Coyote at night

[felinesNfreedom]

1 hour ago, gunslinger_Griff said:

Thanks for the response... So when they come out, often at night around here (from what I hear), I can't protect the livestock? Maybe I'll yell at them...

Wrong answer... (not to you... to TN)...

 

I think if you follow the three S's you will be fine.

[JAB]

5 hours ago, jphillips63 said:

 

 

Yes you have the right to protect your livestock but within the law. You can not do so at night


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I am not sure that is correct.  In fact, unless the rules have changed since the last time I checked it isn't.  Unless I am mistaken, 'pest animal elimination' is viewed differently from 'hunting'.  If I am not mistaken there are different regulations for dealing with nuisance animals than for hunting.  Heck - again, unless I am mistaken - you can even get a permit from your local agriculture agent to shoot pest deer out of season.  The special permit, to my understanding, is only needed for 'big game'.  Endangered or protected species require special permits, too.  As far as I am aware, however, there are no special permits needed to kill a non big game nuisance animal.  In other words, hunting coyote at night is illegal but pest elimination is not hunting and the rules are different.  As the coyote is most likely to show up and be a nuisance animal at night it wouldn't make much sense if you could only shoot them during the day.  For example, I knew a guy who had raccoons tearing up his garden.  He planned to put out cage traps to catch them and called the TWRA to find out what he should do if he caught some.  He knew it was illegal for him to relocate them but wondered if the proper, legal thing to do would be to call TWRA to get them relocated.  He was told, by the person to whom he spoke at the TWRA that they didn't do relocations for raccoons, etc. and that the best thing to do if he got one in his trap was to shoot it.  Of course, the legal hunting season during that time of the year allows only one raccoon to be taken per person per night but that obviously did not apply to elimination of nuisance raccoons.  Further, he was actually more 'trapping' them than hunting them and while there is no limit on trapping raccoon during the legal season that season runs from November through February and would not include the months when raccoons in the garden would be an issue.  So, either way, the normal hunting/trapping regulations apparently did not apply.  That said, I am not a lawyer and would recommend contacting the TWRA directly to get an answer.

ETA: Here is a link to a page at the TWRA website discussing nuisance animal control: https://www.tn.gov/twra/article/adc-faq  It doesn't specifically say that it is okay to kill nuisance/destructive coyote at night but it does quote part of the TCA.  Notice that no mention is made of any limits to the legal ability to do this based on legal hunting seasons, regulations, etc.  Again, though, I would call the TWRA for clarification :

Quote

TCA 70-4-115 Destruction and disposal of wildlife---Permit---Penalty.

     (a)  The owner of lands may destroy any wild animals, wild birds, or wild fowl when such wild animals, wild birds, or wild fowl are destroying property upon such lands.  Any person, before destroying any big game under the conditions provided for in this section, is required to obtain a permit for destroying such big game.  Such permit shall be issued by an officer of the wildlife resources agency.

Edited August 24, 2016 by JAB

[monkeylizard]

17 hours ago, jphillips63 said:

You can not use any form of a lighted reticle scope including the red dot scopes from sunset to sunrise. So don't get caught hunting in those hours with one or you'll face fines and confiscation.

I don't think that jives with the Hunting & Trapping Guide. https://issuu.com/thebinghamgroup/docs/hunt_trap_guide_2015-2016?e=18073349/14694585

Page 16 (19 on the PDF) bottom half of the page, center column.

#7: Use or possession of the following equipment is prohibited:

Firearms or archery equipment with any device utilizing an artificial light capable of locating wildlife.

Any electronic light amplifying night vision scope or device while in possession of a firearm or archery tackle between sunset and sunrise.

A red dot or illuminated reticle doesn't fit either category.

 

Is there another source which contradicts/overrules the Hunting & Trapping Guide?

[KKing]

You can not use any form of a lighted reticle scope including the red dot scopes from sunset to sunrise. So don't get caught hunting in those hours with one or you'll face fines and confiscation.

Sorry, but you're wrong.

[monkeylizard]

7 hours ago, jphillips63 said:

Yes you have the right to protect your livestock but within the law. You can not do so at night

(emphasis mine)

I'm pretty sure that's wronger than a wrong thing that is incorrect. JAB has it down. Protecting livestock does not fall under hunting. Now you'd better be clear that you are NOT hunting and indeed are protecting livestock. If the facts and evidence would support that, you're fine at night. Don't go coyote hunting next to a cow field and try to claim "I was protecting my cows!"

