I am not sure this is the proper forum for this topic, but here goes.
I couldn' t wait to get the outdoor channel so there would be non stop hunting in the living room. Unfortunately there are some programs that have disturbed me.
This evening I was watching a show where they were elk hunting in Colorado, on the last day of the hunt a herd of elk were running up to the top of a ridge, the guide squealed and the bull stopped long enough for the hunter to get a shot.
Now there were two things in this program that irritated me.
1. The hunter said " I don' t know if i hit him or not so lets go up and look arround"
2. " I have never made a shot that long before"
My question is why would a person attempt a shot on an animal on the last day of a hunt that you wouldn' t attempt on the first day?
And is it ethical to attempt a shot beyond a range that a hunter has proven him self competent in.
I agree 100 percent. I don' t believe it is ethical to take a shot that you are not sure of and have passed up bucks and black bears many times because of the range. However, many hunters just let the lead fly, even lifelong outdoorsmen, not just the guys who come to spend a week in deer camp once a year.
I really don' t think these hunters even realize what they are doing, so that' s why the show was aired(plus the costs already invested in production). The guide was paid to get results, and it also looks bad for his outfit if he doesn' t produce on TV, bad advertising! And the hunter wants results and paid to get an animal. There is a big party of hunters who are friends of mine that I don' t hunt with ever, even though the deer camp experience would be alot of fun, because they just let bullets fly when they see something. Trailing wounded deer, sometimes for miles, is common with them.
I callem Bill Clinton ethic' s, whatever work' s at that moment. On all of the hunting forum' s that I visit ethic' s is a main concern, on paper, then come' s opening day and the lead start' s flying and guess where many guy' s ethic' s are, back in the truck. I lived in Arkansas for a few year' s and that' s where they put the proper name to slinging as much lead as possible, groundcheck !!
First, let me say that 99% of all hunting shows are crap to me. Don' t get me wrong, I still watch them since they are better than most of the other crap on the tube, but crap none the less. I would like to say something about your 2 points
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1. The hunter said " I don' t know if i hit him or not so lets go up and look arround"
I have had more than a few shots hunting where I' m not sure if I hit them or not. The longer distance after a shot and not being able to get back on target right away means you don' t see animal reaction, not that it matters all the time anyway. But normally this just happens to me when I' m BP hunting and trying to see through a cloud of smoke.
Quote:
2. " I have never made a shot that long before"
Now, I really don' t know if he means that he has never shot at game that far away, or never shot his gun at a target that far away. If he just meant game, well, everyone has to have a shot like that. Many of them in fact. I never took a shot over 100 yards till I moved to Colorado.
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Caution - Some posts may contain sarcasim
yah, i was watching the outdoor channel one time and they were hunting mt.lions with 22' s? it kinda of made me angry because they either shot the branch or the paw or something and it fell to its death?i dont know if thats how its suposed to be done or what but i was disturbed
Yeah... I have long thought that most hunting shows are the equivalent of strapping your kill to your hood and driving it home through town after town. Most folks these days find this an unecessary and barbaric display even if they are not anti-hunting.While I do not suggest that we should hide our chosen activity like sleazy criminals, we have to be aware of the general publics' sensitivities. Hunting shows take this activity out to the world to be interpreted in many different ways. If we who participate in hunting find some of these shows or their content distasteful, how can we expect neutral folks and antis to react? It' s a sticky damned situation. I guess the best we can do is contact the networks running them about our concerns, and hope that they hear. Most importantly, we owe it to each other to conduct ourselves in the most ethical and considerate manners possible and lead by example.
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"Friend of Men, Lover of Women, Purveyor of the Brutal Truth"
In all fairness to the producers, hosts and sponsors of outdoor hunting shows, many shows are produced with an obvious sensativity to the issues that you have addressed. We should also notifye them to express how much we appreciate the responsible manner in which they air their hunting show. As hunters we not only need fewer enemies, we also need to keep the friends which we have.
Fluctuating Ethics
