Ethics Question: Do you notch your tag if you shoot an animal but can't recover it?

[Azone]

If its gut shot or a shot with a good probability of being fatal yes I would.
If it's a flesh wound or a grazing shot I would probably continue hunting.
It's a personal call for all of us.
Feeding scavengers is not on my list of things to accomplish unless it's a gut pile or boned out carcass. If your not comfortable with the shot dont take it. If you have never shot that far dont take it.
If you wound one and cant recover it shame on the circumstances I guess. If you wound a second one on the same tag and keep hunting shame on your ethics. Sometimes stuff is not meant to be, just throw in the towel and step away.
This coming from a guy who has ate the slice of humble pie from losing a crippled buck.

 

[Lifelong Learner]

First post on this site.......over 40 years in bowhunting and archery.....not a "newbie" by any stretch. A few years ago I shot a whitetail buck about 20 minutes before the end of legal shooting time. Quartering away at 25ish.....looked decent but maybe a tad high and back. I was hunting alone and made the decision to back out without any pressure in case it was a marginal hit that required some time for the animal to expire. Not my favorite scenario leaving an animal overnight, but we all know that "stuff happens" in the woods.

Went online that night and happened to cross paths with a longtime friend who had recently taken up dog tracking after playing with the idea for years. He was training his first young dog and volunteered to come out the next morning to help me out. I figured it would be a fairly easy recovery......especially with the added nose of the dachshund-in-training.....well not so much. By 11am we had been all over that woodlot and into the large grass field behind it on the neighboring property. It was pretty cool overnight, but was warning up and my friend finally suggested that it was a lost cause and took his dog home. Standing their sweating and frustrated, I had a gut feeling things were not the way they appeared.

I took about a week off from that location and took my visiting son-in-law back with me to see if things had settled down from all our traipsing around with the dog. We saw nothing that morning, but my son-in-law mentioned a really foul odor wafting towards his stand when the wind shifted to the north. The lightbulb went on and I suggested WE play canine in training by following our noses. Cutting to the chase, we found my "lost" buck in about 10 minutes by simply following our noses. He had taken an odd route around a drainage ditch on the property and dove into a really dense thicket of brush at the edge of some standing corn.....and never got back up. Clearly the dog was not ready at that point and ended up compounding the trailing task rather than sorting it out. With a 2/3 consumed and fully rotting carcass at my feet, I took out my folding saw and recovered the head......which I immediately attached my tag. Certainly no "victory" other than closure, but I felt responsible for killing the animal and not recovering it soon enough to save the meat.

 

[hobbes]

I believe in many states, recovery of the antlers requires attaching or "notching" your tag.

 

[Billy Goat]

Wouldn't it be illegal in many states to notch a tag without actually having a carcass with it? If you are carrying around a tag that is notched but isn't with a carcass I would think you would be illegal.

Now in the east many things need to be checked in, so checking in a deer that wasn't actually in hand would be illegal.

This is what I have always wondered about with guys notching a tag on something that wasn't recovered. I understand not continuing to hunt, but these to me are two different things.

 

[Idaho_Potato]

Placing your tag on an animal legally transfers ownership of that animal from the state to the person. Not sure what’s gained by notching a tag when that transfer of ownership has not taken place.

If you, or I, make a game day ethical decision to not pursue another animal don’t. Notching a tag isn’t necessary. Just go home.

But if you dont notch your tag how can you brag about how ethical you are on instagram?

 

[rodney482]

That would be a hard no from me

 

[Kootenay Hunter]

It’s the law in Canada to notch your tag even if you don’t recover the animal. From birds to big game.

Not so sure about that one. First off, wildlife regs are provincial. And I can only find in the BC regs that a species licence must be cancelled upon harvesting the animal. It does say you must pursue and animal as much as possible. But if you never found it, you never harvested it. So it still remains an ethical question.

 

[jmez]

No

 

[KClark]

Wouldn't it be illegal in many states to notch a tag without actually having a carcass with it? If you are carrying around a tag that is notched but isn't with a carcass I would think you would be illegal.

Now in the east many things need to be checked in, so checking in a deer that wasn't actually in hand would be illegal.

This is what I have always wondered about with guys notching a tag on something that wasn't recovered. I understand not continuing to hunt, but these to me are two different things.

This. If you have a notched tag with no carcass recovered, no evidence of sex and no evidence of species I think you might be looking at several infractions. When your mandatory harvest report gets randomly verified what would you say? I don't know for sure but I think here in Ca you would be explaining your actions to a judge.

