Spotlighting???

I've never heard the term before in regards to flashlights, but I came across a story and posted it to FN.org.

Man Arrested While Searching For Trash Can Lid

Then I found this little tidbit:

Pa. court upholds ban on spotlighting deer

Now don't get me wrong, I can understand ordinances against hunting at night with flashlights or spotlights, but . Shining a light across somebody's property is crime? Is this stuff just back East?

I've never heard of this kind of law here in California...do we all need to 'watch our backs', so to speak, when it comes to playing with the high powered spots and hotwires?

Scary. I guess I'll have to display more discretion in this area in the future.

Reading one of the articles, it stated that shining a light on someones property is like trespassing. I always thought that to be trespassing you actually had to be on someone's property.

Technically, you should be giving that trespassing notice to the photons because they are the ones who trespassed. hehehe.

Here in PA, that's what we call it when you drive around looking for deer with a high powered light.

It is illegal to shine it on livestock and buildings, but I've never heard that it was illegal to just shine it across someones property. I think that was just a local ordinance in Lancaster county. Maybe The Amish folk were getting upset that the new fangled technology was encroaching on their lifestyle. :candle:

And JACKLIGHTING is when you shoot game at night with the aid of a light. A practice employed by low life poachers.

Take note it's also illegal to turn off street lights in Pa. :green:

Larry

Yeah...JimH better not move there. :laughing:


I remember reading him say that he enjoys that.

WTH is the world coming to where even flashlight use is restricted? I thought flashlights was a completely legal hobby, unlike knives and guns which are regulated. So it's illegal to use a bright light without a gun, then?

from reading the article, I don't think shining a flashlight on someone elses property was the violation, it was for jacklighting/spotlighting(using a bright flashlight to hunt) he shouldn't have got the violation, the DNR officer was probaly angry b/c he didnt pull over immidieatly, and may have thought that he had a gun and was planning on using it to hunt, the officer probaly was in a bad mood, I dout the violation would hold up in court. I think this is an isolated case of an officer abusing his power rather than a sign of restrictions on flashlitghs

just read the second article so now I see where it says spotlighting being shining a light across someone elses property, but I think the violation in the first article is for jacklighting even though they call it spotlighting, to get in trouble for shining a light on someone elses property they would need to formally press charges, just like they would need to for tresspassing, most people will give you several warning befor they press charges because they dont want to have to fill out paperwork and sign papers and take a chance that you decide to get a lawyer and sue them for harassment if you feel the charges were unjust

just my $.02

carrot said:

So it's illegal to use a bright light without a gun, then?

Click to expand...

That has to be a typo or some type of error in reporting.

It's illegal to spotlight with a gun.

And even having a CCW doesn't allow you to carry a gun while you spotlight.

so does that mean its illegal to use a bright flashlight just because you have a gun on you, regardless of what your actully using the light for?

Greg said:

Reading one of the articles, it stated that shining a light on someones property is like trespassing. I always thought that to be trespassing you actually had to be on someone's property.

Technically, you should be giving that trespassing notice to the photons because they are the ones who trespassed. hehehe.

Click to expand...

I'd say the photons are more guilty of "violating their airspace". . .

jason9987 said:

so does that mean its illegal to use a bright flashlight just because you have a gun on you, regardless of what your actully using the light for?

Click to expand...

Jason, I just looked in the game regs. Here in NY you can observe deer and bear at night with a light, but not within 500 feet of someone else's property. If you have a long gun it needs to be taken down or locked. A handgun is ok. Here's the link in case I paraphrased wrong. There are additional regs for hunting certain game at night.

http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/guide/hunting.html#Spotlighting

I would have to take this to mean that if you are not observing game, you can shine your light wherever you want around here. -Nick

In the UK there is something called "Lamping." It can be carried out legitimately, normally by farmers. It can also be carried out by naughty people.

It basically involves shining a bright light into hedges at night, in the hope that the eyes of animals will show up easily. Then someone shoots at them. The intended animals are normally things like rabbits and foxes.

I became aware of it a few years ago when it made the headlines. Someone with a shotgun had seen a pair of eyes reflected, and that was all the data he required in order to feel comfortable with taking a shot at them. The result was a dead child.


Regarding the law and privacy, it certainly sounds like the officer in question was out of order. However, I think the principle that flashlights can invade privacy is fairly sound. If I kept getting woken up at 2am by bright lights shining through my window, I'd certainly feel like my privacy was being invaded. I don't know if we have laws about that in the UK, but I hope we do. Equally, if someone kept lighting up my backyard at night, I wouldn't be at all comfortable with that.

IMHO it's understandable there should be laws about things like that, provided they are exercised in a reasonable way.