ORIGINAL: davepjr71
ORIGINAL: hillbillyhunter1
If its legal, it's ethical, right???
We shouldn't tell our brother hunters how to hunt as long as its legal, right???
What's legal and what's ethical are 2 different things. If you wrote legal rules for every little thing it would take forever to get things passed. Therefore, states rely on good judgment by the hunters without imposing their will too strongly. They rely on us to patrol our own ranks on many issues and make ethical decisions without having to patrol us too much.
Not doingso is asking for the anti's to find something that they can use to take 1 small thing away. Keep taking enough small things and soon the big ones are gone too. I've been reading a lot of articles from the 1994, 95 years of Bowhunter Magazine and it's surpising how it was over 10 yrs ago when it came to archery and how much we've actually gained since then. We do not need to start giving it back with unethical decisions like this. Look at some countries where they do not allow archery at all because of wounded game. Do you want that?
The guy asked our thoughts and none of us are telling him how to hunt. We are expressing our dissatisfaction in an unethical act. I'm guessing you've done something like this with your response.
Good post davepjr71. I agree.
I guess then that it comes back to the subjective. What do you or I or another member here think is unethical??Obviously, as we all here have pointed out, it may not always coincide with what is legal. It may actually sometimes lay on either side of the lawin a case by case basis.
Sometimes, as shown in this case, what the law allows is not ethical. Other times, what the law forbids, may be the ethical thing (ie. putting a wounded animal out of its misery after dark, when the law may forbid shooting after dark)
Obviously, as is expressed by the very action that caused this thread, the problem is, that all hunters don't feel the same when it comes to ethics.
Now this issue was a pretty easy one with an overwhelming majority on one side of the fence, but we all know of other issues (that don't even have to be mentioned
) that cause a much more even dispersement of those on both sides. Yet, many would say "keep your mouth shut for the sake of unity and brotherhood and let the law dictate what's right and wrong"
So which is it?? Speak out for what we each individually believe in or keep our mouths shut for the sake of "brotherhood"??
The age old question when it comes to ethics.