Thread: Spotlighting on DOC Land

take a breath and count to 10 EBF you are winding yourself over a simple question to which you have jumped to a huge conclusion deep breaths.

I put this post up to not only get some info on the legality if it but to see what peoples views are of it .
It is good to see some passion on both side of this.
The way i see it is that im still on the fence as i know what im like with safety and see it as a safe practace if at all times we bow shoot animals in close range and on the ground. This is not to say that if it was legal, any idiot would be fireing arrows in the air, and in all directions in areas they dont know. so it would be safer in the long run to put a blanket ban on it.

But at the end of the day it looks to be not legal either way so .......

Anyone got any ideas on where we can shoot a stoat during daylight???

Originally Posted by Twoshotkill

This is not to say that if it was legal, any idiot would be fireing arrows in the air, and in all directions in areas they dont know. so it would be safer in the long run to put a blanket ban on it.

Absolutely, and I do understand where you are coming from I am not in favor of blanket bans - if we all end up living in cotton wool bubbles life would be pretty boring...

There are however some fairly common sense reasons why spotlighting on public land is not allowed, at least in my mind.

[QUOTE=Twoshotkill;82983]I put this post up to not only get some info on the legality if it but to see what peoples views are of it .
It is good to see some passion on both side of this.
The way i see it is that im still on the fence as i know what im like with safety and see it as a safe practace if at all times we bow shoot animals in close range and on the ground. This is not to say that if it was legal, any idiot would be fireing arrows in the air, and in all directions in areas they dont know. so it would be safer in the long run to put a blanket ban on it.

But at the end of the day it looks to be not legal either way so .......

Anyone got any ideas on where we can shoot a stoat during daylight???[/QUOTE]

First of all you need to distinguish the difference between a weasel and a stoat. A weasel is weasily identified, but a stoat is stoately different.

I would be stoked if you could weasely tell me how to ???

It can be done safely if you are onto it. The people that fuck up and shoot people while lighting were probably careless and bound to have an accident anyway.

Originally Posted by mucko

take a breath and count to 10 EBF you are winding yourself over a simple question to which you have jumped to a huge conclusion deep breaths.

He's been away for a week just catching up cos he's missed letting us know stuff .. And he knows lots a stuff ..

Ive seen them in broad daylight on bush tracks- Hollyford, random spot in Murchison and Eastern Okataina out from Rotorua. The one in Murch was chasing a weka in an out of blackberry patch, could've watched for hours........good times

Originally Posted by Happy

He's been away for a week just catching up cos he's missed letting us know stuff .. And he knows lots a stuff ..

Aw Happy ! You missed me mate ?

Originally Posted by big_foot

Ive seen them in broad daylight on bush tracks- Hollyford, random spot in Murchison and Eastern Okataina out from Rotorua. The one in Murch was chasing a weka in an out of blackberry patch, could've watched for hours........good times

Wow.. i just spent the weekend at okatina didnt take the gun , just followed my mate with the bow to film some woblies getting smashed.
HUNTING IS SO MUCH EASIER THAN FILMING!

Originally Posted by Twoshotkill

Wow.. i just spent the weekend at okatina didnt take the gun , just followed my mate with the bow to film some woblies getting smashed.
HUNTING IS SO MUCH EASIER THAN FILMING!

I agree with the filming being hard. You should see all the video footage of my feet when the camera is on when I think it's off, and the dissappointment of thinking I had some great footage, only to find the camera off!! I still get a huge kick out of reliving hunts etc.

Yea.
I roared in a sika stag last year while my mate stood about a meter away from me ..... From my view it was wide out in the open so i knocked it off its feet.... On film you cant see a blody thing. So frustrating!

Originally Posted by ebf

Twoshot, here's two words for you : Andrew Mears

As a frequent user of DOC campsites, I would really appreciate if you do not spotlight (rifle, bow, whatever). Just saying...

An odious comparison. Most spotlighters have a modicum of intelligence not suffering from a complete lobotomy.

Jeez guys, can we all pls have a collective untangling of the panties ? Nowhere in my posts did I refer to all spotlighters as drunken hooligans.

Mucko, TeRei etc, I did not compare 2shot to Mears, merely mentioned Mears as an example of spotlighting on DOC land gone wrong...

Personally I can't understand all the venom against Mears, yup he did something incredibly stupid, but if you look at the footage of him during his trail, he looked shattered. He immediately confessed, took his punishment, and will live with the consequences for the rest of his life. Compared to Dummer, at least he seems to have acted with a bit of backbone after the event.

Regarding the spotlighting, I've done it, shooting hares on a farm. Personally, I will only ever consider doing it on land that I am very familiar with, and only for ground based prey, where you have a reasonable chance of working out your firing zone. Shooting into the air, at possums in trees, is something I consider unsafe, unless you use a shotgun. If any of the spotlighters want to try to convince me that shooting a 22 into trees at night is a safe practice, I'm all ears.

There are lots of people on DOC land who are not hunters, we all share the same space. A bit of respect for their views goes a long way...

Hopefully this clears up some of the confusion.

It is actually hunting during the hours of darkness that is prohibited , so this includes not only spotlights but night vision equipment, flares , your own beedy eyes as well and any thing which can be called hunting using a, firearm , bow, Atlatal , club or big rock