Big name hunters & ethics
#11
Live it up! Doug
#12
Here ya go. Check out the pic. I shot this deer 40 yards facing me directly. No quartering at all. Just look between the shoulders and you can see the swelling where the arrow entered. 50 points for those of you who saw the squirrel laying next to the deers front legs. That was 20 yards and after the deer. Not unethical in my book, both were good table fare.
Live it up! Doug
Live it up! Doug
#13
Fred putting a Muzzy phantom in the boiler room at 35 yards doesn't seem too "unethical" to me.
Certainly far more "ethical" than those celebrity hunters that knowingly use equipment that does not allow them to get the best performance from their equipment because of their sponsors advertising contract.
Personally I will purposely put an arrow through the shoulder of a deer any day. I have the equipment and the ability to do it. Others might not and should think twice about doing it.
Certainly far more "ethical" than those celebrity hunters that knowingly use equipment that does not allow them to get the best performance from their equipment because of their sponsors advertising contract.
Personally I will purposely put an arrow through the shoulder of a deer any day. I have the equipment and the ability to do it. Others might not and should think twice about doing it.
#14
Typical Buck
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Colorado
Posts: 797
I see a lot of forums about bait don't bait, trophy hunters vs meat hunters, for sure shots vs so called unethical. Here's a few simple rules in the world of hunting to follow. If you have never tried it how do you know if you can do it, like it or want to do it again?
I'm usually not one to brag but thank God my father was never one to walk behind and go with the flow. I can shoot 50yds with my modern compound bow. I can kill a bull elk 600yds away at timber line where there's no more cover to get closer. I'm glad I still have the right to travel to places that's legal to bait bear and take one with my bow. I have the right to hunt mountain lions with dogs and do so every winter. I'm proud to let spike bucks go and make my hunt more of a challenge even if I don't get an animal.
I love it when someone stands there and says you can't do that or you can't make that shot. My only response to that is Oh yeah watch this. What one man can do another can do if not better. Continue to doubt life and you'll live in the dark your whole life. What one man does or uses as a tool for his means of harvesting game is not my right to discredit. I do have my opinions but I'll not be shocked if he gets it done his own way. It's about time hunters banned together instead of getting themselves banned from hunting all together. Teach the basics of ethical hunting and let each man chose his own path.
I'm usually not one to brag but thank God my father was never one to walk behind and go with the flow. I can shoot 50yds with my modern compound bow. I can kill a bull elk 600yds away at timber line where there's no more cover to get closer. I'm glad I still have the right to travel to places that's legal to bait bear and take one with my bow. I have the right to hunt mountain lions with dogs and do so every winter. I'm proud to let spike bucks go and make my hunt more of a challenge even if I don't get an animal.
I love it when someone stands there and says you can't do that or you can't make that shot. My only response to that is Oh yeah watch this. What one man can do another can do if not better. Continue to doubt life and you'll live in the dark your whole life. What one man does or uses as a tool for his means of harvesting game is not my right to discredit. I do have my opinions but I'll not be shocked if he gets it done his own way. It's about time hunters banned together instead of getting themselves banned from hunting all together. Teach the basics of ethical hunting and let each man chose his own path.
#15
Yes but what defines a "good shot" in your book is not necessarily a bad shot in my book. There are numerous ways to hit the vitals. The question is who's shot book are you playing by? If you can't make the shot, then don't. Personally I love ANY shot that kills the deer and puts food on the table. Don't know about you, but when I'm hunting there is no one standing over my shoulder saying don't take that shot.... I am the only one who knows the right time to shoot... and all the decision is based on are 2 things, can I make the shot and will it do the job it is suppose to do, end of story. I never even think about what someone else thinks, cares, says, has or has not done before. Take the shots you can make and pass on the ones you can't, it really is as simple as that.
Live it up! Doug
Live it up! Doug
#16
I think everyone determines what a good shot is from their own life experiences and code of ethics. I will not shoot a deer in the head with a bow....you may. I will not shoot a deer running past me with a bow...you may. I don't shoot doves off a light line or tree limb...you may. I'm not that desperate to kill something. If I don't think it's a good shot by my standards then I will not take it. I also will almost never lose an animal. Not saying it doesn't happen but it's rare. I think a person should be responsible enough to give the animal respect and that means a fast, clean kill. I know a gut shot is 100 percent deadly but I wouldn't take it if that was the only shot I had...you may. To me it's not all about the kill at all cost. So like anyone that's hunts....It's my own personal "shot book" that I go by. If you don't believe there isn't a bad shot or an unethical one then we are just on a different page.
I have to mention, in my book breaking game laws is unethical, so as long as you are following all the laws where you are hunting you are ethically hunting.
Live it up! Doug
Last edited by kswild; 08-31-2010 at 01:19 PM.
#17
I never said you were unethical but you did say..."Personally I love ANY shot that kills the deer and puts food on the table." A gut shot is a killing shot and will put food on the table but it's not one I would recommend or one I would consider ethical if done on purpose. To me, hunting is much more than just killing. I don't hunt just for the kill and I doubt you do either. If ethics and killing don't go together then why do we care if we hit animals in the eye and hope they die? Why would we care if we lose 50 percent of them to bad shots? Killing an animal can be and should done with ethics in mind. Just my opinion.....
#18
What is ethical is dependent on the current conditions including the hunter, his equipement, and his experience with it. If someone is proficient with a recurve at 35 yards and confident in his abilities based on experience, then the shot you described is in no way unethical.
#19
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location:
Posts: 1,837
To me there is a difference between the meaning of an ethical shot and a high percentage shot. Ethical shot to me is any humane killing shot that you feel without a doubt you can make time after time. High percentage is any humane killing shot that most hunters can make time after time. I am not turning down a humane killing shot that I know I can make on a daily basis just because someone else can't and doesn't believe it is an ethical shot. Will you ever miss on a lower percentage shot that you would normally make? Sure but I have also miss a couple of times on high percentage shots too. Ethical is staying within your personal limitations for making a clean humane shot.
#20
final answer is, He was confident in his shot, he took the shot, the deer died. So what is the problem? Could I have made the shot? Absolutely not? Could someone else have made the shot? Probably? The final take on it should be that he made a humane shot that killed the deer at 35 yards at no worse of an outcome if it was 15 yards. So what is the problem? Each of us has our own abilities and handicaps that we must work with when hunting. You use each of these to legally and humanely take your prey. So what if someone else does not like it? That is why it is called hunting to the best of your abilities. Next show critic.