Be sure to click on the opinion link at the bottom of the article as it will take you to the courts full decision.
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Pa. court upholds ban on spotlighting deer
4/12/2005, 4:31 p.m. ET
By MARK SCOLFORO
The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A township prohibition on the recreational spotlighting of deer was upheld Tuesday by Commonwealth Court even though state hunting laws specifically allow the practice.
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A Butler County man had claimed a municipal ban on spotlighting — a pastime in which motorists employ powerful searchlights to observe wildlife, mostly deer, at night — was pre-empted because local governments cannot enact their own hunting ordinances.
The three-judge panel cited individual privacy rights in upholding Lancaster Township's 1982 ordinance that prohibits shining a high-powered light across another's land.
"The famous adage, 'A man's home is his castle' is applicable in this instance," wrote President Judge James Gardner Colins. "A bright beaming ray of light illuminating one's house or property could very well be considered an invasion of privacy, and this ordinance prohibits this conduct appropriately and within the local municipality's police power."
Charles E. Brandon, a retired farmer and mill worker, was cited for spotlighting his in-law's property just after 10 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2002, and was assessed $146 in fines and costs. He estimated Tuesday he has spent about $5,000 on losing appeals and does not plan to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
"I was doing it more or less for the people in the future," said Brandon, 68, a lifelong deer hunter. He lives in a neighboring township and was aware of Lancaster Township's ordinance before being charged.
Brandon's lawyer, Michael English, said the court should have considered spotlighting an element of hunting. "It's not, we feel, a fair characterization to split the two out and look at them as two separate activities," he said.
Township solicitor Thomas L. Smith said the prohibition enjoys wide support in the rural municipality of 1,500 people, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. Most violators are simply issued warnings, he said.
Without the ordinance, "people would have the right to literally pull up to your yard every night and shine a spotlight across your yard — really, that's trespassing," Smith said.
Anti-spotlighting ordinances are rare in Pennsylvania, said Game Commission spokesman Carl Graybill.
The Game and Wildlife Code allows spotlighting before 11 p.m. but not at all during rifle deer season. It's illegal under the state rules to spotlight a building, farm animals or a sensor controlling a dusk-to-dawn light, and spotlighters may not be in the possession of a weapon capable of killing wildlife.
"Jacklighting," the practice of using a spotlight to hunt illegally at night, imposes additional penalties of $500 for killing a deer, $800 for a bear or an elk, and $1,000 for an endangered or threatened species.
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On the Net:
Opinion: http://www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting ... -12-05.pdf
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