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

[Sneaker]

I expend every effort to find wounded game, and if I can’t find it, I hunt on if it is legal and allowed.

 

[gbflyer]

Nothing goes to waste in nature. Plenty of freezer burned game meat goes to a landfill.

 

[velvet muley]

Nope, I'm not going with an empty freezer all winter, F&G take that into consideration when allocating tags.

 

[BCDJR]

I’ve seen some folks mentioning wounding an animal….not recovering the animal. Then continuing to hunt. My question is how many do you have to wound before you stop ?

 

[mtnbound]

If using my bow and I find my arrow with no blood on it, then I will continue to hunt.

If I cannot find my arrow, I have blood and can't locate the animal; my hunt is over, the tag is notched. There is no way to say 100% that that animal will not die from my shot later from infection or be weakened to the point that it cannot survive predators or the winter. Again, the tag would be notched.

Using a smaller caliber rifle, I can spot my shots and can see the animal's reaction to a hit. If I cannot find the animal, I notch my tag.

Using a Muzzle loader is the most challenging because I cannot spot the shot and often cannot see the animal's reaction. As a result, I rely on blood and tracking. However, I only shoot animals within my effective range, so I assume I've hit it, so my tag is noctched, whether I find the animal or not.

 

[grfox92]

No.

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[RyoTBC]

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

You must be from Ontario, speaking on behalf of the whole country like you’re in the centre of the universe lol.


The only province the guys on this forum really want to hunt is BC, and in BC you’d be BREAKING the law if you cut a tag and didn’t possess the animal.

You can NOT cut a tag if you don’t find it no matter what your feelings tell you to do.

Direct quote from the regs “

What to Avoid:

• Do not cut the tag:Cutting a tag on an unrecovered animal is not a permitted action and can result in penalties.

“


Please don’t speak on behalf of the entire country. You’ll give people terrible advice that will ruin their hunt.

 

[jmez]

No

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[7RemMag]

I’ve seen some folks mentioning wounding an animal….not recovering the animal. Then continuing to hunt. My question is how many do you have to wound before you stop ?

If wounding and/or not recovering game is a regular occurrence, a person should really be stopping and thinking about what they may or may not be doing to cause it. If this is an event that is happening to you more than once or twice every few years (and that is probably being generous), I'd wager you're making some decisions that YOU can alter that can prevent it from happening in the first place. At that point, I think your priorities are a little messed up if your concern is "How many is too many?".

 

[Fetty Wapiti]

If you draw blood you notch the tag. No questions no excuses. You failed. GAME OVER.

 

[ozyclint]

You must be from Ontario, speaking on behalf of the whole country like you’re in the centre of the universe lol.


The only province the guys on this forum really want to hunt is BC, and in BC you’d be BREAKING the law if you cut a tag and didn’t possess the animal.

You must be from BC, speaking on behalf of Rokslide like you're the centre of the universe. Lol.

BC is not the only province that guys on this forum want to hunt.

Alberta is more appealing to me because even as a non-resident alien I can hunt it under their hunter host system with a mate that lives there. Can basically DIY it.

Not so for BC. You have to have your hand held by a guide even if you live in Canada but not BC. That's a turn off.

 

[KurtR]

Nope. Only lost or thought i lost one deer looked for hours small dots of blood. Then carried on hunting. Deer was then seen two days later running does.

 

[idig4au]

I once shot a sheep that died and starting rolling down a face and ended up in a location that was unrecoverable. Tried to get to him but was unable to do it safely without serious risk of ending up in the same state. I walked away and notched my tag. My hunt was over. The outfitter offered to keep hunting but I declined as I harvested a sheep. The outfitter and guide were very appreciative and respected my decision. I had an even better hunt when I rebooked the same hunt in the following years.

 

[tall]

If wounding and/or not recovering game is a regular occurrence, a person should really be stopping and thinking about what they may or may not be doing to cause it.

Good point. Deciding whether to pull the trigger or wait for a better shot opportunity is a more important ethical decision in my opinion.

 

[7RemMag]

Good point. Deciding whether to pull the trigger or wait for a better shot opportunity is a more important ethical decision in my opinion.

We’re all human. We all make mistakes. Bullets can fail. A stick that we didn’t see is in the way, we misjudged distance. Maybe we rushed a shot we shouldn’t have. Many things can contribute to a wounded and/or unrecovered animal. Some of them are preventable, some are not. However, if you’re regularly wounding critters and not making changes, then any “ethics” discussion is null and void. At that point you’re demonstrating that you don’t actually care about the animal.

