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?".