I’ve stopped applying my personal hunting ethics to others, and frankly wish others would do the same.

[BuckeyeRifleman]

As a guy who has hung around both forums and the hunting community at large for over 20 years now, I’ve learned to stop applying my personal hunter ethics to everyone else, and I wish others would follow in the same mindset.

I often hunt with a recurve. I like the challenge. Most people I tell that to admire my “ethic” by doing so… Yet they would probably scoff at a long rang hunter who might take an 800 yard shoot with a very specialized rifle and specialized equipment. Hell they might scoff at my personal max of 500 yards with a rifle.

I know with my sightless bow, and arrow slugging along at ~140 fps or whatnot the chance something happening (deer moving, etc) that results in a lost or wounded critter is just as high if not higher than the long range guy. I know this as a guy who shoots long range with a rifle quite frequently.

I don’t kid myself in thinking that my recurve hunting makes me morally superior. It doesn’t. I just like it. I like the challenge. I like it for the personal challenge of having to get close to game prior to taking a shot, and hopefully taking that shot without the deer realizing it.

A good argument could be made in the archery hunting world that the often loathed crossbow hunter is in reality the most ethical guy in the woods. His equipment gives him the highest probability of success and the lowest chance of a wounded animal. Hell, years I haven’t kept up to snuff with my recurve shooting I’ve hunted with a crossbow.

Bottom line as long as people are following the law, and not purposely wounding game, I don’t care. You do you.

If something really bothers you, take it to the state game commission and change the regs. Otherwise you are wasting your breath and likely harming the hunting community to boot.

 

[ODB]

A great idea until people’s actions result in laws being made that restrict those who do not do stupid things from being able to hunt.

A law describes the lowest form of expected behaviour. There is always a benefit in acting in a way that is better than the law. If you favor the law as the arbiter of your ability to do a thing, you must favor it when the law turns against you.

Do you? I don’t.

 

[BuckeyeRifleman]

A great idea until people’s actions result in laws being made that restrict those who do not do stupid things from being able to hunt.

A law describes the lowest form of expected behaviour. There is always a benefit in acting in a way that is better than the law. If you favor the law as the arbiter of your ability to do a thing, you must favor it when the law turns against you.

Do you? I don’t.

Of course I strive to exceed lawful behavior. It might be lawful to cheat on my wife, but I wouldn’t dream of doing it for example.

My point being, every internet hunting story someone comes along as the self righteous morally superior ethics police. The shot was too far, the animal too young, the caliber too weak or overkill. Etc etc.

It’s just tiresome.

 

[Bighorner]

I think a lot could be cleared up if a guy just states what his wound loss and miss percentage is rather than how far he can shoot. If you are better than 90 percent at a 1000 yards that pretty well ends the conversation. If you are 50 percent with a recurve at 25, well better start to think about that cross bow.

I can sling arrows all season at 100 yards. If I go out enough I'm going to stick and antelope. Before I pat myself on the back as an archer I need to think about how many wounded or missed antelope it took to get there. And if I want to brag about my 600 yard shot cross canyon while holding a head minus the jaw, maybe I should back up that stat with my ratio of first shot hits? I think its reasonable.

 

[streetdoctor]

Of course I strive to exceed lawful behavior. It might be lawful to cheat on my wife, but I wouldn’t dream of doing it for example.

My point being, every internet hunting story someone comes along as the self righteous morally superior ethics police. The shot was too far, the animal too young, the caliber too weak or overkill. Etc etc.

It’s just tiresome.

You have the option of signing out

 

[Stave]

I totally agree with you buckeye. I used to get frustrated with neighbors shooting smaller bucks. Hey, if they are happy, good for them.

Of course, I'll still try to convince other hunters to let deer grow . . . But if their priorities are not the same as mine, I still wish them a successful hunt and I still celebrate their success

Don't break the law.
Don't waste meat.
Be thankful. Amen.

 

[MattB]

Bottom line as long as people are following the law, and not purposely wounding game, I don’t care. You do you.

The regulations don't prohibit purposefully wounding game. Don't put your ethics on me.

