James,
Ah, "You bet"? ----- You bet What?
Earlier you claimed....
ORIGINALLY BY: JamesB
"....I have seen several gut shot elk hit with a 243 that just laid down and died on the spot..."
And I responded,
Really?
If your words are in ernest, then youhave immensely moreexperience withgut shot elk than I do.
(1) How in the heck did that ("several")happen? and,
(2) How did youallow yourself to continue to beinvolved withit?
And then you followed up with....
ORIGINALLY BY: JamesB
"....but gut shoit animals that I have seen were not effected much by caliber size...."
Ah, let me make sure I understand this. So in addition to the "several 243-hit'em-bad-yet-killed-'em-where-they-stood" elk kills, there is another cluster of"other" elk that you have seen gut shot withothercartridges --- andyou are using the comparison between these two groups of gut shot elkto make your point that cartridge size is largely irrelevant in this?
For the moment, Igottaset asidethe "cartridge part" of the discussion, andpoint out the
glaring "issue" in your message....
You appear to be a witness to whatisessentially the hunter equivalent of "war crimes" against wildlife. This would be especially true, if strong measures were not taken to put an end toitsre-occurance (which, on the surface of it, it sounds like it wasn't....)
(1) How in the heck didyour first hand witnessing of such a streak ofgut shooting come about? and,
(2) How did youallow yourself to continue to beinvolved withit? and,
(3) What actions, if any, were taken to try to stop/prevent it?
After reading your posts, I'm feelingeven stronger convictionsabout how we're running our elk camp, including our perceived heavy handed rules covering "cartridges, ranges, and backup" and the rest ofthe way we run things.
I know our culture is hung up on "individual freedoms" to do whatever folks want and,
Nowhere is that belief stronger than in our hunter community,
Technically wildlife are property of the state to be sold via licenses and dispatched,
Even so there are limits....
Taken to this extreme you seem to describe, the hunter's rights have to give way a bit...
What about the "elk's rights" and some basic decency in this deal?
IMO, this stuff can't just be "okay" and everyone just turn a blind eye to it.