Montana's Light Law

Randy,

Lights are legal here for predators and non game animals, public or private.

It's hard to find but I did see it there before. I'll look again.

Brad
 
Brad,

If you can find it, I'd appreciate it. I've been all over their website and they sure don't identify much at all for coyotes!

Thanks
Randy
 
Randy--I just got done talking to a member of the Enforcement Division of the MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department and he said it is completely legal to use a spotlight to take coyotes in Montana. He did say, you must have permission to hunt on private land and it is a good idea to inform the landowner that you will be out using a spotlight. Even if you do that, there are other neighbors around who will be calling the Enforcement Division telling them they see someone out spotlighting.

Hope this helps.
 
Brad--don't feel bad about not being able to find it in those regs. Even the Enforcement Dept. agent I talked to couldn't find it in the regs!!!! He swears it is leagal though.
 
wouldnt bet on it,you will be visited by a F&G officer if you uee a spotlight on anything,including using one to change irrigation dams,i know that from experience.
 
Nothing wrong with being visted by a F&W officer as long as You are not violating any Game laws when hunting Predators at night.You might even consider locating the Local Game Warden in the area You are going to Hunt and calling him and let him know where You are going to be and what You are doing or meet him at his office and visit with him about what You are doing before You ever go hunting . sure clears the air sometimes if You have met him before He lights You up in the Middle of the night to check You.

He will probably check you even after You meet him but He is doing His Job and when He realizes You are being legal and trying to make his job a little easier by letting him know that You will be in the area where You told him You would be , He will have a little more faith in you in the Future.
 
even if you do they will ask you to stop using the light so the people in the area will stop calling them,they have to investigate every call.You may be able to do it without problems if you get access to a big chunk of private land off any major roads.Remember that if you are on blm or forest service there may a different set of rules other than what the F&G has set.Finding that out the hard way may be very expensive,the feds who patrol those lands are like the damned nazis of the the F&G.
 
I have used the spotlight to hunt at night and the only trouble I got into was when I got the spotlight cord wrapped around my leg when I tried to step outside, It was Illeagel to use a spot light in Mt. "where Game was known to be" as the law read, which by the way is jsut about everywhere, it was like that for just a few years and then they changed it back, You can use it to hunt NON Game animales and As Silverfox said you must have permission on Private lands.
 
on a state hunt one time, we were visited by legendary calif. game warden Vern brant. we were down by the owens river out of manzenar internment camp.. he pops out of the trees and said he got reports we were shooting frogs on the river. we were checking zero on our rifles for the night hunt!! when we said we were on a state hunt he got POed be cause nobody called him so he could go baby sit the elk.. the locals see our lights and pop a elk and blame us. he loved his job!! he caught charlie manson and took him to independence jail house!! he was a tough old bird!!
 
there are rules about being away from roads, farms, towns and stuff like that (i can't find it in writing but i did hear it from the local gamewarden) and he strongly recomended not during deer, antelope, or bird season here in eastern mt
 
I'm going to head out and give it a shot most likely in January.

Thanks for all the responses guys. I was almost 100% sure it was legal but couldn't find the language ANYWHERE!

Thanks
Randy
 
Randy--The rules about spotlighting on federal land in Montana are no different than the state rules. It is legal on non-game animals on private, state-owned, and federal lands.

I, for one, believe this enforcement officer knew the law and wasn't blowing smoke in my ear!

The suggestion to contact the local game warden to let him know what you are going to do is an excellent one. There should be some literature from the MT G&F Dept. that might list the name and contact numbers for local game wardens. I'd hate to have to come all the way out to Montana to bail you out of jail /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif
 
There shouldn't be any problems. If I get thrown in the clink, I'll just explain that LeRoy said it would be fine. I'm sure I'd be out in no time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif HEY... don't get me in the middle of this, unless I can come along on the hunt... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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