EDIT: before anyone takes my comment seriously, the law is the lowest common denominator and I generally think very little of people who invoke the law as justification for doing anything.

 

[jmez]

Stop expecting to find you in others.

Life is much simpler and enjoyable that way.

Sent from my moto g power (2021) using Tapatalk

 

[TSAMP]

I'll take it one step further. Don't let someone's criticism here bother you either. If you post on a forum your welcoming all feedback. Good or bad. If someone here says somthing that upsets you, perhaps there is truth to it.


Keep slinging mud I say. Following the rules of course. Keep moms out of it.

 

[JBrown1]

A while back someone wrote that hunting ethics, is not really about ethics as much as it is about aesthetics. When you look at it that way, it seems to take the edge off some of those negative comments.

When you look at the negative comments, they usually come packaged as "I don't like that because it is immoral", but what they usually mean is "I don't like that because that is not the way I prefer to see it done". And you don't have to look too hard to see that some of this comes from jealousy, and some comes from ego.

But I do agree with you that hunting forums would be better places if we could lose some of the negativity.

 

[*zap*]

Frankly I do not care what anyone else thinks about my lawful actions.

 

[Rich M]

A great idea until people’s actions result in laws being made that restrict those who do not do stupid things from being able to hunt.

A law describes the lowest form of expected behaviour. There is always a benefit in acting in a way that is better than the law. If you favor the law as the arbiter of your ability to do a thing, you must favor it when the law turns against you.

Do you? I don’t.

You know how laws get created?

People bitching. Waah, waah - he uses a xbow, they should be illegal. Then Johnny hears it and thinks it sounds good, so he gets behind it and starts waah, waah, then another and another. All driven by their "ethics". Then we get a law or hunting regulation change. It is pretty pathetic. Hunters and their ethics are pretty pathetic.

I'm not for allowing the noisy hunters to define the laws - they tend to favor their own ways and disregard others. Or if someone steps on their toes, they try to change the rules - even if it hurts them too.

What about game cameras? Hunters have already turned on themselves in that situation. Bunch of idiots.

 

[TFrank]

Try my best to be from this school of thought:

For the most part stop caring about what other people think of you. They should feel the same way about your opinion as well. Care about what is actually important in your life.

We humans are all equally stupid.

 

[displacedtexan]

What's legal ain't always right.

What's right ain't always legal.




If people want to talk (or post) openly about their actions, they better be open to other's opinions on them.

 

[KenLee]

I've made it to the point where if it's not safety related, I don't care what others do.
The only ones I call out are those that bitch about others shooting small bucks, then I find out that they are killing 2.5 yr old whitetails. Just saw pics from a neighbor where he took his dog to find a dink stuck by a self proclaimed trophy hunter less than a week into a 3.5 month long season.
Don't fault folks for what you also do.

 

[displacedtexan]

I've made it to the point where if it's not safety related, I don't care what others do.
The only ones I call out are those that bitch about others shooting small bucks, then I find out that they are killing 2.5 yr old whitetails. Just saw pics from a neighbor where he took his dog to find a dink stuck by a self proclaimed trophy hunter less than a week into a 3.5 month long season.
Don't fault folks for what you also do.

A related thing that irritates me as a quail hunter...

People who complain about low bird numbers but will hammer a 15 bird covey hard enough on a cold January day to kill their 12 bird limit out of it. Sorry man, you just exterminated that covey.

 

[KenLee]

I haven't seen a decent sized covey of wild quail in 25 yrs in Upstate SC

 

[displacedtexan]

I haven't seen a decent sized covey of wild quail in 25 yrs in Upstate SC

I've never seen one... Started hunting almost 18 years ago.

 

[*zap*]

you want more quail then trap nest predators...dp's are e-z to use with success.

 

[Yarak]

If youre really concerned about what people think then maybe you shouldnt post
Seriously
All men should be beyond the teenage stage of worrying about what is popular or what someone is going to think or having the need to impress someone
If you like what youre doing and your methods work for you then what everyone else thinks or says doesnt matter