Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, so I know that TPWD finally decided that road cruising doesn't count as "hunting from a motor vehicle". I remember the emails/letters that went around about that.

However, someone on another forum is telling me that TX has also decided it is legal to shine cuts from a motor vehicle. Is this true?

Just because you didn't get ticketed for it on occasion X doesn't make it legal. What I am trying to discern is whether they changed the law or somehow formally acknowledged a different interpretation of the spotlighting laws.

I figured someone over here would know.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

But who knows, maybe the powers that be will commit to an answer. I for one almost do not care what is anymore, I would just like to know. I usually road cruise or walk now, but some nights it is nice to shine as well....

If nothing else it would be good for Q-Beam stock options?

Lance

Chris,

My correspondence with Major Steve Whitaker of the west Texas office states that you can shine cuts that you are driving past, provided you don't shine across traffic. In other words, they want you to shine the cut on the same side of the road.

Of course, they could change this ruling at any time.

If you'd like a copy of my correspondence, send me your mailing address (I lost the email originals, but have xerox copies).

My email address is on the website (thehibbitts.net)

Troy

Lets say that TP&W says, sure that is fine as long as you behave...

That still at the very least leaves each of the County Sheriff Departments, Constables, and the State Troopers. But we cannot forget our post 9/11 Border Patrol either, not something they can really end up writing a ticket on, but they can waste hours of your night if they decide to. Oh, and I almost forgot.. we have to worry about "Vigilantly Ranchers" who will not just approach you on the back roads, but threaten or assault on rare occasions.

Call me a pessimist, but there will never be an across the board straight answer. If you want to do it, you just have to know what you might be getting into.

Lance

What do you mean by Vigilantly Ranchers? People have been assaulted before by local ranchers while hunting?

At least one person posted here just last year about an encounter where a local sprayed him in the face with something (most likely bug spray) and then almost ran over him. He had to sidestep the pickup while he was trying to blink the crap out of his eyes. I wish I could remember the name of the poster...

I have also heard many stories of people on some of the county dirt roads being told to leave for "trespassing". These kind of stories go way back, but I will admit that I do not know anybody first hand that has had this happen.

I had the following encounter one time. I had stopped on the shoulder of 277 to let traffic I saw behind me go by. But instead of passing us, we ended up with one truck cutting in front blocking us from pulling forward, and one directly beside us, and a third behind and to the left, not quite boxing me in all the way. They started to get out and approach us. I put it in reverse and backed up just clear of them and just sat there. They looked at us a while, spoke to each other, and then ended up leaving without talking to us. I have no idea why they wanted to talk to us, but the fact that there were three trucks with about 5 people total and they boxed me in somewhat leads me to think they were not going to offer me a jump start.

You have to remember that our hobby is not popular or even the least bit understood by the local land owners. As far as they are concerned they could do without us, and would just assume us go home. And on top of that most of them are miss-informed and believe that we are breaking the law, when in fact any time they approach a collector they themselves are breaking the law by interfering with a lawful hunt.

Wow. I figured road cruisers would have more trouble with illegals than they would local ranchers. We wouldn't have a problem if they could figure out that we are helping support their local economy and can be useful tools in helping out in the illegal immigration problem. Of course they hate illegals running around, and having a bunch of people cruising around willing to report suspisious people to the police would help everyone else. Go figure.

does that count as assault? lol I'm not kidding either.

When / Where was this?

Lance

Luna Vista back when Sunny was Sheriff. When he responded to the scene he himself was drunk and replied "had then been shooting AT you they would have hit you". They were shooting over our truck from the house at the bottom of the hill.

>>Luna Vista back when Sunny was Sheriff. When he responded to the scene he himself was drunk and replied "had then been shooting AT you they would have hit you". They were shooting over our truck from the house at the bottom of the hill.

...I got a few rounds fired at me from those jokers at the house. The guy living there finally came out and told me to get on down the road before he called the game warden and the sheriff. I could have ignited his breath with a lighter he was so drunk.

For anyone who is interested in knowing the difference, when just about any centerfire rifle is involved, you will have heard a distinct "crack of the whip" type of sound if the bullet passed near you, followed by the "boom" sound that the burning powder produced (the time between the two sounds will vary, as will the intensity of the "boom". The reason is because most rifle projectiles travel faster than the speed of sound, thus creating their own little "sonic boom," which is really just a "sonic crack." If you're not familiar with the "sonic crack" sound, then they weren't shooting AT you! Luckily, I've only heard that distinct sound while pulling targets at a rifle range, but on the few occasions that I've heard someone telling me stories about being shot AT, they never mentioned the telling indicator of actually being shot AT!
I hate to ruin any good alterna stories, but if you didn't hear crack first, then they weren't shooting AT you That's probably why the drunken sheriff concluded that no one was shooting AT Joe.
Just to make sure I don't ruin the stories, I'm not sure what a subsonic pistol bullet sounds like when it passes nearby......I'm guessing there is a "boom," followed shortly by a "swish." If you happen to hear a nearby crack, and a stagecoach isn't nearby, consider yourself lucky, turn off the light, and move somewhere else!
Of course, I'm not doubting any of these stories!

