What happened? That takes alot of ba**s to set up a feeder and then put a stand up next to it.

A few years back a friend and I were having acouple of cold ones in the local pub(night time) Some of his friends came in and said come with us we' re out spotlighting deer for target practice. Man, I was pi**ed, I hadn' t been in the ole stompin grounds for awhile and I couldn' t believe what these guys(kids) were saying. I looked at my friend, he told them he wasn' t interested(that made me somewhat happy). I waited till he finished talking then I ripped into those punks and told them I' ld kick there arse if I caught them. I also told them if any deer were found dead(shot) along the road within the next couple of days that I would turn there names in. No deer were found, so I guess this had a happy ending.

I agree that pointing fingers at other hunters and their style of hunting is not productive.....but if we don' t discuss what is and what isn' t acceptable we wont have any standards. Ultimately it' s the sense of right and wrong that will guide a hunter. Some of that comes with experience. What you find acceptable in one situation isn' t going to be the same in another. Example. I have sat in my stand while small " biscuit deer" sniffed around under it. I watched them come and watched them go. But we are on the edge of overpopulation. I have heard suggestions that we cull some of these deer, especially the does, to keep the heard from increasing beyond what the land will feed. That makes sense and I can' t see anything wrong with that course of action. I just didn' t want to kill them at that time. I' ve let a few decent deer walk because I wasn' t comfortable with my shot. But just this weekend, I hammered the first of several deer that was running to escape a drive. would I take the shot again?? I don' t know. I might. I might wait for a better shot. But I harvested a deer with a legal shot in a legal situation. There is raw brutality in the killing of an animal. This is undeniable. I choose to continue to discuss the parameters of what is acceptable so that I can continue to strive to be a better hunter and to gain an understanding of the way others hunt. I know that many people don' t see it thru my eyes, but the basic object of hunting is the killing of the animal you pursue. No matter how we pretty it up that is our desired end result. The only difference is how we go about it. if we talk to each other about it we will only make our selves better hunters and better stewards of the land.

David

Amen, Charlie. Excellent post.

all very good points. this forum is so great. but hunters do need to realize that they dont necessarily know everything about hunting. i learn something new off this site every day. but hunters need to join together and stop arguing in order to be able to stand up against all of the non-hunters who try to shut us down.
raim

10-4 DPV,

I don' t reckon everyone is gonna agree all the time, nothing wrong with that! It' s the preachers out there that have set such high standards for themselves and then question the decisions that others make as being Unethical, not hunting, etc.

This is a great board though. Even the ones that I have disagreed with have kept it civil.

I' ve been guilty of the high horse stance more than once. It is usually because I didn' t like the way some other hunter had interupted my outdoor experience by having one of their own.

David

it wasnt until this last year or so that all these " ethics" questions came up. everyone has their own set of ethics and should stick by them. last year i passed up a spike during bow and then my little 12 year old cuzin shot it with his shotgun. does that make me better?? i think not. i shoot day after day year round. my dad shoots three shots before the season to make sure hes still on. does that make me a better person?? no. when it comes down to it, if you decide to shoot or not, or decide to bait or not is your own choice. when i pull the trigger or release an arrow on a deer, the last thing on my mind is " what will the people at the huntingnet board say?" do whatever you feel is ethical and stick to it. as long as its legal, i have no problem with it.

You go Charlie, well said.

WELL PUT Charlie.

I agree whole heartedly.

Discussing it is one thing and I am with you on that. Calling each other Idiots or Morons or Orange People is not the way to do it. I am sure that you as well as others have read posts or replys where the insults were flying around freely. I could list quite a few folks here that do it more than others but what would be the point. Yes, discuss the issues and you are very very right in saying that it will make us better for it. We learn from one another just like I did today.

Great Post Charlie P

Good Hunting to All