Night predator hunting - what's the legal situation?

[Diomed]

I have a friend with a private hunt club. I don't hunt game animals (or anything else), but would like to get into coyote elimination. He's got a lot of them and is eager for someone to clean them out.

I'll be fairly set in terms of equipment (integral .44mag rifle pending with ATF, it'll get nightvision scoped, and a friend who's way into hunting who's got callers, etc. who'll be Yoda-ing me), but I'm not sure what's needed to hunt animals at night. I know coyotes are considered nuisance animals here, but are any special arrangements needed? Permits, that sort of thing. My lifetime experience with DGIF consists of a couple of officers raiding a machinegun shoot I was at, so I have near zero knowledge.

[amdcowboy]

From the Virginia DGIF Website

Hunting Hours

* One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset for nonmigratory birds and game animals except during spring gobbler season.
* One-half hour before sunrise until 12 noon, during spring gobbler season except the last 12 days the hunting hours are ½ hour before sunrise until sunset.
* One-half hour before sunrise to sunset for Youth Spring Turkey Hunt Day.
* Hours for bear hound training season are ½ hour before sunrise to 4½ hours after sunset.
* Bobcat, foxes, raccoons, and opossums may be hunted by day or night during authorized seasons.
* Nuisance species may be taken day or night.

Coyote
Season:

Continuous open season on private lands.

Electronic Calls

It is unlawful to take or attempt to take wild animals and wild birds with recorded or electronically amplified calls, except for bobcat, coyote, crow, and fox. Electronic calls may be used on private lands with written permission of the landowner and on public lands (except where specifically prohibited) during periods when the use of firearms is permitted.

Legal Methods and Restrictions

Special restrictions apply to specific firearms use during these seasons. See http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/re ... #legal-use and Local Firearms Ordinances for details.

* Modern firearms
* Archery tackle (including crossbows)
* Muzzleloading firearms
* Dogs may be used (except where prohibited, see Hunting with Dogs).
* Electronic calls for bobcat, coyote and fox
* Hunting permitted day or night
* Lights may be used as long as the light is not attached to or cast from a vehicle
* Night vision scopes and laser sights may be used.
* No hunting on Sunday, except for raccoons, which may be hunted until 2:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings.


Todd

[gunderwood]

Diomed, what is the MG raid story? Sounds interesting.

[Vahunter]

Couple of things to remember. Make sure you have written permission from the land owner if using electronic calls. When using lights the power source cannot be from a vehicle including 4-wheelers. I use a rechargeable scope mounted light that will light up eyes at 300 plus yards but for a positive ID it's only good for about 100 yards. Back to the permission part, even though you have permission to deer hunt you still need permission to use an electronic call. All the landowner has to do is write Okay To Use Electonic Callers and you'll be good to go.

[Diomed]

Back to the permission part, even though you have permission to deer hunt you still need permission to use an electronic call. All the landowner has to do is write Okay To Use Electonic Callers and you'll be good to go.

Thanks! It seems like getting the specific written permission is the big thing. Trying to avoid using lights of any kind, so not too worried about the vehicle-mounted end of things.

And, I guess, don't do it on a Sunday.

Diomed, what is the MG raid story? Sounds interesting.

It's not really very dramatic. Earlier this year I was shooting at a private club on the James, we were running various NFA items including some subguns. Apparently the sound can carry, who knew? A couple of game wardens heard us from the hard road, about a mile and a half away. They drove up, parked down a hill out of sight, and crept into some bushes where they proceeded to glass us with binoculars. One of the guys spotted them hiding in the bushes and made contact. They started making noises about seeing our licenses and permits and related hooey; with some deft social engineering we were able to defuse the situation.

They tried some silencers and were quite impressed, they refused all offers to play with the machineguns. Weird, I know.