nulle

Well if you want to "ground pound" pheasants in South Dakota it may be a good idea to keep it to yourself.

curt nulle

drgildy

Another opinion from SD. I have always said that if you are so hard up for meat you have to ground pound a pheasant you will also Arkansas a duck on the water or dust a dove on a branch then you should check Super market prices on chicken. If anyone hunts with me and does any of the former things it would be the last time. If it is reduced to this where is the sport? Not to mention the danger to a dog getting shot.

Duckmastor2

Its legal to ground swipe pheasants here. The only time I would think its ethical would be if one is hunting alone with no dog. Wing clip a pheasant around these parts and not having a dog means losing the bird. Even if you see them they'll out run you. It not worth losing a bird. If you are alone and can take them clean on the ground, do it.

Any day spent huntin, is better than any day spent workin,,

Duckmastor2

Deerslayer_37

ground swatting is the most unethical thing ive heard of.almsot as bad as shooting into squirrel nests and wounding deer and not tracking them.its people like that that give hunting a bad name.

slayer

GOODEE

MY TWO CENTS WORTH-SHOOT EM WHILE THEY'RE FLYING AND ON THE GROUND ONLY IF THEY HAVE BEEN WOUNDED AND MAY ESCAPE AND DIE. IF YOU ARE HUNTING WITH DOGS THEN SCRATCH THE SECOND SCENERIO CAUZ IT AIN'T WORTH THE CHANCE OF HITTING YOUR BEST BUDDY. A FRIEND OF MINE ACCIDENTALLY SHOT HIS SETTER IN THE LEGS WHEN HE WAS TAKING A SHOT AT A RUNNING, AND WOUNDED QUAIL. HIS DOG HAD TAKEN OFF IN THE OTHER DIRECTION BUT U-TURNED AND HE DID NOT NOTICE IT. FORTUNATELY #7 1/2S DIDN'T DO A WHOLE LOT EXCEPT END THAT DAY OF HUNTING AND RUN UP A SMALL VET BILL. UP A LITTLE HIGHER AND IT WOULD HAVE HIT HIM IN THE FACE INSTEAD OF THE FRONT LEGS.
GOODEE

uplandchessies

Here's my half-cents worth. Bird hunting is a sport in which all birds should be shot in the air. It's the only way I do it!!! I could have shot a woodcock on the ground in Michigan yesterday (It flushed and landed four foot from me), but I reflused it and -- you guessed it, I missed. However, back to pheasant. For those who don't use dogs I would rather see them shoot birds on the ground and be three for three, then shoot and injure nine before they get there limit. So, right or wrong, ethical or unethical, it's really up to the individual. If they feel good about it -- so be it. As long as it doesn't hurt one of us or our dogs -- why should we care?



Edited by - uplandchessies on 09/30/2002 19:16:22

Edited by - uplandchessies on 09/30/2002 19:18:03

Howler

I'm just going to follow up abit on my earlier post, and upland hit on it abit. Just where do we, (you) draw the line in ethical or simply making the best possible and quickest, cleanist kill. There is reason I've thought about this quite abit over the years, and I'll get to that in abit. We all know that to take a shot at moving game is more likely to wound than if we take a shot at a motionless animal. SO, why is it unethical to shoot a stationary bird, rabbit, turkey, deer, coyote? If we only shot animals, birds, while they weren't moving, we would wound less, wouldn't we? Now granted, shotguns have a shot pattern that is made to take birds while in flight, but lets face it, if we were to shoot them while they weren't moving, less would be wounded, right? Anyways, I've thought about this for a few years since I hunted with a guy that absolutely would shoot doves right out of the tree. He wounded very few, as a matter of fact he killed everyone he shot at! His thoughts were, why waist ammo trying to get his limit when he could do it without missing or wounding any. If safety isn't an issue, why not? Now for the record, even though I see some logic to his thinking, I don't shoot any of my birds on tree or ground 'cause I'm a pretty fair wing shooter, and have been known to take a few shots at moving targets with a rifle, but can a hunter be blamed for doing his/her best at being the most effective with his/her taking of game, especially if they aren't very effective otherwise? Now, it's a whole different issue if there are laws against it, so leave that out of it for now, 'cause there may be laws against in some places but not all!

The_Wingshooter

I too live in Kansas, and I know for a fact that it is illegal. We all know that hunters are thier own worst enemy when it comes to public opinion. Had it been me, I would have informed him of the law. I can't say that I can agree with how you handled the situation, but at the same time I understand that you are concerned about your job. A man has to eat...

There has only been one time I have ever witnessed a Pheasant shot on the ground... I was dating the daughter of a Kansas Conservation Officer at the time. Him, his son, and I were out in the field, when a rooster flew over my head. I immediately hit the deck and he shot it out of the air. Obviously wounded, he had only crippled it and it began to run. Then he shot it on the ground. I believe it wasn't out of sport, but respect for the rooster. It deserves a clean, quick kill instead of a slow death over a couple of days.

What is most important is that we all realize that I can't enforce the ethical and responsible hunting of another. That person is the only one who can do that. If you find yourself questioning your hunting methods, you should ask yourself one question, "Am I giving fair chase?". I'd like to suggest a book to everyone called "Beyond Fair Chase". It's not that expensive, only $12 at amazon.com. It talks about the ethics in hunting and may help you decide for yourself how you should hunt. If and when I ever decide to have children, they will read this before going to the field for the first time. It's up to them to make the right decision, I won't always be there to tell them what is right.

--Wing

ACC 3-28

My hunting partner seems to like to shoot waterfoul on the ground or in the water, and doesn't seem to mind shooting hens either. He did this twice this weekend once while the ducks were on the water and one in the feild, unfortunatly they were all hens.
All I know is I would'nt shoot anything on the ground unless it had 4 legs and a fur coat.

HOSS

It's illegal in ILL also unless they are wounded and can't fly that's what I have dogs for runnun em down if need be. shootin em on the ground what fun is that the guy might as well go to the store and buy a couple of chickens that way he won't have to dig shot out of them