Lost game ethics

[Greatdane]

Every year there are various posts of bow hunters that lose their game and have guilty feelings about losing the game. Has anyone every really studied the ethical sitaitions that occur from this type of situation?:
Is the person mad/ guilty because they lost their chance at a trophy?
or
Is the person mad/ guilty because they have a respect for the animal?
or both
also..

Is not finding a dead animal really a waste?

Does that mean that if a deer dies and a human does not eat him nothing in nature benefit by its death.

also..

Does someone who does not consume every morsel of usable deer just as guilty as the man who never found the dead deer at all.

also..

How can you have respect for your parents and love them but respect for game and kill them?


also..

Why do some sportsmen have great respect for the game but treat their fellow humans so poorly.


Just some things to think about don't get to bent out of shape......

[Carpmaster]

You know some of your questions have validity, but as a pro-outdoors person, I could never actually push such questions on fellow hunters , so exactly what are you asking and for why ???????? Ya kind of sound like a tree hugger no offense, it is just the wording of this post.

[Greatdane]

Why ask why? Why not

This question has been asked since the begining on man. Why not apply it to hunting? I am also a pro-outdoors man,but how are you going defend yourself against the critcs if you cannot answer these questions??

[Cougar Mag]

I've never had to defend myself for killing animals. People who know me know I use what I kill or...........someone I know will use it. I have 3 people at work hoping I kill a nice doe for them in bow season. These 3 co-workers don't have the time or interest to hunt, but their families love venison.

Why do some sportsmen have great respect for the game but treat their fellow humans so poorly.

Sportsmen DO NOT mistreat fellow human beings any more poorly than do the general public. Why don't you ask why non-sportsman treat their fellow human beings so poorly?

[Whitehorse]

I'll take a stab here, not sure where some of these questions come from...

ORIGINAL: Greatdane

Every year there are various posts of bow hunters that lose their game and have guilty feelings about losing the game. Has anyone every really studied the ethical sitaitions that occur from this type of situation?:
Is the person mad/ guilty because they lost their chance at a trophy?
or
Is the person mad/ guilty because they have a respect for the animal?
or both - both
also..

Is not finding a dead animal really a waste?

Does that mean that if a deer dies and a human does not eat him nothing in nature benefit by its death.
Truthfully, once an animal is dead it will return to the ground. Likely, if a game animal is not recovered, scavengers will utilize the carcass. This is in no way an endorsement of lazy hunting, it's just the truth.

also..

Does someone who does not consume every morsel of usable deer just as guilty as the man who never found the dead deer at all. What do you mean by usable deer? If a person does not tan the hide & use the bones to make tools or jewelry, do you consider that not using every morsel? My answer is no. The guilty person would be the person who did not do a thorough job in looking for the deer.

also..

How can you have respect for your parents and love them but respect for game and kill them?
Where in the blue heck did this question come from??? One would hope that if someone is questioning you about hunting, that person would see that a whitetail deer is different than one's own parents. Animal life, including all game animals & pets, is not of the same vaule as human life. Anyone who can seriously ask this question has value issues & does not know the difference between animal & human life.

also..

Why do some sportsmen have great respect for the game but treat their fellow humans so poorly.
Why do some <blank> have great respect for <blank> but treat their fellow humans so poorly.
This question can be asked of any segmentation of the human population. It's because they're humans, humans aren't perfect, some humans choose wrong over right...

[JagMagMan]

I think that Whitehorse has given you some really good answers! These questions do have the smell of tree huggers and/or anti hunters, but they are legitimate enough to give an answer to!
For me the answers are:
1. An un-recovered animal will benifit nature. The food chain will be satisfied, and if nothing else, it will be fertilizer. No way, no how is this to justify taking poor % shots, and being a lazy hunter!

2. Legally, the meat of the game animal, is all that is required to be used. Personally, I don't use the hide or bones. As in question number one, my discards feed the rest of the food chain.
I have saved the hides for people who wanted them, and would save the rest of the animal too, if anyone wanted them.

