RE: Question of ethics...."First light"
 

He ID'd it its a DEER!! He doesn't care if its a buck or doe. Obviously its not a big buck or he'd be able to tell. What's the definition of identifying the target? Deer, or 2.5 yr old 3 pointer with spots on its ears and two trash points. The kill zone is the size of a dixie plate at that range, if he couldn't hit that he probably wouldn't be hunting. Just kill the damn thing and post the pics :D

RE: Question of ethics...."First light"
 

Turtle....My season (where this property is) ended this past Saturday.

The original post was done for 2 reasons:

1) I was curious after watching MANY deer hunting videos and TV shows as to what everyone's idea of "first light" was/is. I've seen shots taken that were FAR more controversial than the one I submitted.....and I dare say there's been shots attmpted by people who frequent these boards that were ......well.....less than "optimal".

2) I thought it was a very debatable point.

Interesting, huh??????

Jeff

RE: Question of ethics...."First light"
 

Suppose the question was posed as follows:

I'm sick. I was in my stand and the light was a bit low. in fact, it was too low to tell whether the animal I hit was a buck or doe. Since I've got one year's experience as an archer, and I even teach hunter's ed, I took the shot. I'm not sure where I hit the deer because the light was so low. All I know is that I probably crippled it because there was almost no blood and I never found it. I sure wish I at least knew it if was a buck or doe. I thought I was okay; I said to myself as my heart was pounding, "I can make out the outline of the deer VERY well.....but I'm unable to make out antlers (or lack thereof). This deer has come in on me a few times....and it's a BIG deer" Anyways I had the tags and all so I took the shot anyway. Was I wrong?

RE: Question of ethics...."First light"
 

You know I started reading that....and I stopped. The thing that REALLY grates my nerves is when you interject things into the situation....when I clearlyspell out what IS in front of the hunter. NOT what "might be"....or what "Could be"....what IS. For the record....Did I ever say...ANYWHERE...that I'd shoot at an outline of a deer? I wish you guys would step back and listen to yourselves.

WHY must you interject things into the situation? I tell you the facts.....and all youcan do to bolster your argument is to make up things.

Are you a politician?

Jeff

RE: Question of ethics...."First light"
 

The first BUCK i saw (before anyone asks....I have 20/20 vision....lol), this season was the biggest doe I'd ever seen until it got to 30 yds. It was half-rack (3 on one side). Its' antler was about the size of a sharpie pen....only longer. The six that came in after him that day was a big doe, too.....until it got to 45 yds. The deer here in MY part of NC aren't huge......and a large (in mass) set of antlers is VERY rare.

If you go back through and count.....I'm betting I stated (a FEW times) that I wouldn't take the shot unless I had sufficient light through my peep. I'd already "identified my target". I'm wondering if there's a situation in which I COULD take this shot, safely, ethically and legally in some's eyes? What would that situation be?

It's my last post on this subject....but it's been a fun and interesting endeavor.

I wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas.

Jeff

RE: Question of ethics...."First light"
 

It's legal shooting hours. Light is good enough that I can plainly identify the animal as a deer. Not good enough to tell ifthe deer iswearing horns. I have tags for both buck and antlerless.

Might not be enough light to see through a peep, but that's one big reason whyI refuse to use sights on a hunting bow. I've been handicapped by sights in bad lighting way too many times in tournaments. I'd be dam*ed if I allow myself to be handicapped while hunting. If I can see the animal, I can kill the animal. Got the ethics covered then.

The animal is in front of me. Legal shooting hours. Target is identified as legal game, just unsure of the gender. If it's a doe, I've got a legal tag. I'm covered. If it's a buck, I've got a legal tag, there are no antlersizerestrictions in this area, soI'm covered. Legal on every side.

It's a big bodied, mature deer but I can't make out the horns, if they are even there. So, no problem if it's a doe but... do I want to risk burning my buck tag on a rack of unknown size and proportion?

And that is the ONLY applicable question... Am I prepared to gamble a buck tag on what might be a set of dinks?

In my situation, I would.

Run through the same excercise and askyourself the same questions, Come upwith your own answer and tell anyone who doesn't like it to go soak their head. :)

RE: Question of ethics...."First light"
 

SBGobbler, don't get tense. The way you present the question is strictly hypothetical, is it not? So is mine, so what is the difference?

You posed your question because you thought it would be interesting to see the answers, right?

The only difference in our presumptions is that I am presuming that something DID go wrong and you are asking the same question after the fact. Now why would I do that? What is the point? The point is that those that are trying to support your inexperienced low light shot would probably be hardpressed to do the same if you failed to recover the animal.

Read my version of your question again. It isn't really all the different...except there's a wounded animal when the dust settles and the light comes up enough to finally see properly.