Edited August 24, 2016 by monkeylizard

[300winmag]

The way I understand it you can shoot coyotes at night that are getting into livestock or posing some sort of threat to your pets. 

Any chance at getting TWRA to allow predator night hunting?  People can already coon hunt and pig hunt at night so I don't see what the problem would be.

Also any chance at getting TWRA to allow center fire rifles for predator hunting during archery and muzzleloading deer seasons?  It is kind of a pain to have to switch to a rimfire or shotgun during archery/muzzleloading deer season if you want to hunt coyotes.

Our resident hunting licenses have got to be some of the most expensive in this part of the country, so it would be nice if TWRA would cut some slack on the coyote hunting restrictions.

Edited August 24, 2016 by 300winmag

[jphillips63]

1 hour ago, KKing said:

 

Sorry, but you're wrong.

 

For a fact I'm not wrong just last year a coworker of mine got fined and his rifle confiscated because he had a redot scope on his rifle walking out after sunset from deer hunting. 

 If you all feel I'm wrong by all means go buy yourself all the lighted reticle scopes you want and have at it. It's not my money or guns. 

Edited August 24, 2016 by jphillips63

[jphillips63]

24 minutes ago, 300winmag said:

The way I understand it you can shoot coyotes at night that are getting into livestock or posing some sort of threat to your pets. 

Any chance at getting TWRA to allow predator night hunting?  People can already coon hunt and pig hunt at night so I don't see what the problem would be.

Also any chance at getting TWRA to allow center fire rifles for predator hunting during archery and muzzleloading deer seasons?  It is kind of a pain to have to switch to a rimfire or shotgun during archery/muzzleloading deer season if you want to hunt coyotes.

Our resident hunting licenses have got to be some of the most expensive in this part of the country, so it would be nice if TWRA would cut some slack on the coyote hunting restrictions.

This has been brought up every year for a few years. It never goes anywhere just for the due fact it's too easy to take a big buck while out hunting and this is what they are preventing. No matter how ethical you may be it takes that one hunter that'll mess it all up. 

[300winmag]

If the game management folks here are worried about deer night poaching, then why allow coon or pig hunting at night?  Someone with a light and a 22 rifle could claim to be coon hunting when he is poaching deer at night.  Pig hunters can also use centerfire rifles and lights, so very easy for them to get a deer too.  I'm not saying people should not be able to coon or pig hunt at night.  I don't have a problem with it, but to me it is an all or nothing kind of deal when it comes to varmints and pests.

 

[JAB]

2 hours ago, 300winmag said:

If the game management folks here are worried about deer night poaching, then why allow coon or pig hunting at night?  Someone with a light and a 22 rifle could claim to be coon hunting when he is poaching deer at night.  Pig hunters can also use centerfire rifles and lights, so very easy for them to get a deer too.  I'm not saying people should not be able to coon or pig hunt at night.  I don't have a problem with it, but to me it is an all or nothing kind of deal when it comes to varmints and pests.

 

In the past I have actually taken the time to compare TN's license costs with a couple of other states.  I can't remember the states I looked at but I actually found that, in some cases, those states' non-resident hunting and/or fishing licenses were less expensive than TNs resident licenses.

Basically Tennessee has too damn many regulations and too many fees related to hunting, fishing and so on.  In this state I believe the regulations are more about bringing in money than providing a good hunting/fishing environment and $$$ seems to be even more important than good, solid wildlife and fisheries population management.  In fact, I have actually had a 'game warden' at Reelfoot Lake tell me that very thing in that, according to him, many of the regulations were intended to attract/promote big money fishing tournaments by creating an environment where you had fewer fish but with bigger specimens rather than a larger number/variety of smaller fish/species.  In other words, according to him, at least in some cases the regs were designed mostly to create and maintain trophy bass and were actually counter to maintaining healthy, varied fish populations.  Is that true?  I don't know but it makes sense.  I think that the problem likely is that there are too many business people, trophy hunters and trophy fishermen on the TWRA board and not enough average Joes and Janes who just want to bag a couple of deer or catch a few trout without spending hundreds of dollars on fees, permits and so on every year and still not being able to get a clear picture of what is legal and what is not.

Edited August 25, 2016 by JAB

[plantemv79]

Revisiting this thread. I'm a bit confused. In north Cumberland and hunting zone, I can hunt the nc wma for pigs on a small game hunt. Small game includes coyote fur bearers. Where I'm confused is center fire over .25 is not allowed on small game hunts, but you can hunt coyote with over .25. The way I read it, I can hunt coyote and pig with a .223 now, and my .308 during big game hunts. The laws here are much more complicated


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