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Legal shooting time

So I don't have any skin in the game this year as I'm building a house and don't have the time or facilities to handle a deer if I got one. But as I walked to the site at 6:40 this morning I couldn't help but wonder how one could safely acquire a target and make an ethical shot without a quality scope or the animal was within 50 yards. Now around here, it was mostly overcast, and without clouds it would have brighter, but you can't count on clear mornings every day. My second thing is no matter what I do, I can't seem to retain my password, and have to reenter it every time I want to contribute. Anyone else have that problem?

Can't help you with the password issue, but I agree 110% on the 1/2 hour before and after regulation change. Does the DEC really think that the mandatory Flo O or Flo P will make it safe during those extremely low-light conditions, and ethical for the deer's sake as well?

I would wager that MOST bowhunters and now crossbow hunters have been shooting well before and after legal shooting hours for many years, made easier with lighted pins. Half hour before/after has been the case for turkey and waterfowl hunting as long as I can remember, while predators are 24/7. The first/last few minutes of light is "prime time" for deer hunting and it is nearly 100% light enough at sunrise/sunset, yet it can be "iffy" dark 30 minutes either side. Ethics has nothing to do with it, as each shooter needs to decide whether to shoot, light or dark, running or still, near or far. The link is an article from Outdoor Life on the subject.

Erict Don't understand the rational. Just because "most" are doing it, shouldn't be justification. If everyone drives 60 in a 55, should we up the limit? Hunting is a sport with rules for a reason. If game shows up after legal shooting light, move closer to the bedding area. I've passed up many a shooter buck because they came into view minutes after sunset, and I'm proud of that. One year I watched the second hand on my watch, and held off firing til it hit 0700 and tagged my buck, any earlier and he would have walked.

I have to agree. We always get to our stands in the dark, but 1/2 hour before sunrise on a cloudy, overcast day is pretty dark. Big difference between shooting a deer at 20-30 yards with a bow under questionable light, but shooting at distance with a rifle is another thing. Hopefully most hunters will use good judgment and shoot only when it’s safe and now at least if it’s 10 or 15 minutes before sunrise, it’s legal.

I like the half hour before to half hour after law, similar to almost every other state I have a hunted. If it's light enough to shoot safely then I take the shot if it's not then I dont.

What Trial153 said x2

Legal shooting time change around here only made it legal... plenty of gunshots in years past way before and after sunset. Now 7 different hunters on 3 close hunting parcels less than 5 cares apart... thats another story.

I dont gun hunt and stay out of the woods during the zoo that is NYs regular season. No desire to take part in that abortion.

I’m a gun hunter, have not encountered another hunter , abortion ,or zoo , in the woods all season so far, and hunt public and easement land in the ADKs and Tug Hill. Maybe you should not paint the NZ and SZ with your broad brush ? I did encounter a 10 pt’er and he is in my freezer.

Those are the hours for pretty much every other state. I know today at 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after I’d absolutely be able to shoot at my max range with a bow and no problem with 100 yards in a field shooting in an antler restricted area.

The official hours are there for one reason only, and that is to make it possible for a CO to prosecute someone when he hears a gunshot before “light” or after “dark”, but didn’t see an artificial light actually in use.

If it’s not light enough to hunt/shoot safely/effectively, then you don’t do it.

It’s not hard.

I totally agree with the half hour before and after change. Now...are their times when a half hour before/after there isn't sufficient lighting...absolutely. But a person has to use judgment. Is there good moonlight or not, is there snow or not, are you in the timber with leaves early in the season, etc. There are times when a half hour before/after doesn't provide sufficient light, but there are many times when it does.

Its interesting because a few years ago a guy mistakenly shot someone and they died. It was after legal time. Legally, that was a major basis for the prosecutions case. Im not sure how late it actually was, but now they change the very same law that they hammered the guy with.

I had always assumed that sunset rule meant you had to be out of the woods, or at the very least unload your firearm on your way out.

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