Jacklighting, Tools of the Trade

For those unfamiliar with the term, Jacklighting is the act of unlawfully shining a light on an animal in an attempt to kill it. While spotlighting (the act of shining a light on wildlife) is legal in Pennsylvania within certain hours; the possession of weapons capable of killing game is not, with few exceptions.

As a young Deputy Conservation Officer I was assigned to work under a District Officer who had came to the conclusion that jacklighting was to be our major focus. He reasoned that jacklighting; while very prevalent at the time was a socially unacceptable violation and one we could do something about. At the time we were a force of nearly a dozen officers with a county of four hundred square miles. By concentrating our efforts in a particular area on any given night we were able to increase our odds of apprehending jacklighters significantly. The following is a short story about one of the more unusual apprehensions from those early years.

Thanksgiving had just passed and our rural county was experiencing its annual population increase as hunters arrived. As some hunters cannot wait until the season; we officers were working patrols all throughout the nights. On this particular night a fellow officer noticed a vehicle spotlighting after hours along a secluded forestry road that follows a mountain top for many miles. As he could watch the vehicle’s progress from his vantage point some ten miles away; we decided that I would attempt to get into position for the stop. I knew it was a long shot as I had many miles to cover so I felt no need to hurry.

Time flew by as I traveled the country roads and some forty five minutes had elapsed by the time he informed me that I was getting near. The suspect’s vehicle had been moving south the entire time and as I had entered the south end of the road a head on encounter was about to ensue. As I needed to observe the spotlight coming from the vehicle prior to the stop, I pulled over and shut down.

In a few moments I could see their vehicle slowly approaching as they shined the spotlight into every nook and cranny in their attempt to locate deer. I can imagine their surprise when their night took a turn for the worse as I activated the red lights.

Soon the incident was under control, they looked on in astonishment as I removed the loaded rifle that had been between the two occupants, along with their spotlight. They had felt secure in this remote area while they went about their deadly task. Little did they realize that what appeared to them to be heavy forest along the road was only a thin screen of trees that allowed an officer, miles away, to follow their every move as they searched for a buck.

Neither could they have imagined that I had traveled twenty two miles, much of it over back country roads, to be in position to apprehend them.