Outdoor Wisconsin host Dan Small welcomes you to his special on-line sanctuary. This month, Dan comments on the "shining" technique of deer hunting.

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11/8/97

Shining Puts Bad Light on Hunters

by Dan Small

It’s that time of year again, when many red-blooded hunters step up their scouting activities in hopes of locating a buck. Deer are on the move, especially at night, as anyone who drives in rural areas after dark will attest. Some hunters are on the move at night, too. Armed with high-powered spotlights, they drive slowly along rural back roads and shine adjacent fields in search of deer. This practice is legal, but it may create more trouble than it is worth.

Restrictions are spelled out in a section on p. 22 of the hunting regulations booklet, which reads: “It is illegal to:

“use or possess with intent to use, a light for shining any wild animal while hunting or in possession of a firearm, bow or crossbow.
“use or possess with intent to use, whether or not a firearm or bow is in possession, a light for shining wild animals between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. from September 15 through December 31.
“shine at any time on federal refuges.”

The regulations also ban laser sights and note that some local ordinances prohibit shining altogether.

What the rules fail to address, however, are the candle power of spotlights and the common sense that ought to accompany this practice. Modern spotlights can exceed 1 million candlepower. That’s about 10,000 times brighter than the average automobile headlight. Powerful enough to stop a deer in its tracks way, way out there. Or to unnerve rural residents when the beamis inadvertently swept across a home, which is happening more and more frequently these days, according to reports from Department of NaturalResources wardens. Here in southeastern Wisconsin, some wardens are receiving a complaint per day from residents whose homes have been blasted by spotlight beams, which penetrate curtains and light up the whole house. Some shiners scan woods and fields, then sweep their beams across pastures and yards, spooking livestock, waking sleeping dogs and lighting up the night. As with most annoying or illegal practices, it only takes a few people flashing beams into rural homes to cast all hunters who shine in a bad light. That’s reason enough for us to police our own ranks and educate those who abuse shining privileges without actually breaking the law.

There’s another issue this practice raises, however, that ought to cause hunters as much concern or more: reliance on shining can accelerate the decline of hunting skills. As exciting as it might be to scan a field and count a dozen deer or spotlight a trophy buck, it’s a shortcut scouting method that doesn’t teach the shiner much about deer behavior or where they might be found come morning. Shine a buck in a hayfield at 9 p.m. this time of year and it’s anybody’s guess where he’ll be when you climb into your stand eight hours later, or where he was at sundown. Rutting bucks routinely travel several miles each night in search of does. That’s why so many of them get hit by cars. An observant hunter can learn a lot more about deer behavior by spending time in the field examining scrapes, rubs and tracks than he can by shining a light across fields at random. To have a real chance to score on a particular buck, you need to find his daytime haunts and devise a way to intercept him between bed and breakfast or bed and a night of carousing. If you shine, do so discreetly and with landowner permission. Better yet, lace up your boots and do your scouting by daylight.

Previous Columns

October 18, '97: Taking Toms Is Tough In Fall
October 12, '97: Cow pies + nice lawns = algae!
September 16, '97: WCSFO taking a shot in the dark?
September 16, '97: More Online Fun!
September 1, '97: Hunt, Fish, Shoot, Scoot Online!
March '97: Sports Show!
January '97: Award Seeks Good Nominees