Originally Posted by
BarnesX.308
If this bear ranged 50 miles from where a single man had fed him, and a different man shot the bear in the woods on public hunting ground, several miles from the feeding, how could anyone make a distinction?
What if that same bear was shot in NJ? 50-60 miles away and across the Delaware River? If he was shot in the food-man's backyard, you can make a case.
I think we are starting to split hairs here.
Only the guy who took the shot really knows if this bear behaved like a wild bear or like a fed bear.
That's the nature of hunting. We have no crowd present to boo when we are unethical or to cheer when we do something great. We have only our personal code of ethics and our own conscience.
If this bear walked up like a garbage dump bear and got killed the hunter will know it every time he looks at that head on the wall.
Personally I can't imagine a fed bear fleeing at the first whiff of human scent but I wasn't there.