Wooddust

Grasshopper....hope you dont have to explain that a warden....In Mo you cannot shoot a deer on someone elses tag. Legally that is.

skeeter 7MM

Hey I know what its like to repay my farmer friends for access to their lands to hunt. However if it is meat they wantI give them my deer not use a tag they purchased. I mean really what does that prove? I spent what a dollar on the bullet or arrow to harvest the animal they feed and house on their land with the tag they purchased?? I just don't see this as doing anything special and to boot is illegal. If caught would they expect their landowner friend to pay for the fines. Would it really be worth it to chance this happening? For me not a chance, I live for hunting!!! Years backI had a buddy get caught for shooting a buck a little past legal, he let greed cloud his desicion. In the end lost his license for year (which was really 2 as he shot it near the end of the previous season), lost the buck, payed a fine, lost his rifle for 30days and lost some good hunting partners as well ! Not to mention he is now in the system as an offender, so the next time he may be in the grey, which happens, he might get the book thrown at him. I know for a fact it wasn't worth it for him!!!If you do the crime be prepared to do the time!!

I also give meat away to friends who can't hunt for various reasons, but again it is from my animals.

Legality aside, I think their are better ways to accomplish this same goal. As I said IMOitis nothing more than wanting to kill an extra deer, which to me is a question of ethics. Each their own though! I have learned their is no use to preachethics asit must come from within and can be skewed in many ways. I go with my gut and things like this wrench my gut b/c they often don't stop at one extra deer!!!!!!!!!

tj_cubin

scenario one: you both buy tags, you both shoot a deer, you both take a deer home

scenario two: you both buy tags, you shoot two deer, you both take a deer home

in both cases two tags are paid for, two deer are harvested, and two families have meat in the freezer. whats the difference? who pulled the trigger.

People say that it isnt worth the risk, while that is true, that isnt the question posed here. The question is whether it is ethical. we know it isnt legal, but is it really unethical? Is it unfair to the deer who pulls the trigger? no. is it unfair to the guys kids who get to eat next week? no. is it unfair to you who is willing to do it to help a friend? no.

i am talking about this scenario, or the one that was put up in the original post. Yes there is a defference ebtween this and buying your wife and mother a tag so you can kill more deer.

So i think it is ethical, it isnt neccessarily "the right thing" to do, and there are better alternatives.

i know in NY you can transfer doe tags, but not buck tags. if thats the case then it is ethical. so where is the difference? the only difference is that one is legal and the other isnt.

Paul L Mohr

It all depends on how you view deer hunting. It's not some magical quest to me. It's killing deer, I don't kid myself or hide myself from the truth. The state lets you do it to manage the deer and make money. They would not issue the tag if they didn't want it filled. And in most cases they still don't harvest enough deer since most that get tags never fill them. Heck MI doesn't even track the harvests. You don't have to check deer in when you kill them. You can if you want, but you don't have to. Just kill and grill it in most cases.

While it's not completely in the guidlines of the law I don't really consider it poaching. More like improperly tagging an animal. If they didn't want that number of deer to be taken, they would not have sold the tag to however bought it.

I could see if you were in an area that you had a draw for tags, but where I live that just isn't the case. You just buy them over the counter. And you can get a doe tag every day if you want for private land.

I will never feel guilty about helping someone out. Sometimes the right thing is not always the correct thing. I normally only take one deer a year anyway, even though I could legally take many more.

Paul

MN_Deerman

Good point, so it begs the question....does it being illegal automatically make it unethical? I don't believe so. Say if Joe schmo got back to his truck at the end of the day 10 minutes too late because he had to walk2 miles from his stand, is this illegal?...yes, unethical?...not in my book.

While I do concede that I probably justend up using one of my own tags and avoid the worry, I don't believe these guys did anything unethical.

stubblejumper

Where I hunt it is not illegal as long as you unload your gun and quit hunting at the legal time.It doesn't matter when you reach your truck.

skeeter 7MM

Like i said ethics are within and for some this crosses their ethical lines. We all have a right to our own opinion. I certainly don't mind sharing the meat but believe their are better ways to do this than shooting an animal under someone elses tag who isn't even present! Which is what the poster described!

If it is a question of survival all things go out the window if that individual has exhausted every avenue. I would never take issue with such practice. I however don't see this being the case, so NA on this thought..

If you can legally party hunt, then there is no question/problem. However this is not the case as described by the original poster, again another NA.

I don't view a special draw as any different than an OTC tag. Unless I am wrong the game doesn't get special clauses nor deserves them on the account of tough to obtain hunting privys (party hunting except of course). To me both animals are owed the same rights. If you have no intention on hunting you have the option of not applying or buying your tag, pretty cut and dry to me. The question of population has nothing to do with ethics IMO either. I guess for me it is black and white - either it is right or wrong. As far as tag allocation:
Do you really expect the government or agencies expect a 100% success rate on tags issued?
Do you really think it is all about harvesting that allocation...not more money?
Do you think they would agree that money paid entitleshunters to that animal regardless of the law?

Equally everybody views hunting differently, to me the kill is the end result but not a requirement. I am not belittling anyone who measures success based on the harvest but would ask is it really the only reason you embark to the field or woods each year? Come on be truthful now! While it is nice to put some in the freezer and bone on the wall, would not using your tag stop you from hunting the next year...really??? If it is only the kill that keeps you going, like I said I feel saddened as your missing some great portions of hunting...again just my 2 cents worth! I pretty much live on wild game so I enjoy the pulling of the pin as well but that is the icing on the cake for me...everything that leads to that point is hunting to me! Off topic, sorry.


The question posed was on an illegally harvested animal and to me that is unethical as hunter myself. I would hate to see what a non-hunter would say about such an event?? A real possibility with these 2 blaming it up in a local pub!!! I guess Ivalue hunting to much to let a couple of what I refer to as "Slobs", F it up for those who truly care for this sport and the game they pursue.

MN_Deerman

I think you're missing the point. Pretend you're in a state that it wasn't legal.

stubblejumper

If it wasn't legal where I hunt,I would either allow more time to get to my truck or hunt closer to my truck.I don't give the wardens any reason to suspect that I am doing something illegal.

krub6b

I shot one for my grandparents everyyear because my Grandpa's eyesight has gotten to where he only feels safe shooting at varmits in the hen house. Is it legal? No. But my Grandpa uses one of his farm tags on it and gives me lots of scouting info in return.If my conservation officer found out I'm pretty sure he just ask that we keep tagging them in, I mean hey my Grandpa could have shot it out of his garden with the old '06 he owns, It's just more ethical for me to do it and make sure it's a clean kill.