 

[wytx]

No, but the 2 times it happened to me I did not have the stomach to continue hunting. Once on an elk and the 1st on a young WT. Just couldn't get back after it.

These days it would depend if I kept hunting or not.
A nice muley that got away, nope not shooting at an other.
Elk, yes- we have too many where we hunt. I'll have multiple elk tags in my pocket this year as always.

Good point on the legality of notching a tag when you didn't actually kill the animal. I think it is more of a keep hunting question, not notching the tag.

 

[packgoatguy]

If wounding and/or not recovering game is a regular occurrence, a person should really be stopping and thinking about what they may or may not be doing to cause it. If this is an event that is happening to you more than once or twice every few years (and that is probably being generous), I'd wager you're making some decisions that YOU can alter that can prevent it from happening in the first place. At that point, I think your priorities are a little messed up if your concern is "How many is too many?".

I think that for many "hunters" (the rokslide crowd excluded of course) this is a far more common occurrence than we would like to believe...

One I witnessed through my spotter this season, they shot a half dozen times before connecting with a gut shot. Luckily, the deer didn't go far and they were able to re-aquire it once they hiked up the hill further. On another occasion this season, I watched a hunter through my spotter who shot at a small buck, again multiple times, but the buck did not appear hit (I watched it for a lot longer than they did). However, the hunter never took one step towards the deer to look for blood. Simply assumed that it was a clean miss and he left. On another occasion, I had an older guy come up to me in his sxs when I was putting my boots on at a trailhead... he asked how many deer I'd seen, and after a bit of chit chat he said "yeah, I took a shot at a doe around the corner there this morning, but she was over 400 yards, so I knew I wouldn't hit her... but hey, you don't hit what you don't shoot at right?"

Too many "hunters" don't know how to shoot, only shoot a few rounds a year in practice, and have no qualms with taking iffy shots at multiple deer per season. It would not surprise me if there was ever a way to truly monitor it, we would find that there are thousands of deer and elk being wounded each year...

 

[7RemMag]

I think that for many "hunters" (the rokslide crowd excluded of course) this is a far more common occurrence than we would like to believe...

One I witnessed through my spotter this season, they shot a half dozen times before connecting with a gut shot. Luckily, the deer didn't go far and they were able to re-aquire it once they hiked up the hill further. On another occasion this season, I watched a hunter through my spotter who shot at a small buck, again multiple times, but the buck did not appear hit (I watched it for a lot longer than they did). However, the hunter never took one step towards the deer to look for blood. Simply assumed that it was a clean miss and he left. On another occasion, I had an older guy come up to me in his sxs when I was putting my boots on at a trailhead... he asked how many deer I'd seen, and after a bit of chit chat he said "yeah, I took a shot at a doe around the corner there this morning, but she was over 400 yards, so I knew I wouldn't hit her... but hey, you don't hit what you don't shoot at right?"

Too many "hunters" don't know how to shoot, only shoot a few rounds a year in practice, and have no qualms with taking iffy shots at multiple deer per season. It would not surprise me if there was ever a way to truly monitor it, we would find that there are thousands of deer and elk being wounded each year...

I have had my share of rodeos and I’ve been involved in more yet, and I can generally agree. There’s a lot of dingbats out there. We can’t regulate morality though, and attempts to do so always seem to hurt the unintended more than the perpetrators.

Everyone makes mistakes. However, The ultimate measure for me of an outdoorsman’s character is not so much about the mistake he made as it is what he does after. When he fails to recover an animal he wounded, how does he feel about it and what is his attitude? Does he think about what he could have done differently, or does he brush it off as “one that got away” and go make the same mistake again. Of course, your example of the fella with the doe is a little bit different situation. I just don’t see how guys can wound or not recover game and not look at it as an opportunity to step back and make some adjustments and reconsideration if necessary.

 

[clove2180]

I whitetail hunt, so no. You can like a crap ton of tags and I never use the a lotted amount anyway.


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[Sanchez]

No I do not notch my tag.

I believe it is illegal to notch your tag unless you harvest an animal. Maybe you could throw it in the fire or trash without notching it.

I stop hunting if I think I will wound animals. It has nothing to do with notching the tag. That is grandstanding.

Everybody who says they notch their tag is a self righteous egotistical who is most likely dishonest.