3. This is about as dumb, and insensitive of a question that can be asked! Even the thought of equating an animals life with human life, is repulsive!
This question can be turned around very easily! If my love of human life can be questioned because of my hunting, and killing of animals, I question the anti-hunters value for human life, because of their suggestion that animals are anywhere near equal to human life!

4.This can be true of anyone! Hunters, and anti's alike! This is not a perfect world! There are some people who treat animals better than humans, just like there are those who treat money, or cars, or whatever, with more respect than they have for their fellow man! There is absolutely no justifiable reason to level this question at a hunter, more than to any other person, or situation!

[Coastie]

ORIGINAL: Greatdane

Every year there are various posts of bow hunters that lose their game and have guilty feelings about losing the game. Has anyone every really studied the ethical sitaitions that occur from this type of situation?:
Is the person mad/ guilty because they lost their chance at a trophy?
or
Is the person mad/ guilty because they have a respect for the animal?
or both

It would be rather presumptive of anybody to answer this for anybody but themselves. For me it is the concern for an animal suffering because I screwed up a shot.
also..

Is not finding a dead animal really a waste?

Waste is a value call, it is wasted to me because my family did not get to use it. As for nature, it would have died sooner or later of something, hit by a car, disease, accident or predation. The Coyotes, Foxes, Crows, Ravens etc. will use the meat regardless of how it died. Waste to me is when someone kills an animal and takes only the loins and back straps and possibly the head and leaves the rest.

Does that mean that if a deer dies and a human does not eat him nothing in nature benefit by its death.

Nobody ever said that and I believe you know very well that is not the situation. Death is part of life and for any animal (mankind is an animal) to survive, something else must die, even if it is a Turnip, it has to die before it is consumed.

also..

Does someone who does not consume every morsel of usable deer just as guilty as the man who never found the dead deer at all.


That is an utterly ridiculous question, you use/consume every bit of it that you possibly reasonably can. There are going to be "Moresels" that end up being wasted in one form or another.
also..

How can you have respect for your parents and love them but respect for game and kill them?

Where did this come from? Respect is one of the most mis-used words in our language, people use it when they need some excuse to beat the tar out of somebody else by taking a, supposedly, higher moral road than the other. Look the word up and try to understand all of the various nuances of it and your question becomes moot.


also..

Why do some sportsmen have great respect for the game but treat their fellow humans so poorly.

Look at the answer to the question above, also there are some people that by their demeanor deserve no respect in the sense of respecting what they say because they have proven themselves to be idiots or worse.


Just some things to think about don't get to bent out of shape......

Now you may follow your own advice, you asked some pretty presumptive questions and have received answers that may well hit a bit close to home. By the tone of your post you seem to take the moral high road, a person with all the answers yet willing to share your moral clarity with all us low lives here if only we would listen to your enlightened view.

[Bushman/hun]

Look at the answer to the question above, also there are some people that by their demeanor deserve no respect in the sense of respecting what they say because they have proven themselves to be idiots or worse.


Just some things to think about don't get to bent out of shape......

Now you may follow your own advice, you asked some pretty presumptive questions and have received answers that may well hit a bit close to home. By the tone of your post you seem to take the moral high road, a person with all the answers yet willing to share your moral clarity with all us low lives here if only we would listen to your enlightened view.

Id have to agree with that 100% Well said coastie.


Thats Some pretty strange questions there. Theres been a few fly by posters lately.....

Getting a few elk hunting things together so i cant play with the greenies/treehuggies, & or liberals now.
The cows are very tasty- but i wouldnt turn down a muskrat or anything else if cooked right
Fryed in corn meal or made into soup/stew or chilli[8D].

[kevin1]

One should always make the best effort possible to recover wounded game , it's just the respectful thing to do and the reason they feel guilty about not finding it . No , it won't go to waste .

[burniegoeasily]

I bow hunt and to be honest bowhunters need to be very choosy on the shots they take. I have never lost a deer while bow hunting. I would attribute it to lots of practice, and knowing my abilities. I feel that what ever type of hunting you do, you need to know your equipment, as well as your shot, well. I also will only shot what will be consumed.. The parts of the deer I do not butcher, I give to the dogs or take out to the river to feed the wild critters.