Another Game law test

Ok here is another one since we seem to be on the game law questions.... It is 11 PM. A game warden pulls up behind my vehicle as I am putting on my hunting gear and heading out into the woods with my bow, arrows unnocked. Can I be cited?

at 11PM?

there is no law that says when you can go to your stand, could cite you, as they can for anything, but never hold up in court, they can't assume you are going to poach....but 11 pm, would be on side of "what the h..is he doing..

I would take the other side of this and say that you would be ticketed and it would hold up.  The sticking point is that you have to be out of the woods by a certain time.  I would interpret that to mean that you could not reenter the woods until the following day which would be anytime after midnight...

griffon, you want to point me to where it says not allowed in woods after midnight???..how about first day of buck season, guys in their stands at 5 am, same with archery..no such law unless you can show me section and title..sorry dude..what section would he be ticketed for.."too early to be in woods"   early entry into woods, no such laws. or show me please..if i wanted to go sit in a blind all night, thats my business, as long as i don't make an attempt to shoot an animal before legal shooting hours,,how about pitching a tent in the woods, bow/gun is with you..against the law????  

just did,  you said  couldn't re enter  woods to next day, show me section of that law..show me anything that states i can not sit in a blind all night..

Coyote hunting would be OK even without a fur takers permit. Going after a wounded animal after legal hunting hours would be questionable. Going to your stand or camping area deep into the woods would be questionable at that time - might have to prove to the officer your intent. If it were a bright moonlit night after the leaves have fallen I'd think you were trying to poach and so would he.

Would be a toss up as to weather you would be cited and then if it would hold up in court. Your explanation of what you were doing would mean a lot. You did not mention anything about carrying a light or night vision equipment. Unless you have some logical explanation, what you are doing doesn't make any sense.

Was that the purpose of your post, just to strike a response from the readers?

Actually, 270 to your point... the bill (and for one reason or another I thought it had been put into law, but cannot find it in the PA Codes) was put in front of the PA legisture that you could not be in the woods past 1 hour after closing hours. After discussing this with a CO, I was informed that the bill was repealed as it was too difficult to enforce and there were too many loopholes. I have to go butcher a deer now, have a nice day.

I stay in the woods sometimes 2 hours after it gets dark cause I dont want to scare deer that are under my stand.
 
As far as going after a wounded deer, You are still not allowed to shoot it again if you find it still alive in the dark. If you have a light and shoot the animal again that is poaching. It doesn't make perfect sense, but I guess everyone would be looking for wounded deer at night if you were allowed to finish them off with a light and bow or gun at night. (this is how I understand the law) correct me if I'm wrong.

What a WCO thinks and can prove are not always the same.