Coyote Hunting With Artificial Light

[StevieP]

I emailed MassWildLife about this last week:

Hello,

I’m a licensed hunter, and considering trying for coyotes this year.

My question is with regards to hunting under “artificial light.” I presume this means no use of spotlights, etc.

What about “natural” light? Could someone set up an (e.g.) tiki torch in a field, near an electronic call and/or decoy (already allowed)?

In other words, is “fire” considered artificial light?

I’ve asked this question to some other sportsmen and hunters, and nobody seems to have an answer.

Their response:

Hi Steve,

A fire lit by someone is considered artificial light, so therefore, it is not allowed for coyote hunting.

Sincerely,

Bridgett McAlice, Wildlife Biologist

I sent this follow-up question, with no response to date:

Hi Bridgett,

May I ask a follow-up question, then?

Why not just say “hunting by means of ANY light” is disallowed?

Or are you saying if there’s a fire caused by a lightning strike or other natural cause, THEN we can use that light to hunt by?

Why put the adjective “artificial” if NO light of any kind is allowed?

Confusing, ambiguous regulation, if you ask me (not that you did…).

Thanks,
-Steve

 

[pupchow]

I emailed MassWildLife about this last week:

Looks like a trip to the Amazon is in order

 

[dixidawg]

I think you would need to confirm this with the EPO's as DFW isn't law enforcement. It would be up to the EPO's to interpret and enforce the laws and regs.

 

[mac1911]

A past discussion on this topic netted a concensus that the "chambering" of a .22LR is the defining characteristic of the regulation. Bearing the intention of the regulation, the bore size of a .22LR carries no weight, for the sake of comparison to other chamberings.

Thread revival , so I have a young mass EP that lives near by and I asked him about night vision and 22lr chambering at night restrictions .
He said that the abstracts are written much like our laws a little to vague and not always in a black and white style they should be.
Night vision gets weird as he says all of it has to be contained in the optic you can't flood a area with IR spot lights.
As for 22lr its still confusing : he has yet to come across any violators. His best advice is if you find yourself up against this charge they will take what ever cartridge your using if it does not fit a 22lr chamber your most likely going to get cited.
He does not under stand why they don't make it more clear.
He is also surprised they have not put max and min velocity to keep folks from using shorts.

 

[mac1911]

If you could get a coyote to show up with a campfire near by then more power to you, I can't picture that happening.

They don't generally spook when they set off my spot lights? A fire is only going to make your vision worse unless they step right up to the fire but I feel the time they come out to check the spot the fire will have died down. Now toss in open fire regs in mass your leaving yourself open for more options for the EP to tag you with