Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Ethics?

Our hunting group was in the badlands of SD. We were taking a break for lunch. We hear a lot of shooting and hear four wheelers. Antelope race by with guys on four wheelers chasing them and shooting their semi-auto pistols and revolvers. That was sometime in the 70's.

The last time I was deer hunting the Bear Lodge Mountains my son and I were hiking to a remote spot and a bunch of guys rode by on their four wheelers. The area was posted all around "No motorized vehicles". Yet these guys were ruining it to those that were on foot hunting the area.

My brothers and I were heading back home after not scoring on an antelope hunt. (This was in the mid-sixties.) We saw a car full of "hunters" chasing antelope in their car, shooting out the windows.

There are things that are not ethical, even if the people think their practices are. Some people seem to think whatever they do is their own business, and no one should judge their "Hunting Style". Some people think that spraying lead with their semi-auto rifles instead of aiming is OK. Ever see an animal that is limping along with visible hit on the face, legs butt and guts? - I HAVE.

I think that laws are in place that limits the methods of hunting and for a good reason. One cannot rely on human judgement because what is ethical and what is not ethical is not in consideration by some and they lack the ability to make even moderately good decisions.

Ethics us what you do when the law doesn't cover it, and/or nobody is looking.

Mostly a subjective thing, I guess.

(if your ethics don't meet my approval, you are just plain flat wrong... . )

Don't you mean physiology?

SLM;
Morning sir, I hope your day has started on a positive note and you're having a decent winter down in your section of New Mexico.

As I've said a bunch of times, I've been teaching our BC Hunter Safety Course for more than 30 years now. The way we do it is 7 nights of discussion and lectures, one afternoon of range time which is optional and then a test night.

Anyways one of the nights is conservation and hunter ethics which as we might imagine has changed in the time I've been involved.

We didn't used to talk about posting hunt photos and videos on social media for instance, but do now.

Personally I've always felt it was just a tad unfair to the animal when it was bedded and hunters stalked it using radio contact with each other - so one hunter/spotter watches the animal while the others put a stalk on it and use radios. As I read the BC regs that's legal and it's a "me thing" not a legal thing.

We can bait deer legally, but not bears - but we can chase bears and cats with hounds. We do have the "edible portions" fairly defined for most animals which includes black bears but not wolves or cougars.

Drones, aircraft, infrared scopes and wireless trail cameras cannot be used for hunting here, though I still see game cams up all over the place.

All that to say that ethics seem to be both regional and personal at times, then are sometimes defined as legal/unlawful and sometimes it's pretty grey.

Thanks for the topic and for those who've posted as it both gives me something to think about and more course material in a couple months.

Best to you all.

Dwayne

I have a friend who's a die hard bowhunting "purist". He won't hunt deer or elk with a rifle because it's not "fair". But he has no problem sitting over corn for whitetails or water holes for elk with his bow.

I started the day vertical so it’s a good start, hope yours is as well.


Well thought out reply as usual. I completely agree, “ethics” can be regional as much as personal. We all have our definition of sporting/ethics which is fine as long as it’s legal.

I do think technology and it’s role in take will start being more of a conversation in the coming years.

Same question would likely hold for any antelope hunting in a dry year.

I guess y' gotta ask how arid is arid?

Ya, it was basically towards all big game in an arid climate.

If a person has the fortitude to sit a pop up blind all day in August in NM I hope like hell they get one.

Ethics and law are very regional and Alaska raises the bar on goofy.

In SE no big game may be shot from a boat. On Kodiak bears may not be shot from a boat and on bears your hunt is over once you draw Kodiak bear blood. In Prince William Sound you may not shoot bears from a boat. In the rest of AK you can shoot anything from a boat.

State-wide you cannot shoot swimming big game... except caribou in Unit 23 and 26... way up north.

Statewide you cannot hunt big game until 3AM the next day after flying, except deer.

There are other goofy things so make sure you bring your own pocket attorney...

Interesting topic for sure. I don’t believe government can legislate “ethics” always. Exceptions exist

What are opinions on taking game outside stratified seasons?

Taking game without government permission (license)?

Taking game by means considered illegal by government?



If I was struggling to feed myself or my family, putting food on the table would dictate ethics

Anatomy?

One unit I hunt moose in, has a section that is a State Recreation area, hunting is allowed under the general hunting regs .... except no discharge of firearms within, so bow hunting only ...

I set up near the border & call the moose out several hundred yards outside of the Rec Area and hammer the snot out of them with a 338 Edge & 300 gr bullets, never had a single one make a step after bullet impact

Have taken some decent mid 50" & a few 60" bulls in that area over the years

Got into it with a self-aggrandizing Fred Bear bow moron who screeched about ethics ...

He seems to think that there is an imaginary ethical buffer outside the border for rifle hunters to keep away from , WTF is the border for then ?

BUT ... has zero issues hunting outside the bow area, well into the rifle area

Some bow morons can be total little cun ts

All the below would be poaching. Game laws are pretty black and white, ethics can have some grey.

From time to time I ponder this

Ethical vs. unethical

Legal vs. Illegal

Moral vs. Immoral.

ya!

GWB

I agree that you can't legislate ethics. I think the answer to all three of your questions is a big "it depends on the situation" as far as ethical vs. unethical.

If by breaking the law you're also damaging the resource, or taking something of value that lots of people want and you're not entitled to, it's unethical.

My examples of illegal and unethical would be killing a big bull elk either out of season or in a limited tag unit where you don't have a tag, illegal and clearly unethical in my book.

Contrast that with gigging a catfish in a pond on your own property, that you stocked, or killing a doe out of an overpopulated herd on your own land outside the season. Both might be illegal but they're not unethical, in my opinion.

nor immoral.

ya!

GWB

It can send you down a rabbit hole for sure.

When talking big knockers and psychology I think the sole link would be autonomy... and yes the non sequitur is intentional...

Shooting and trapping varmints including deer in the garden? I don't give a damn what anyone thinks, I make my own rules on my property. Anyone that can think for themselves knows the difference between right and wrong.

I see the connection between psychology and autonomy. It can be summarized thusly:

If big knockers cause a man to let the little head do some of the thinking, autonomy is inversely proportional to the influence of the little head vs the big head.

I learned this in Psychology 101. Not from the professor, there was this blonde with big knockers....