will still use a gun to rob a Qtrip and a poacher will continue to use a spot light to aid in killing deer illegally. They are already breaking the law!

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No doubt about that, if you can't get caught or the chances of it are very slim (due to the lack of response time, lack of officers, lack of locals turning in known poachers), what is going to stop you from using the light if you are already letting one rip out the window. From what I have seen in the past the majority of the poachers target areas of low traffic with relatively few if any houses (like where our family farm is). It would take some serious stupidity and/or a lack of knowledge about an area for a poacher to rip shots off 100yds from a house. I am not saying that it doesn't happen but it is my belief that the poachers will continue to get theirs regardless of spotlight laws.

I also agree that we can't be out there 100% of the time like someone had stated, but that is our best bet right now. There is a much better chance that me and you will turn in a poacher after getting an accurate description of vehicles, location, etc. then there is of a CPO rolling up on someone shining or someone calls a CPO because 5 minutes ago someone shined their field and they have no description of a vehicle, person, etc. So put in a spotlight law and the only thing that will change is that when you see it you know it is illegal, it will still take the efforts of the local people to finish the job.

I completely understand that their are some situations that occur that piss people off, fields get shined, houses get shined, ect. and you rightfully have a reason to be mad. However, there are similar situations that I get irritated with and live with.

A good example are some mushroom hunters, I am sure we have all dealt with the ones I will explain at sometime, where they get on the wrong land or interrupt a turkey hunt (I have had it happen on my ground and ground I had exclusive rights too). However, I would never jump at the chance to ban mushrooming hunting over these situations as I would never lump everyone who shroom hunts into this category. Even though I could care less about the season, I know there are many, many people who enjoy it as a recreational activity and a time well spent with family. Taking something away because there are a small group that use it to perform illegal activities is not the right answer.
 
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If anyone can explain to me why they should be allowed to shine their spotlight out into my fields where my family and friends are the only allowable hunters, I would love to hear it.

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Because the deer in those fields are not yours. They do not belong to you, therefore should be able to be enjoyed by all. It was mentioned earlier that deer jump fences and cover alot of ground. Lets say that I am a land owner who lives close to your property. I've been watching a particular buck all season and suddenly I'm not seeing him anymore. I'm wanting to know if he is still in the area. Why should it be illegal for me to drive around the area with my spotlight at night to see if I can relocate him? This would put my mind at ease knowing that he is at least still out there and has not been poached.
 
Guys, we have hashed and rehashed this issue before. For those of you who think it is wrong to ban something that a small group abuse and use for illegal purposes, please name a common law that doesn't do this. We have laws against using guns for hunting until certain times in Dec. because people have abused this in the past. Speeding laws take away the right to drive fast if we want to, tax laws take away our money and so on and so on. Laws are made to restrict some actions that are not acceptable to the majority even if the small group effected is made up of good people who disagree with the majority.

Whether this will stop poaching, I'm sure it won't but I am also sure that the COs can use sightings to put together patterns and activities of some of these poachers who aren't rocket scientists. They can use planes to monitor an area where there have been many complaints and then direct officers to intercept spotlights instead of trying to chase them and all kinds of other tactis. But first they must know absolutley that any spotlights sighted, or at least the vast majority, are illegal activities even if that is just using a spotlight illegally.
As to Rep Whitaker and Doubletree and the others in support of this ban I say congratulations and lets get it passed and done with so that we can all get back to hunting next fall and enjoying ourselves.
 
Bowmaker,

In the past I have read many of your posts regarding the low numbers of deer in your area. Have you ever thought about hunting somewhere where there is actually a good number of deer? In fact I have shined around the Eldon wildlife area when I worked down there last fall and in fact know there are still quality deer in that area anyone of us would shoot just not as many, did you know that? I also know if you drive less than 30 minutes away you could be in some of the most prime public areas around in this state where it is not uncommon to see many deer over 150 inches up into the 200's. Call me crazy but if I lived down there I would know where I would be and know where I hunted last fall which I happened to see tons of great whitetails. The only way I even knew how good these areas were was by shining a light. I walked every inch of these places before shining them and I didn't know the gold mine I had found.

I guess I don't understand if you guys have such a bad poaching problem in SE Iowa why don't you do something about it instead of sitting around talking about it? If I knew there was a poacher in my area I would find him really soon or I would quit watching guys run a spotlight and not ever go talk to them. Think about it, you are pretty much promoting poaching if you watch guys drive by and never do anything about it. Sure you can call the DNR but what's that going to do? Nothing, a guy can drive along ways away in 30 minutes without ever shining a light. A guy that is doing nothing wrong shining will stop and talk to anybody, let them search their truck whatever they want. I know I have before. A poacher would be stupid to come back to an area if he regularly gets stopped.

Guys that shine for recreation is about like adding reinforcement to the DNR, If they see something wrong, such as somebody shooting at something, do you think we are just going to let it happen? I think Not. I would personally love it if someone was always out in my area doing what they love looking at deer and protecting the herd if they see something wrong.

