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Shining

Hey,LIV4RUT can you tell us where your family farm is so we can all go shine it during the rut???
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I have seen this too many times that the legal shinners will locate a big buck and it doesent take long for the word to get out and before long here lies the buck without a head in someones field. I have had this happen several times on my own property so I know how it feels 1st hand. So if you think just because you are shinning legally and you think you are not hurting anything, it does not take long for you say something to someone about the deer and then they tell someone and before you know it the whole county knows about this buck, poachers included.
 
Everyone makes their own decissions on what is right and wrong and that is usually predicated on their involvment. Every single game law on the books restricts legal hunters. When game seasons were enacted there was opposition from those who thought it was their right to shoot game anytime to feed their families. Are seasons bad or detrimental to hunting? Laws against baiting, live waterfowl decoys, night hunting, punt guns, lead shot for ducks, and lots of others were opposed by hunters who were doing these things legally before the laws were passed. How about bag limits? Were they opposed by hunters used to shooting as many as they wanted to carry home? Whether we like it or not things change and laws change and evolve to fit the existing cercumstances and as long as we believe that the majority should rule we must accept these changes and move forward. I really do respect every one's opinon about this. Lots of laws reflect the accepted customs of the areas and that is why this spotlight issue is illegal in many states arround us, but the hunters in those states still manage to find a way to enjoy deer hunting without shinning deer, and so could we. We accept lots of our game laws because we think that is the way it should be like baiting being illegal here for example. Now go to several of the states where it is accepted and see if there isn't a large faction of the hunters who think that they could not hunt deer with out bait piles of carrots and corn. All I mean is we should examine our self serving attitudes and think about how this will help or hurt our sport for future genertations, just like our Grandfathers did when they asked for hunting seasons to be enacted as a new law to protect things for us.
Last post on this, unless of course someone really stirs me up again.
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This is a good common sense bill and I hope it gets passed. For those of you who don't see the merits in it you have the blinders on.

Oh yea, I love to recreational spotlight but would gladly give it up to help the CO's do their job.
 
M Kat or anyone else who can answer. Since I have my blinders on can you please tell me how two Co's per county can really do their job either way. With all the gov't jobs getting budget reductions their may only be one per county pretty soon. It does not affect me either way. I will still recreational spotlight regardless. Now I will just risk getting a ticket. We cannot enforce the laws we have but lets make a few new ones. When will it end.
Thanks your sincere responses.
 
Obviously, the penalty is not great enough for ALL poaching. If all you want is a deer rack , its cheaper to get caught poaching from time to time than to hunt legally. You also have a better chance at getting a nice buck. Up the penalty(and enforce it) to a point where you see the crime drop. This country was not made great by taking freedoms away.
 
wow you have two CO's for one county WE have one Co for two counties. Jefferson and Van Buren. And a huge poaching problem. Were is the balance.
 
If the main problem is lack of Dnr officer's why not try to get something going on that? Heck add 6000 Non-residents a year, $400 bucks a pop 2.4 million dollars, that could equal 60 more Dnr officers at $40,000 a pop. Hell increase our resident tag prices to 50 bucks a pop, and increase more DNR officers, I could really care less.
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I could really care less if people shine our farm, people do now, oh well. Sometimes you have to trust people and not believe that everyone is out to hurt your precious deer. Anyone that talks about deer they have seen shining is a fool as well.

Some old quote goes something like this "life isn't measure by how many breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away" Well for me seeing a 200 inch deer feeding 50 yards off a road takes my breath away every time and it is a moment I will always remember. Just thinking of the stuff I have seen brings a smile to my face. I know this bill will pass, oh well I guess, you can't make everyone happy, that's life. I have been on the losing end a long time, I can deal with it. All I gotta say is what's next? Looks like letting landowners sell their tags to Non-Residents......GREAT!!!!
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I have decided I will be done adding to this post, it does nothing for the solution. I am sorry for the rant guys, but you guys don't understand how shining got me through college and how important it was to me. I would get stressed out to the point of saying screw it and quiting, chemical engineering isn't easy. What I remember about college is not going to the bars or one night stands, I barely even went out. I went shining, seeing monstrous bucks with my best friends would pull me through until the next time we went out. It was the way I relieved stress, taking photos, planning the hunt, or just plain seeing deer even knowing you never have a chance was part of the thrill. But I guess my college days are over and soon will be my shining days. Oh well, I will get used to it. I just hope nobody ridicules me for being parked on a gravel road snapping photos of deer right before dusk.
 
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Great debate guys, both sides got some good points across without throwing too many rocks.


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Roger that. Very impressed.
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With respects to both sides, I moved to Ia. from Ill. 8 yrs. ago where it was highly illegal to spotlight, and also carried a hefty fine. I do understand that most mature bucks are out in the mid of the night, so what. They are also there during the day. I believe in lacing up the boots putting in miles of footwork in the off season, checking cams and eventually killing the deer that I am after. Most of us have taken numerous trophy bucks and will continue without the aid of scout spotlighting. This will not only cut down some on the poaching, but also keep the honest,honest.
 
Just for the record, if someone called us in for spotlighting they would of had to call us in for doing this on our own land or land that we had permission to hunt. Also, yes I have caught a couple people red handed poaching when I was shinning. One was in 2005 on our own property and the other can't be discussed because of a ongoning investigation.
 
I was away from the computer and there were 55 new replies on this thread! Obviously this is a very controversial issue, as well it should be. Whatever happens I suppose will happen. All I can say is I have had some of the best times of my days spotlighting, and I will be sad if it has to go.
 
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