Keep hunting?

[MattB]

Why don’t they make if you hit it tag and not a carcass tag?

Alaska actually does just that for bears on POW. Maybe ask them why if you are interested?

 

[Rifleman86]

To me it’s about the biological impact.

Under objective unit? I’ll probably punch the tag.

Over objective? Keep hunting.

Usually that means keep hunting as I typically only hunt over objective units.

ETA obviously this is only after every realistic means of finding the animal has been exercised. It’s only happened to me a handful of times in my 20 year hunting career… Twice rifle hunting, each time there was no blood to be found period, despite searching several hours.

But at the end of the day it’s hunting, and I’m there to feed my family. Hard to feed the family on a punched tag with no animal.

 

[sndmn11]

Thank you for your response.

I’m specifically speaking how many in one season and one tag, not over a lifetime of hunting. Obviously it’s going to happen, hell I’ve wounded an elk archery hunting a few years ago.

The question is how many would those who keep hunting after wounding one keep hunting on the same tag.

I am checking equipment and myself at one if possible, definitely at two and making a drastic change to my shot selection philosophy at two.

I believe that animals are just flesh and bone and die just like all other things. From my perspective, if the animal isn't turned up in a search, I am inclined to believe it isn't dead. As I said before, I would keep hunting as well if I was not allowed to recover an animal that died in inaccessible private property after exhausting resources and efforts.

I view Colorado's carcass tag as a literal label, and don't view it as a "shot at" or "shaved hair" or "drew blood" tag.

There's a current thread in the mule deer forum where a buck was "double lunged" but alive days later. I think when people don't recover animals it is because they made a non-fatal shot rather than super animal strength or magical powers of the animal.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

His comment was I have invested way to much money in this hunt to go home empty handed….

I am also wondering if the type of game was specified , it would yield different answers on this thread. If I would have specified a moose in my original question, I wonder if answers would be the same? Lots of guys are thinking whitetails in areas where they can shoot 10-12 a year.

The “Keep Hunting” mentality seems like a slippery slope. I can see guys walking up on animals smaller than they thought, like a black bear, and pretending they didnt recover it so they could keep hunting bigger animals.

Yeah, it's a slippery slope all right, but I'm not going to delve into that progressive phase of it for the fact that an open forum analysis of it would lead to all sorts bickering and teeth gnashing, at best (lol).

I agree with you though, in terms of common whitetails and upland game and waterfowl, a large portion of American hunters who pursue those species tend to take things for granted. The same with a lot of elk and antelope hunters. The common theme among a dismaying large percentage of those persons, philosophically speaking, is; "ah, what the hell, if it didn't survive then the coyotes will have something to eat and I need to bring something home (for whatever reason) and I'm going to shoot another one ....." blah, blah, blah.

I've had some confrontations with newbie hunting clients over my policy of, "if you hit it, then you're done, whether or not we find it". It's not a fun situation to be in from a guide/outfitter perspective, but at least I'm not tormented at night by the so-called "guilt" of letting a client continue to hunt for the same specie after he likely has already killed said specie.

Anyway, I wish more hunters would just fess up to the fact that they wounded and likely killed, and even if in the end the particular animal did not die, that those hunters botched the job and wounded a magnificent animal and although they didn't salvage it, the right thing to do (ethically) is to punch their tag and try not to make the same mistake(s) in future years.

Carry on ......

 

[PredatorSlayer]

is to punch their tag and try not to make the same mistake(s) in future years.

This would force hunters to actually hunt, get closer, wait for a better shot, spend time dialing in their equipment and practicing their marksmanship.

 

[Rifleman86]

I will say this, each time it has happened to me it brought some tough lessons that stay with me as a hunter. New personal limitations, equipment changes, etc.

That’s the bigger thing to me, did you learn something from it and attempt not to repeat the same failure?

Anyone worth there salt as a hunter has probably wounded a few over the years. A bad hunter doesn’t care and keeps making the same mistakes. A good hunter takes it to heart and learns from it.

Whether they punched their tag after the fact is irrelevant to me as long as there isn’t a legal requirement to do so.

 

[KHNC]

I used to be in the keep hunting after you’ve made an effort to track/ recover an animal mindset. Now, unless I’m dead certain that I’ve completely missed an animal, I call it the end of my hunt. Hasn’t personally happened to me but after seeing how many people take poor/questionable shots at animals with both rifles and bows; I feel that it is only ethical that if you’ve wounded an animal you consider your hunt over. I’ve already had 3 guys at work hunting archery elk that either found their bull and all the meat was lost, or they never found them at all. Just because they’re tough animals doesn’t mean we should be lodging bullets and broad heads into them and thinking “oh well let’s find another”.

I dont see how you can say this for sure if "this has never happened to me".

Personally, i keep hunting if i dont find it. Who am i to say its dead or not unless i recover it?

 

[Rich M]

Thank you for your response.

I’m specifically speaking how many in one season and one tag, not over a lifetime of hunting. Obviously it’s going to happen, hell I’ve wounded an elk archery hunting a few years ago.

The question is how many would those who keep hunting after wounding one keep hunting on the same tag.

Losing animals is something I think about over a lifetime of hunting, not per season. Per season is too often.

If someone is losing an animal every season/year, there is something wrong. Multiple critters every season...he/she should not be hunting. 1 every 5 years could be the point where I start wondering "what is the problem here?"

 

[tgus59]

-I hunt whitetails in Iowa, the population is very stable in the areas I hunt.
-I've lost 5ish throughout the years, some archery, some shotgun. For reference, I have successfully harvested 90-100 deer in my life.
-If I've drawn blood, I always do an exhaustive search, typically calling in 2-5 buddies to help
-I am far more conservative with shot selection compared to my earlier years, and am much more dedicated to practice
-If I lose a deer, I'm going to spend time at the range to make sure equipment wasn't the issue. In fact, I would also do this on a complete miss too.

Given all of the above, I would keep hunting if I wanted to keep hunting.

If I were to wound and not recover a second animal, I wouldn't keep hunting. My confidence would be shattered, I would completely re-asses my entire setup (arrow, broadhead, sight etc.), and spend the rest of the season shooting foam.

I take wound loss very seriously, but also appreciate that we are the only predator to do so. If you practice your craft, have your equipment dialed, are conservative with shot selection, and make every reasonable attempt to recover wounded game, you have nothing to feel guilty about.

 

[gsckorohod]

If you shoot an animal and don’t recover it, do you consider your tag filled or keep hunting?

Depends on laws.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Keep hunting

 

[LIWolverine]

Keep hunting.


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[willtim]

Blood and done.