Sometimes it makes me wonder how people think it will save deers lives by making shining illegal. My god they are poachers. I do not think they care about the law. A serious poacher is not going to run all over the county shining every field so the law can just follow the light based on peoples phone calls. Do you think if they took away our guns that poaching still wouldn't occur?

You guys might not like people shining on your ground but I hate to say it but if you got a world class buck coming out in a field every night in the summer before dark, I would still be parked on the gravel snapping pics for my photo album. Sure you can come up and Ream anyones A$$ for doing it but what's that going to do for you?

Some say it's not a great scouting tool, obviously you don't know what you are talking about or missing out on. Looking at a big rub or scrape tells you nothing.

As far as John Whitaker goes, I am not saying anything but that I have hung out with his sons for more than 3 years because I lived with one of them, and I have heard stories that will make any true hunter cringe and that is all I am going to say about that.

I respect everyones opinion and know nobody is going to change their minds about nothing. But all I do know is take a ride into the wee hours of the night with me once, and I will see a smile on your face soo big that all you be able to think about is the monster buck you saw on X-avenue last night
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My final note is I bet poachers are creaming in their pants right now hoping this law will go through because it makes the playing field WIDE OPEN, you won't have guys like me out their every night looking for everything. It will give them a much greater chance to take that trophy buck off your place this fall
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Poachers will continue to use spotlights reguardless of the law. It only hurts the leagal ones who use then for recrational use.I would support a oct,-Nov ban if that was the only choice. Sad to see the spot light banned. It's just fun taking kids out and a video camera for a close up look. The DNR is so under manned that one co could not make a diffrence even if the ban was inplace.More gov bs that won't make any diffrence. Want a diff get more co's .
 
If spotlights were banned it would make a difference. Then when the GameWarden got a call about a spotlighter he could hurry out and know that he could bust someone, instead of getting out of bed and driving to the other side of the county only to find Mom and Pop out shining for the fun of it. The more recreational shiners there are the easier it is for the Illegal poacher type to get away with what they do. All those of you who are against the ban should really call up some of your local Conservation officers and see what they have to go through to chase down every spotlighter and see what they think. I think you'll get a different picture of the issue.
 
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If anyone can explain to me why they should be allowed to shine their spotlight out into my fields where my family and friends are the only allowable hunters, I would love to hear it.

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Because the deer in those fields are not yours. They do not belong to you, therefore should be able to be enjoyed by all. It was mentioned earlier that deer jump fences and cover alot of ground. Lets say that I am a land owner who lives close to your property. I've been watching a particular buck all season and suddenly I'm not seeing him anymore. I'm wanting to know if he is still in the area. Why should it be illegal for me to drive around the area with my spotlight at night to see if I can relocate him? This would put my mind at ease knowing that he is at least still out there and has not been poached.

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No, the deer aren't mine but the land is. You don't have any more right to shine a spotlight across my fields, over my foodplots, or back into my timber than I do to shine one into your yard. Would you want me shining my spotlight around your yard in the middle of the night? (I might just spot a deer there, I might as well look. I'd try to be careful and not shine into your bedroom.) Its the same private property issue, I just happen to have a bigger yard than you do - I protect the acres in the back just as diligently as I do the acres around the house.

Do you also believe it's alright to pick up a shed antler on my side of the fence or pick mushrooms on my property?
 
Yes gunrunr youre right it would make a difference, then only the poachers would be out in the wee hours of the night all by themselves with nobody like me or any other law abidding person to make the call or give the report. Im with LIV4RUT on this one cause I'll tell you what there arent any farmers or landowners up and about when Im out shining, mark 1 up for the poachers. Now the only one getting the screws put to them are guys like me. If the law passes youll eventually find out that you are the ultimate looser and that your poaching problem will only get worse.
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Poachers are gonna poach no matter what. Liv lets go shinin.
 
Anyone remember George Watters? He used a spotlight in the Army Ammunition Plant that gets patrolled all night long by gun toting guards. This place has no recreational shiners or anything that would desensitize people fom shining yet he still did it on a regular basis and didn't get caught while actually in there. I happen to hunt that place and know how often the guards frequent the area, ALL DAY AND NIGHT LONG. Now if 2-3 guards patrolling that place all night long, which is only a fraction of the size of a county, and they can't even catch a guy poaching in there over several years how do you really expect to catch a guy poaching at all, with the current DNR enforcements? Point is, if people have the balls to go into a place like the ammunition plant after getting through the 8 foot tall barb wire topped fence to poach deer there is no hope in stopping poachers. You might catch a few idiot teenagers but I doubt you will catch the key players.

To be honest with you, I would rather see 6000 more non-residents coming to Iowa next year than I would see shining banned completely.I would glady except the fact if I couldn't go out shining from Sept 1 to June 1 just to please 80% of people. I am sure most of you guys would agree that most deer would be poached when they have hard horns versus velvet? If you all felt safer not allowing it when they have hard horn then that would be great, and hopefully next year there is no more posts about poaching. Which will never happen.
 
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Question: What do deer do when you shine?? do they continue eating or stand there or do they bolt??

I have never shined.
 
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