Just wanting to know what is legal and what is not. Can you use a light after dark to hunt them? I have heard that it is illegal to shine any kind of light after dark to hunt them, but yet I have heard that is the best time to get one. Can you use night vision to hunt them if a light is prohibited? Any info appreciated.
I thought you could hunt them under moonlight. If you can, a full moon and a layer of snow on the ground is all you need.
you can hunt at night with or without a light, just like you can run a stop light or break the speed limit. Trick is, not to get caught. I was telling someone the other day that in the next few yrs, you would be able to hunt at night with a light solely because in two or three yrs they will be the most abundant animal we have in some parts of Ky. He said," Maybe if the people with the big money didn't love them so much. The insurance co's have fallen in love with the yote, the deer claims in the last two yrs has drastically fallen and will keep falling". So I guess our next line of defense to this is start hitting every yote you can as fast as you can and turn in the claim. lol
It is no longer legal to do so by any means and never was legal with lights. Which in my opinion was wwhat got it stopped, a few didn't bother to read regs and canned the whole thing. I for one will very happily accept the no lights rule to get it back. If they don't do something the insurance companies won't be able to holler louder than stock growers . And the insurance companies have already had to much to say in this state as far as I am concerned, nothing but liscensced thieves. Jimmie
They even did away with the special permission farmers used to be able to get if they were experiencing livestock loss to coyotes. In my opinion, it is all about protecting deer and elk. I have never been able to figure out why they think a legal coyote hunter would poach a deer while hunting coyotes with a red or amber lens light, when it would be so easy to kill a deer in daylight just before dark and go back and get it later. I think that if a meeting was scheduled with the Ky. Dept. of Fish & Wildlife to discuss the subject, and enough farmers showed up or sent their notarized statements, there would be a chance to get the rule changed. I have had lots of farmers tell me they would attend or send their statement. Might be worth looking into.
The more coyotes we get running around KY the less deer and turkey we are going to have. Coyotes don't bring money to the state. Deer and turkey do. Seems like someone in Frankfort would figure that out and allow night hunting for coyotes.
I would say it was as much people not reading the regs and out with lights as it was the poaching of deer and elk. Folks would be amazed at how many coyotes can be killed in hte five nights a month you can see to hunt. It just takes some learning just like anything else.And it is a guarentee that you would get every problem animal affecting your local farmers in that few nights. Jimmie
I asked a game warden why Kentucky didn't allow varmint hunting at night, with the aid of a light, when other states did. His answer was that there were too many people in Kentucky who would shoot deer at night, instead of varmints. I then asked him, if he thought Kentuckians were more prone to breaking the law than were hunters in other states. He said, yes, Kentucky has a history of too much poaching, espicially in eastern Kentucky. Now, I don't know what the reason is that Kentucky won't allow varmint hunting at night, I'm just repeating what I was told. I do know that as a farmer, I am told that I can't legally check my livestock at night, with the use of a spotlight. Well, that's one law I'll gladly break, anytime I need to.
You aren't breaking the law by checking your livestock with a light. SPOTLIGHTING No person may deliberately cast the rays of a spotlight or other artificial light into any field, pasture, woodlands or forest, whether public or private, where wildlife or domestic livestock may reasonably be expected to be located. Shining artificial lights into private residences or other structures is also prohibited. This does not apply to: the rays of headlights of vehicles engaged in a normal course of travel; lights being used in legitimate agricultural activities; anyone involved in activities legitimate to his or her business or occupation; circumstances including lawful hunting activities; or any landowner, his or her immediate family or any paid employee while working on his or her land at that time. No person shall take wildlife, except raccoons, opossums, fishes and frogs, using lights or other means designed to blind wildlife or make wildlife visible at night.
mwezell, a game warden told me that I could use just the headlights on my truck to check livestock at night. He said that the use of a spotlight at night, was illegal. I'm just repeating what I was told....and I have been using a spotlight for years...and will still continue to use one for those purposes.....regardless of what I am told. I am one of those stubborn old fools, who think if it's my land, then I have the right to do as I see fit, as long as I'm not endangering anyone's life. I don't think using a spotlight to check stock at night, falls into that category.
