Well weasel i dont agree that night hawking in tx is completley legal. being a wildlife managment student and hopeing to go to work for usfws in the future they could bust you for it if they wnted bc the laws in texas state that hunting is to be conducted 30 after sunrise and before 30 mins before dusk. so i wouldnt go about it much. but just my opinion
The old lakota was wise he said: "a mans heart away from nature grows cold"
That is only for game species that are in season. I can Jackrabbit and bunny hunt all night long as they are open season and considered varmits. I talked to the local game warden and he said it was perfectly legal.....There is a section in the TPW handbook that is for "the use of artificial light" It states that you can , on private property, use it to hunt varmits. It also states that the non game species may be taken by any means at any time on private property. Here is a section from the TPW Handbook.
"Artificial light of any form that casts or reflects a beam of light onto or otherwise illuminates a game animal or bird may not be used as an aid to hunt, except that battery-powered scoping devices that project a light or dot only inside the scope and pin sight lights on archery equipment are legal devices. Nonprotected nongame animals and fur-bearing animals may be hunted at night with the aid of an artificial light on private property. If hunting at night, please make a courtesy telephone call to your local game warden."
Armadillos* Bobcats* Coyotes* Flying squirrels Frogs Ground squirrels Mountain lions Porcupines Prairie dogs Rabbits Turtles " No closed season. These animals may be hunted at any time by any lawful means or methods on private property. Public hunting lands may have restrictions. A hunting license is required.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
Yea, it's good to know the game warden too. We just got a new one and he thinks he's John Wayne. The one before him used to come over and have a few beers with us at the ranch. ;D Are you going to Tech for Wildlife management? That's a line of work I should of gotten into....I'm more suited to the outdoors related work.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
yeppers junior wildlife managment major with a minor in biology,& range management. i know all the game wardens here aslo we just go one from your area he was in east texas for the past 4 years.
The old lakota was wise he said: "a mans heart away from nature grows cold"
Wyoming says you can shoot as long as you can do it with natural light. Texas is also 92% privately owned compared with the 15 or 20% most western states are, so laws are luckily geared a little more to land owners in TX. In Wyo you can spotlight on private ground for predators, jackrabbits are a predator here, so we do a little bunny hunting at night. As far as hawing goes, nothing really says, I guess if your bird can see well enough to get a rabbit it's ok. Unless your on private ground then you can use lights. Just a guess there though. Most laws here don't really make provisions for falconry. Rich
This is an interesting thread! In the UK "lamping" is perfectly legal, depending on the quarry. Bunnies are the usual quarry although anything else classed as vermin is OK. Lamping with a dog, usually a lurcher (greyhound cross) is a traditional field sport, but I have heard of austringers using Harris Hawks with good effect. Never had a go myself but I would like to in the future. Happy Hawking!
Post by shortwingn on Oct 14, 2005 15:17:18 GMT -5
I have trained my gos to night hawking with very good success. All falconry birds should go under this sort of thing! A quick story, while hawking ducks last winter the gos flew by a high tension line. The blue light arced out to her. She flew off fast and made a noise I never heard from a gos before. I turned on the telemetry and nothing. The blue light blew out both transmitters. Several hours after dark swing her lure in a pitch black field under a spotlight in she came!