Quitting at the end of Legal Time?

[JV NC]

Scopes gather light...
Plus a bullet 6" inches off target will still do quick work of dispatching the animal (in most cases), more room for small error.

Example - I've had deer come in with legal shooting at 40-50 yards,
and all I can do is place the cross hairs on the ground 6" behind it's front legs,
then slowly raise the crosshairs until I'm in the middle of it's chest (blob).

I would never attempt this archery hunting even at 10 yards!
Gun = hand granade

That's what I figured you meant, Ed. I bought pretty nice scopes on my rifle and ML. But, I swear....I must be doing something wrong (or, I'm just not used to hunting with a gun). My old eyes are pitiful in low light, looking through a scoped gun). I get ticked every time I go, thinking "if I had my bow, I'd still have shooting light. When I come out of the woods, it's still plenty light....lol.

I do hunt with a gun/ML in the thick stuff, though. My 2 (in my life) firearms kills were 20 and 25yd shots.

[rochester coops]

Here in WI closing is 15 minutes after sunset. I like to set my alarm on my phone to vibrate at closing so I don't have to watch the time. Only takes a few seconds to set.

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Really?? 15 mins after sunset? That seems very early to me.. Here in MN, it's a half hour past sunset..

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I was wrong! It actually closes 20 minutes after sunset in WI.

Opening in morning is 30 minutes before sunrise.

Here in NY it's sunrise to sunset. Any other states out there this strict?

[dan]

Here in NY it's sunrise to sunset. Any other states out there this strict?

That would suck... I have taken a lot of my bucks in the last 20 minutes. Especially the ones I have to set up farther back from.

[straitnarrow]

I set the alarm on my phone so that it vibrates when legal shooting hours are up. The arrow goes back in the quiver and I start packing up.

[rochester coops]

Here in NY it's sunrise to sunset. Any other states out there this strict?

That would suck... I have taken a lot of my bucks in the last 20 minutes. Especially the ones I have to set up farther back from.

It's pretty tough when the fawns don't even come out before sunset. Not sure if I'll even gun hunt at all next yr. Hoping to ck out some archery only areas once the orange army marches out.

[virginiashadow]

The place I hunt is strictly sunrise to sunset. You only have a limited time to get back to check back in on the federal property I hunt. Many days I hunt til sundown, pack up my gear and haul my rear end from the deep woods to my truck just to be able to check in on time. I would love to have an additional 20 minutes or so to hunt as that is when the majority of the bucks show themselves.

As for the original question, I will shoot if I have good light. If I am locked on to a deer, I am not looking at my watch anyways, I am thining of entrance/exit wounds.

[Schultzy]

I let a 4.5 year old 150's buck go at 10 yards with 7 minutes of legal shooting time left yet In 2009. He was feeding broadside looking the other way. He stayed there for at least 20 minutes before walking off. I could see his body pretty good but I couldn't see his front leg good enough for my liking. I had screwed up a shot on this particular buck 2 weeks prior and wasn't going to do It again. I'm thinking most would've took the shot.

As for me following the rules, I get down when I'm not comfortable taking a shot. In most cases It's very close to what the regulation's say. With my hunt above I would've been down earlier before legal shooting time expired had I not heard foot steps.

[Black Squirrel]

Like most, I hunt untill I feel I can't make a good shot. Don't really check the charts. I had laser eye surgery and although my general sight was drastically improved, my low light vision, is not very good. Since I don't check the charts, I actually do not know, if I am quitting early, on time or late. I think there are a lot of factors that go into how long after sunset, a person can actually see well enough to make a good shot.

[Stump]

When gun hunting(since the scope gathers so much light), I'll check and know the time charts. Like everyone else has seen, I've had scenarios play out with the scope where I could have shot a good 40-45min past/before shooting hours. No clouds, snow on the ground, full moon and hunting a field edge.

Bow hunting....I don't check them at all.

[Milk Weed Seed]

In NJ we can hunt till half an hour after sunset, which is usually dark thirty anyway. The only reason for me to stay in the tree after that, is if there are deer around me and I don't want to spook them.

[dan]

bump

[Knute78]

I may be wrong but I think Ed may be referring to the fact that there are scopes on firearms. Most scopes gather light and make it seem much lighter out that it actually may be. this might allow you to still pick a spot clearly... possibly after that 30 minute mark.

I get down when I don't think I can pick a spot on an animal,

Nothing wrong with that, im my eyes, Ed. My (and your) ethical "shot or not" litmus test is likely well inside the law. I've looked at my watch before - to check the chart when I got home....and thought "there's NO WAY I could shoot at that time".

I'm a VERY fledgling firearms hunter. But I noticed your comment about it being different with firearns v. bowhunting.

How so? Can you see later or not as late - doing one or the other. For me, ethical shooting light is lost FIRST when I'm firearns hunting. 2nd would be the compound bow. Last would be the recurve.

Just curious what your experience is. I still want to ask you a few things about handgun hunting, too. I'll PM, sometime.

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