 

[the_bowhunter]

But if you dont notch your tag how can you brag about how ethical you are on instagram?

Legitimate question here! The struggle is real


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[DAOutfitters208]

This. If you have a notched tag with no carcass recovered, no evidence of sex and no evidence of species I think you might be looking at several infractions. When your mandatory harvest report gets randomly verified what would you say? I don't know for sure but I think here in Ca you would be explaining your actions to a judge.

I have only interacted with game wardens while hunting. So assuming once you notch a tag you quit hunting that species and throw the tag out, what would a game warden be doing coming to your house to check you tags?

 

[Huntindog45]

another question. why even bother "notching the tag"? It is obviously just symbolic at that point. if you want to quit hunting fine but the point of notching a tag seems rather self serving, while actually serving no purpose at all. And now with online reporting requirements in many states you do run into the problems mentioned above. you "notch the tag" and then report your kill online and then for some reason you have interaction with a warden who has a record of you having filled your tag...where are the antlers you are supposed to retain? Where is the meat you are required by law to retain? Notching the tag on an animal that is not taken into possession doesn't make sense for a bunch of reasons.

 

[Jjamesdean]

I do all I can do to recover a hit animal. If I have exhausted all search efforts and done as much as could on my end to find it, I see no issue with someone resuming hunting. It’s very unfortunate to wound and not recover a animal, but all we can do in those situations as hunters is learn a lesson and move on. Hunting is most of our passion and I see no reason to deny yourself time in the woods over something you have absolutely no control over after the shot. If we all do our best to only take ethical shot selections we are comfortable with, it will greatly reduce these kinds of scenarios also!


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[MuleDeerMike]

I wonder if the same guys who say "hunting is only about the meat for me" will notch their only tag on an un-recovered animal? I'm there to hunt and anyone who has hunted for more than a couple years and has actually shot at animals knows that sometimes shit happens out of your control. You make an ethical shot within your limits and can't find the animal? Yes, that's a huge bummer for sure but I will always keep hunting until my tag is filled. At that point, redemption is more important to me than virtue signaling. But at the end of the day though it is a personal call and I won't fault someone for doing what they feel is right.

 

[rob86jeep]

100 votes so far and 23 people voted to stop hunting, 46 would continue to hunt, and 31 said it would depend (which I'm assuming most of them would continue to hunt short of some odd scenario).

There's really no right or wrong answer, but this is pretty interesting (to me at least) just to see what other people would do in these situations.

 

[Idaho Sandman]

It’s the law in Canada to notch your tag even if you don’t recover the animal. From birds to big game.

Care to post up a link to said law? Also what province as laws up there are provincial. Just curious as I e never hunted but have looked into it and have never heard that one.

 

[Idaho Sandman]

I wonder if the same guys who say "hunting is only about the meat for me" will notch their only tag on an un-recovered animal? I'm there to hunt and anyone who has hunted for more than a couple years and has actually shot at animals knows that sometimes shit happens out of your control. You make an ethical shot within your limits and can't find the animal? Yes, that's a huge bummer for sure but I will always keep hunting until my tag is filled. At that point, redemption is more important to me than virtue signaling. But at the end of the day though it is a personal call and I won't fault someone for doing what they feel is right.

Very well said and my sentiments as well.

 

[MtGomer]

Literally notch it? No.
What animal do you attach it to or present to a warden if asked to do so for your notched tag?

Theoretically... if I’m hunting whitetail does in a region that sells 5 tags, I would keep hunting.
Did you draw a once in a lifetime tag, for an animal with a low population? If so, the hit animal is yours and you should hunt it and only it until you find it or the season ends. But probably not literally cut your tag. What happens if you find it in 10 days and get pulled over driving out with a tag on it cut 10 days prior?

 

[Bugle2me]

No, I would not notch my tag. At that point your hunt is over. Which at that point you can no longer pursue that animal. I will however continue the search for it for the remainder of the season.

 

[KBC]

I haven’t read all the replies but I would not cut the tag if I didn’t recover it. Here’s why;
Today I drove through a game check in BC going to another spot to hunt. Right now where I’m hunting spike-fork moose are open ( I have a moose tag) but they require a compulsory inspection and in BC we must carry all our tags cut or not for the entire season. If I shot a moose this hunt and couldn’t recover it but still cut the tag, the Conservation officer at the check would have expected me to submit the head for inspection or have a record that I hadn’t already. If I cut the tag and don’t get the inspection, I’m breaking the law.
I don’t know if I would keep hunting if I couldn’t recover something, that would be a decision to make at that time.