Spot Lighting Discourse Community!

Justin Linse

Zuzu

Writ 101

11/1/11

“Spot Lighting”

Through my 19 years of existence I have been a part of many different types of discourse communities. Baseball, basketball, football, golf, hunting, just overall athletic communities. But one discourse community I particularly enjoy is the Spot Lighting community. Most people are not familiar with this community because not many people like guns as much as my friends and I do. Growing up with a father that always shot guns and a mother that always hated guns, I really found myself in a kind of tug-of-war between the two, but I decided that weapons are awesome so I gave them a try. Living in Montana really helped my love of guns and other weapons grow more than I could have ever imagined. Once I got with a group of guys that really loved the same things I did, I realized that the sky was the limit for what we could do with them.

It all started with my first kill. I was just messing around with a pellet gun and I saw a little bird on a telephone line and that was end of story for that little creature. From there I just wanted bigger guns and more things to shoot at. When I finally got to shoot a .22, just a very small caliber gun, is when I started my killing rampage. From birds to foxes, to even the house cat. Needless to say, my grandparents weren’t so happy with me after that kill, I learned a valuable lesson: Make sure you don’t get caught! From there on whatever I killed I kept to myself.

The fun just got better from there on. Once my friends and I got our first cars we began going for more “Crafty” kills. My friend Garson had just gotten a high powered airsoft rifle which virtually made no sound at all so as a group we drove around town during the day and shot bunnies and birds wherever we saw them. We were not scared of getting caught because an air rifle is barely considered a gun in Montana, so no one would have been expecting it. But later on we found that we desired more. As we got older and wiser, so did our plans of attack. So one night Garson, Ryan and myself decided to grab a spotlight and some .22s and go shoot some little animals in the middle of the night.

This was obvious what this was called “Spotlighting”. “It’s really fun” said Garson in an interview that I had with him. “Just an example of this would be this one time 3 of us shot a little kitten in the face and out of a tree and it was fun as shit.” Garson is one of us seasoned veterans in the act of spotlighting. He always knows where to go that will be a solid place to shine a light and kill animals. “They just don’t expect to be shot in the face,” he says.

As a discourse community we don’t really write down much at all. We basically just go out in the middle of the night and shine unexpecting animals then shoot them. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. It’s a thinking man’s game. We use calls a lot and different colored lights work in different ways. Everything we do as a community has the same goal, and that’s to get as many kills as possible in one night. It’s not for everyone that’s for sure, but it’s a blast once you get into the sport and really get involved with everything going on.

The cars we use have a huge impact on how well our night will go. The ideal vehicle that we used was an SUV that Garson had. It had a sun roof that people could sit out of, and the back seat was great for holding way more guns than people in the car. Trucks were also very effective especially if the back window could slide open. Anything that could carry a lot of people and that could get to the places that we went. So a car would not be a practical vehicle for the rides on the bad terrain.

The lights that we use can play a big role in what goes on too. The normal light that we shine goes out farther and we can see eyes better, but the animals can see it better. We also have a red lenses that does not go out as far, but the animals can’t see the light so they don’t run when they are looking at us. They both have pros and cons, but as long as you have a light, something is bound to die.

Guns. This is probably the most important part of the whole community and it really ties the whole game together. A .22 is sometimes the ideal weapon of choice. It’s not very loud and it can get kills no matter where you are at. Depending on where we are at has an effect on the guns that we use. Sometimes when we are out in the middle of nowhere we will pull out a 7 mm. That is a hunting rifle that is commonly used to take down elk. It’s very loud but when an animal is hit, it generally explodes. A .223 is also a very good gun to use while out in the boonies (middle of nowhere). It’s pretty loud, but the round is perfect for taking down any animal we are out to shoot. Hand guns are also very vital to the weapon arsenal. We usually have at least one if not two different hand guns on us to finish off the animals. We have used a .40, .22, .357, or a .38 special. All of these hand guns serve the same purpose in the end.

A thing that we use that is never overlooked is hunting knives. These can be used in a wide variety, but usually they are used to finish off a fatally wounded animal. One time we were out and had shot a couple raccoons and they are feisty little critters. Almost being bitten multiple times I finally got a jab that finished the job. 

As a whole, we don’t really have many code words at all. We basically just see the animals and shoot them. But music is definitely a job for the heavy metal. We turn the volume all the way up and go out into the night not to return until early morning. To go out that late, sometimes it gets pretty chilly, so make sure to bundle up nicely or weather appropriate for leaning outside the window or riding on top of a car going about 20mph.

Spotlighting is highly illegal in most cases. It is not “recommended” by me or the other members to do unless you know you will not be caught. Unless you have some private land that you own or have permission to shoot on, you probably should use extreme caution.

We are all great friends and all have a great time in the night together. It’s not a smart idea to go out with people that you don’t like because with a bunch of guns you don’t want anything bad to happen in the middle of nowhere.

As a whole, spotlighting is a ton of fun if that’s the kind of thing you are into. As my friend Luke said in our interview “It’s just a ton of fun shooting animals in the dark.” It doesn’t take much to go out and do this. It just takes a car a few people, a spot light, and a couple guns. If you think it’s for you, I recommend going out with some close hunting friends and giving it a try. Just remember that when you go out, it’s the middle of the night and not many people will see you, so shoot what you see and keep it to yourself. I know that I will be out shooting in the middle of the night with some buddies and a spotlight in hand till the day that I die. Happy Spotlighting!