Shane
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Lifelist

distance and trajectory are involved too. once at Calaveras Lake two dudes in the woods were firing rifles through the trees and we could actually hear the lead "whistle" as it passed just over our heads - some closer than others. These two fellows had no idea they came close to committing homicide though accidental.

The drunks at Luna Vista were shooting over our heads but it was of no comfort to me. If I recall there were three distinct sounds, the crack of the shot, a whistle over our head and a smack as the bullet landed in the rocks behind us.

The reason no action was taken is because the Sheriff was a "good ole boy" just like Lance said. I had another encounter with one of the drunks from Luna Vista late in the season one year.

Two drunks pulled up in an International without a top, Pitbull in tow to hassle my brother and I. BTW that itself is agaisnt the law to hassle hunters engaged in legal poursuit of game. They were ready to fight. I'm pretty sure the only thing that changed their minds was my big streamlight resting on my shoulder waiting for an opportunity to put a huge dent in a skull.

I don't think these guys actually wanted to shoot us, but they were SO drunk, they could have killed us easily quite by accident. Sometimes I wish the drunks that confronted us felt a bit more froggy because I was ready to lay them both out.

Back in about 92 I had a somebody not shooting at me, but shooting over me when they did not know I was there while at the old cut off on Bakers Crossing. I heard the "sonic crack", heard the round going through the tree branches I was using for shade and heard the report from the rifle. I was down hill out of site from them at the time and just assumed they were very stupid to be firing accross a roadway like that, at any rate I left and found another place to relax.

As far as warning shots... there is no such thing, even displaying a firearm as a threat is against the law and you should go to jail.

And for the record I do not go out into alterna land without my Sig and my CHL. I will work very hard to avoid a confrontation, but backed into a corner I have very long claws. Another thought, if you think a confrontation is looming you can use your digital camera in movie mode to record audio of everything, real proof is a good ole boys biggest problem.

Crazy stuff. I think Lance's idea is good, to use the movie mode on a digicam, but of course, when stuff like that happens, it's generally the last thing on your mind. Too bad you weren't able to smack one with your maglite........maybe then the good ol' sheriff and other LE in the area would take such matters seriously. Luckily no one has been hurt so far.

Shane
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Lifelist

If you have any altercation with a local out there it will be your word against theres on what happened. Do not let yourself get in a situtation where you have to put your word against a local out there. The simple fact is that there is a good chance the local side of the argument may carry more weight. Even if it is not what happened.

>>Crazy stuff. I think Lance's idea is good, to use the movie mode on a digicam, but of course, when stuff like that happens, it's generally the last thing on your mind. Too bad you weren't able to smack one with your maglite........maybe then the good ol' sheriff and other LE in the area would take such matters seriously. Luckily no one has been hurt so far.
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>>Shane
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>>Lifelist

That was two different episodes. One was being shot at, another being approached by the two drunks and large Pitbull while walking 118.

I didn't REALLY want to crack his skull, but he knew exactly what I had in mind as defense, I made sure of it.

I just happen to let the right side of t-shirt ride up over the holster a bit.

Have not heard a harsh word since getting my CHL.

Lance

I remember back in the early 90's when Johnny was sheriff in Val Verde and he recommended that we not hunt up Pandale Dirt because one of the Ranchers did like snake hunters and would try to run us off like he owned the county roads, and he was worried that this guy would actually shoot somebody if they refused to leave. Talk about addressing the wrong side of the problem.

We were shot at on Pandale Dirt right after we got off of Pandale Paved. Then the guy pulled up next to us in his truck and got out with a rifle over his shoulder. He was drunk as hell and talking [bleep]. Then this other guy rolled up and cooled things off but said we might want to look for animals somewhere else. It was either 2003 or 2004 in June.

The guy looked like he was American Indian but Randy Ellis told us he wasn't. He said the guy is crazy and is going to shoot someone one day. My buddy Mickey will not hunt Texas w/o a gun now.

Mike Welker

Are those idiots still there by Luna Vista? I own some highway property on the northwest side of Luna Vista and plan to build there. I'd hate to get shot at by a neighbor (not that being shot at by a stranger is much better).

BTW, we had some nice storms in the area this evening. Most of it missed me, but it looked like the Christmas Mtns got hit hard.

>>Are those idiots still there by Luna Vista? I own some highway property on the northwest side of Luna Vista and plan to build there. I'd hate to get shot at by a neighbor (not that being shot at by a stranger is much better).
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>>BTW, we had some nice storms in the area this evening. Most of it missed me, but it looked like the Christmas Mtns got hit hard.

I haven't had any trouble in years, but there are still backwoods types out there that like to hassle snakehunters so just keep your eyes and ears open.

The Sheriff now (Martin Wylie or something similar) will not tolerate that crap and lives just south of Luna Vista. If you have any problems ring him up and he will take care of it correctly.

The county sheriff is Ronny Dodson. Martin is the local sheriff's deputy. I've heard lots of good things about Martin. He seems to do a good job of differientiating between giving locals the breathing room they moved here for and enforcing the "important" laws.