spotlighting coyotes...illegal or not??

that is what I thought also but I was just wanting to make sure with all this poacher talk that is going on around here.

Are you just asking about doing in like now/out of season? If that is the case, then you should be fine - although I agree that you may want to post in the Ask a CO section!

If it is private land, & if it is not yours but you can get WRITTEN permission - then it is a non-issue!!

"A continuously burning light that can be seen for at least 500 feet must be carried while pursuing furbearing animals between sunset and sunrise. It is legal to hunt fox and coyote with the use of mouth- or hand-operated calls, or with the use of recorded calls. Spotlights may be used to take fox and coyote. There are no restrictions on hunting hours or firearms for hunting fox and coyote. It is illegal to hunt fox or coyote from a roadway or with the use of any motor-driven conveyance."
www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3188.htm

I have posted the question on the co board but I just wanted to get a general answer because i know it may be a while.

The properties were calling are not the same as the ones I am hunting. Matter of fact its not the same county. I realize that I can hunt my own property for coyotes whenever because my father has given me written permission on our farmland. I was just trying to look into the controversy of the spotlight itself. Dead coyote is good stuff I am pretty fond of it my self as for the price I just close my eyes when I purchase it. lol

Reading between the lines here... it almost looks like someone is wanting to practice calling coyotes under lights by cruising backroads and disturbing the wildlife on the properties of random landowners. This would be highly unpopular with the local residents, their farm dogs and the folks that hunt deer and or predators on those properties.

There would be a loophole here where a CO could write a ticket: but the light is not the issue. If the CO is already a stickler, and logically concludes that you're screwing with other hunters to prevent educating your own coyotes, then I would expect at least one citation to be written. Perhaps two.

That said, I can tell you that the concept is not going to provide much help for "your buddy" in his quest to learn about coyotes. If the light is applied to the coyote before the sound- there is verrrry little to be learned by his behavior that follows. Even if the sound and light is applied (from a vehicle on a roadway) before the coyote is in view, there is very little body language and activity that can be gleaned and used in actual hunting scenarios. Unless of course, you plan on HUNTING this way after October 15th. Even then, the security levels and comfort zones of coyotes are going to change a LOT as crops continue to come out and deer hunters enter the woods.

All in all, by riding around blowing calls without intentions (or permission) to kill coyotes you are going to adversely affect most of the predator hunters in that area. You'll probably lay eyes on about 5-10% of the coyotes you actually call. However, 100% of them will have gained a bad experience that will begin their development of a "preconditioned response" which is bad news for the next guy who tries to call them... unless he knows what he's doing.

An experienced predator caller would actually benefit from others in his area using such wildly unproductive tactics. By pressuring those coyotes, you'd be ensuring that the average predator hunter has a depleated chance of killing them before a veteran hunter gets to them. Despite having a lot of good callers around here, the majority of predator callers in Indiana will be using simiarly unsuccesful methods this winter and you will have cut their 5-10% odds considerably.

The harder you pressure a coyote, the more predictable he becomes. Stupid coyotes are harder to read. Stupid coyotes are born once a year but "educated" coyotes are born everyday. I'd suggest you invest some time in learning from coyotes instead of teaching them. Learn from other coyote hunters instead of handicapping them. Just my .02

No attitude, just facts and very little attempt to butter it up for political correctness. You posed a black & white question, knowing you were flirting with a gray area, and expected a black & white answer. That's not how it works. Many of the laws on the books are left to the "Discretion of the Arresting Officer" for this very reason. That “gray area” has landed more than one Gibson/Knox/Sullivan pavement fur-hunter in hot water.

Fact is, I've been around dozens of these forums and hundreds of predator callers long enough to connect the dots. A guy poses a question about the legality of something that is obviously legal: shining a spotlight. He does so, knowing he is pushing a gray area with land-access and blocking a roadway while using someone else's wildlife to learn the ropes of hunting them. It’s not rocket science.

Once quizzed about educating his coyotes: he admits he's traveling to another county for his practice sessions. When quizzed about burning up someone else's coyotes: he says he has permission to hunt the coyotes anyway. Suspicious. Even if 1+1 doesn’t equal 2 in your case, my advice remains the same.
I have no personal interests in whether you screw up your coyotes or someone else's. My advice was geared toward making you, and all other readers, better at killing coyotes. If you'd get past your guilty conscience and look at the information I posted... you might learn something. There is some good information to be gleaned from the brief post I made, information you’ve never seen posted on this forum and likely won’t see again.

Absolutely no disrespect to Woody or this site: but these predator calling sections of deer hunting forums rarely hold good deep discussions on successfully calling coyotes. Trapping: Sometimes. Calling: Very Rarely. In fact, less and less good calling info is making its way onto ANY internet forums these days. Too much drama and arguing going on to justify the experienced guys investing their time in a discussion. An aspiring caller’s best bet is probably catching seminars from credible sources or one-on-one instruction with an experienced hunter if possible. It also helps to live in the Coyote-Mecca of the state. LOL!

Good advise.

How far off the road do we have to be before we are legal? I know better to shoot across a roadway or body of water. But if driving down the road and spotting a coyote can we stop the car, park along the side of the road, get out of the car and walk off the roadway and then shoot? Where would a CO draw the line?

I don't plan on hunting this way but was curious.

But I am curious as to what the law is on this. Perhaps its' one of those gray areas where the discression of the CO is necessary to make the call as to what's legal or not.

That is two questions: requiring two answers.

My interpretation, after speaking to numerous conservation officers about his, is that "off the road" means just that. Not *ON* the road.

Again, purely regurgetating information that IDNR CO's have told me over the years- There is a rule stipulating that you may not harvest furbearers with the aid of a moterized conveyance. Technically, the situation you outlined... of spotting a coyote while driving: then going back to call him in: could be a violation. This is left up to the discretion of the arresting officer.

If you have permission and did not use the moterized conveyance to advance yourself in the effort to harvest (IE: Getting closer/ect) then he's probably not going to write a ticket. If it appears you are cruising backroads with a weapon ready to roll-out into the ditch at the slightest sign of fur, then you very well may get a citation. They know the difference.

We are fortunate to have some pretty liberal laws regarding predator hunting in Indiana. Those who push the envelope by consistantly exploiting the gray areas are risking many of the freedoms we enjoy as Hoosiers. I hunt predators in several states and I despise many of their laws such as cased weapons, firearm restrictions and furbearer licenses.

PS: I'm fairly certain it's illegal to shoot across a navigable waterway in pursuit of a furbearer. Waterfowlers have their own exceptions: I believe.

PPS: As for the air pistol... I'd assume that would get you a citation. I always say, I'd rather take an a$$-whoopin than get in a gunfight I can't win. Fake (or otherwise inferior) guns can make a bad situation worse in a hurry. I'd leave it at home.

In the 2010-2011 Regulation book...

It is illegal to....

• Shoot across a body of water, except in the
lawful pursuit of wildlife.

This only applies if you are on land. There are other regulations for shooting from a boat for different game. Such as no hunting furbearers from a boat.

I'll check on the CO2 pistol.