Well put Rack

Well put.

Rack-attack well said, when I said legal I did mean as an overall starting point.

As far as canned hunts goes, this as nothing to do with ethical. I' m not saying I' m for canned hunts what I' m saying is you can find just as many idiots in the woods as you can in the fence. How about all those headless deer found this pass season. Or how about the guys in PA that left deer, because when they finally got over to them they found out they didn' t meet PA antler restrictions. It proves that sometimes the laws can cause unethical hunting.

Let me ask this is killing an animal OK just because we as humans say there are to many in a certain area? Is it OK for us to play God and use fertility drugs and other types of things to adjust populations of animals?

When the subject of ethics comes up rules set by various game and fish commissions probably covers most of the points of ethics. Different methods of hunting that are usually set early in hunters lives and those methods usually set their ideas of ethical hunting. One of the earliest methods of deer hunting I encountered was dog hunting (some 40 years ago). My cousin had some coon dogs we hunted with and when the deer population started growing in our area some of the dogs would jump a deer and mess up the coon hunting. Some of them got knocked in the head, but then we started using the deer runners for deer dogs and it was just a bunch of neighbors and family members having a good time. Many of the members of this board would consider it unethical to deer hunt with dogs, but it was legal and was the way I was brought up. I always figured people bird hunt with dogs, hog hunt with dogs, coon hunt with dogs, etc, and that was alright. Same goes for baiting, food plots and use of other lures and other legal methods of hunting. If they are legal where you hunt and you have no personal problems with it, then go for it.

Rack, good post. Within the law and done the right way!!!!!

I gotta hand it to you Rack. That was an excellent post.

I remember reading a quote somewhere that said " ethics are what you do when nobody is watching" [:-] I like that one!

In my opinion (ethical) goes with humane in a sense. It is my and every hunters responsibility to ensure that we do every thing with in our power to harvest game humanely.

This meaning accurate and calculated shot placements regardless of what kind of device we use.

The animal needs not suffer but to be taken (shot) in the most educated location to bring a clean and swift death.

Some say whats the point when hunting the purpose is simply to kill them and how this is done is not relevent.

To the non-ethical hunter this phrase stands, to a ethical hunter this phrase is not an option!

I have all to many time seen other hunters and even members of my hunting club take deer with no resect to the deer or thier surroundings what so ever.

Even to the point to where deer have been brought to the camp still alive (barley) and clearly suffering. This is unethical and unacceptible.[:@]

What is ethical, a clean swift kill, and kill that best suites the environment in which you are hunting. This meaning, not harvesting young bucks, fawns or out of season game.

Hunting ethics is a must, all responsible hunters need to practive ethical hunting.

Here is a diffrent view point.

The type of hunter you are, may make it harder to remain legal and " ethical" .

Let me explain that statement, as it sure needs some explaining.

Hunters hunt for many diffrent reasons and combinations of reasons. If hunting for you is recreation, a pastime, a sport, a relaxing get away for your usual life, then you are not really too concerned if you kill something or not. You have a good time and obay the laws and hunt " ethically" and in a " sporting" manner.

If you were in a survival situation where you had to kill an animal to eat, the law and ethics would go out the window in a hurry. The Bushmen of Africa and the Aboriginies of Australia hunt to eat and are not concerned with " fair chase" and " ethical" hunting.

I believe that there are hunters among us who do not choose to hunt for sport and fun but ARE HUNTERS BY NATURE. They have the deep primative instinct to hunt animals for food. To them success is not just the icing on the cake it is the cake. They feel failure if they don' t succeed. For them it is very hard to not take a shot at a deer because, it is not legal to do so. Some do what ever is legal because they do not want to get caught and punished. Some bend the laws here and there. And some become what we call " poachers" .

Anything that takes little-no effort, like driving around until you see them (even if you have permission on all the properties) and then chasing behind them to get them running one direction, flanking them, and picking out the one you want while they run right at you. " Drive hunting" done by walking through a creek/woods and hollering and carrying on then loosing rounds at the first thing that pops up, regardless of the shot availed to you. Hunting in any way that is illegal, such as baiting (in some states), using inadequate cartridge, too many rounds in a gun, on un-permissed property, etc. I also consider it unethical to hunt with a rifle you haven' t sighted in yourself, or havent sighted in recently (and I mean actually sighting in, not just shooting one or two to make sure it' s " an inch or so high at 100, and should be dead on at 150" , know where you' re going to hit, and know it well. Loosing a round on a shot you know you probably will not make, shooting beyond your range, shooting wildly/irresponsibly at running game or at game in dense brush.

Guess that' s about all I can think of at the moment, I' m sure there' s a lot I' m forgetting though.