ethics thread

[LT]

     I decided to start this thread so we (myself included) could vent a bit about unethical acts we have seen/will see during our hunt. What sparked it in my mind was an article I just read in Wyoming Wildlife, titled "Face of the Hunter". Therein mentioned was a bumper-sticker on a hunter's pickup which read, "Happiness is a warm gutpile".
     The wording of the sticker troubled me and I had to think about it for a few minutes to determine what it was about the slogan. It reaches deep into me and cattle-prods something I'm very particular and touchy about...the dignity of the animal. Reducing the kill to that...detracts from the sport of preparation, stalking and a clean kill. Notice I didn't say "harvest". For me, to each their own here, I face the reality that I have just taken the life of a big game animal. While the term, harvest, is appropriate in general to game managament, I prefer to face what I have done on my way to filling the freezer. I didn't harvest it...I killed it.
      Yes, packing my critter out of the woods is a very satisying experience, but not because I nonchalantly left it's innards steaming in the forest. 
                                                         ICENSNOWMNSTR bow-stalking

[Mooter]

I recently was watching a Whitetail hunting show on VS's when a debate came to my attention.  They were talking about the pros and cons of a "Big Buck Contest".  Are we as hunters going to draw the public eye to see us as "Horn Hunters".  I love being in nature and see the creatures that the good Lord bless my eyes to see.  I will strive even to find bigger animals not so much as to have a bigger rack on my wall but to harvest more meat to feed my family.  The idea of a "Big Buck Contest" would just give anti-hunting organizations more fuel for there quest to end my favorite past time and my source of meat for my families table.  My goal when I set out into the field to harvest a animal is strictly meat and game management.  Us as hunters need to not give the public a bloody cruel image of the "Rambo Hunter" and show the positive and ethical ways that we were all brought up with.

[adkRoy]

Some places by me have switched from big buck contest to heaviest deer. They go by field dressed weight. That way you can enter buck or doe.

[Mooter]

Oh Richard

[BoneHead]

Now i'm no biologist but that looks like it hurts. Talk about a bad case of blue balls

[BoneHead]

Gotta be a Wyoming deer. The countryside is riddled with big buck tracks with a drag mark through the middle of them.

It must be in the water. Any nuke plants nearby? Maybe its the minerals. Probably good genetics
" hey ladies"

[Mooter]

Gotta be a Wyoming deer. The countryside is riddled with big buck tracks with a drag mark through the middle of them.

You better believe it

[LT]

Well, I'll tell ya partner, if it's a big whatchicallit  contest, I think you got it won already ! BTW, thanks to all my buddies for not jumping on me about the use of the term "kill" as opposed to "harvest". I should have been more clear about my point. For me, I love the scouting, preparation, stalk and having the meat...nothing better...just regret that something has to die to feed me, "Kill" is my personal way of facing it. That's the problem with the anti-hunter crowd. Few of them are vegetarians, they'll tell you in a heartbeat how much they love a great steak. 
     Hypocrisy on their part? You bet. Anyway, thanks guys, I meant no criticism to any of my buddies here. 

                                                                       LT

                                                                   

[LT]

I recently was watching a Whitetail hunting show on VS's when a debate came to my attention.  They were talking about the pros and cons of a "Big Buck Contest".  Are we as hunters going to draw the public eye to see us as "Horn Hunters".  I love being in nature and see the creatures that the good Lord bless my eyes to see.  I will strive even to find bigger animals not so much as to have a bigger rack on my wall but to harvest more meat to feed my family.  The idea of a "Big Buck Contest" would just give anti-hunting organizations more fuel for there quest to end my favorite past time and my source of meat for my families table.  My goal when I set out into the field to harvest a animal is strictly meat and game management.  Us as hunters need to not give the public a bloody cruel image of the "Rambo Hunter" and show the positive and ethical ways that we were all brought up with.

Amen to that, Mooter, btw, there was an article in the Casper paper which cited statistics that hunting/fishng was down by 13% nationally. First glance at that makes me wonder, considering the sheer numbers I have seen on public lands lately. Less impact will make it easier for the rest of us to fill our tags, but if there really is such a trend downward, we could soon find ourselves in a hunting-minority-vacuum. I wonder what will happen to this country when we can no longer put meat and fish on our dinner tables unless we go to the butcher shop. Well said too Mooter, about fueling PETA fires. 
                                                                           ICENSNWMNSTR

[LT]

In the casper Tribune this am is a story in the sports section titled , "T.O. shares opinions." He's always had those, I guess. On the topic of dogfighting he said, he compared it to deer hunting, "They cut off their heads and mount them on the wall...they are animals as well...I don't see the difference."    By making that statement that he's been there and "done that when he was younger" he aligns himself with M. Vick and talk about dragging deer hunters down to bottom-feeder level with them, sheesh!   I imagine he'll pay dearly for that remark in the state sporting the largest whitetail herd in the country and the most deer hunters, huh?
                                                                  el-Teeeeee

[LT]

HMMMM.....Maybe we could have a contest for the biggest.........

     Any idea what that's about? Biologically, I mean? Never seen anything of that sort.
                                                              ICE   

[Mooter]

ITS CALL MASSIVE NUT SYNDROM.  I HAPPEN TO SUFFER FROM THE SAME THING.   

[LT]

  I think I've heard what causes that! You huntin' buddy? How's the recent addition?
                                                                      D

[Mooter]

GREAT MAN
I'VE JUST BUSTED A GOAT THIS YEAR.  OTHER SEASONS DON'T OPEN TILL OCT

[LT]

Yeah, nice pics, I saw, congrats. My elk herd of a dozen or so have finally showed up at their usual creek crossing spot quite regularl;y, I'm guessing 9-12 with a spike, raghorn and at least a 5 X 5...that'll be a daylight thing tomorrow, actually I'll be sitting there in the dark with a nok'd arrow and my heart pounding.
                                                                    ICEd (I wish!)