You're only going to be as good as the land you hunt, this post turns a bit away from ethics area and sounds more condescending. Don't take it the wrong way, I don't think you mean it that way but the foodplot commment can be offensive. You are very fortunate in your youth to have the opportunities that you have had. I said after your elk or mulie that you are having someone elses lifetime of hunts in a single season.
I'm sorry if this was confused. I hunt suburban land and small acreage in IL and WI. I was fortunate enough to have a very successful season. I am beyond humbled, thankful and blessed this year and always. I hope to never lose sight of that. I'm not the great white hunter, I just had good luck and parents who put up with me being gone a lot. I disagree with the statement that you are only as good as the land you hunt. Good land cannot replace luck, woodsmanship, scouting and a variety of other factors that come into play. May I ask what you meant by the food plot comment? I said that I hunt over foodplots. I added that because my original post compared foodplots and baiting as a method for harvesting deer. I didn't mean anything offensive, or cocky sounding. Sorry if it came across that way. Sent from a piece of paper, tied to a rock.
I think the continued illegality of suppressors has a lot to do with making it less easy for night hunters and other poachers. I see little or no edge or advantage to be gained by using them; but they are a lot more enjoyable to shoot. There's much room for debate on many ethical points in hunting, but can we all agree that the ban on lighted nocks is the absolute dumbest EQUIPMENT law in all of hunting? What rational could possibly support that? All lighted nocks do is increase the chance of recovering an animal AFTER it is shot- nothing unsporting about that at all.
Some states probably view lighted nocks as a slippery slope towards encouraging bad shots at dawn and dusk, as well as a slippery slope that leads to poison broadhead rigs. I'm speculating.
My fault, I read it as you 110% do not and will not do those things and you do not hunt over foodplots. Too much nyquill with other alcohol on top of it. It's nights like that that I need to stay off the phone. Totally misread on my part
Using a silencer is not unethical neither is hunting over a bait pile. It's funny how some guys plant a 30 yard food plot and hunt it but they have a problem with guys who hunt over a pile of bait? Ridiculous, if you don't like the way some people hunt mine your own friggin business and stop crying like a woman. Most of us are in this for the meat, not the sport.
I mostly hunt MI public land so plots are out of the question for me there. However baiting is allowed and I'm not above it. I typically run and gun so I don't do it much but I have. We do 3-4 small kill plots (~1/3 acre each) on the one parcel of private land in WI that I hunt. Baiting is illegal there. To me, there is zero difference between a food plot and baiting. Or even crop field edges for that matter. Either way you're artificially altering natural habitat or using artificially altered habitat in hopes of attracting deer to a food source. I don't see anything wrong with any of those scenarios except where CWD is present. I get that some people think that putting in the work that makes a good food plot makes it somehow more sporting or noble than just "walking into the woods and dumping a pile of bait". And sure, some bait hunters do just that. But as for me, I guarantee I've put as many or more miles on my legs scouting and spent as many hours finding good areas on public land as the average food plotter puts on their tractor or ATV. I'd also venture a guess that I know "my" public area woods better than the average food plotter knows their lease. If I want to put a bucket of bait down to help draw a deer into my shooting lane in the back 40 than why would that be less ethical than someone who plants clover in a small clearing? I can't wrap my head around the concept that either food plotting or baiting is ethically superior to the other. They're morally equivalent. I don't look down on anyone for either (long as it's legal.) Either way, the animal is free range and has a choice if it wants to step into that clearing during daylight...
We have had the bait pile vs food plot debate before. I think bait piles have a higher risk of harming the deer herd than foodplots do, and therefore, I would choose not to use them if it were legal here in MN. That doesn't mean I think it is unethical, just a personal choice.
The Plot vs Bait debate is another thread entirely, but I will say: If you have not done both, I don't feel one can comment. I used to hold feelings on this topic, but had never hunted over bait. A trip out west I did one day...confirmed how I myself felt about it but I can at least state my feeling knowing I've seen both (albeit limited exposure with bait).
Here in Kansas we have a coyote problem so I shoot every coyote I can. I carry a .22 pistol while bow hunting (legal here) just to shoot them because to launch an arrow is about $28.00 a shot, because even with lighted knocks you can lose a shaft in the prairie grass. I shoot coons and possums to help the quail, pheasants and turkeys as well.
There is no line to be drawn. The law is the law, no way around that. It's more of a question, will we obey the law? Doing the right thing even when no one is watching is ethics for me. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Really? I doubt that. Most of us could buy good steaks for less than we spend on hunting. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the meat, but its not the driving force for my recreation. I have hunted deer over bait piles, and I have hunted them on food plots. There was almost no comparison. Hunting the bait pile was far easier and nearly a guarantee to get a shot at deer. (Texas)
No one's ethical guidelines are the same. The ultimate goal is to kill legally and to kill as humanely as possible. If your skill set allows you to do that from the ground with a spear, power to you. If that means you are high up a tree with a firearm and scope, so be it. Whether you are baiting/feeding, hunting a food plot, or ambushing a travel zone without bait, do what fits your skill set to stay legal and humane. I'm not religious but St. Paul said something that applies to a lot of life stuff: blessed is he who does not condemn himself for what he allows.
What about when following the law is not the ethical thing to do? What would you do if you filled your doe tag in September, and you are just hunting that big buck. You see a doe come limping by your stand. As she stops broadside at 20 yards, you see a coyote has ripped apart her stomach, with her intestines hanging out and a large chunk of her hind quarter missing. There is no way this deer is going to survive winter, much less November. However, you have no legal way to harvest this doe. What do you do?
An illegal kill is an unethical kill. Killing that deer without a tag is as bad as any other unethical way you can think of. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
However in this case, I would use my either sex tag on this doe. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
So there is never a situation in your mind that following the law is the wrong thing to do? Sent from my SM-G930V using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
In that instance the right thing to do would be to call DNR and have them come out. The moral thing would be to take the shot. I'd struggle with the choice, but I think I personally would let it walk. Had I not been there that deer would still have been lame and I'd be none the wiser until I came about it's carcass. Had it been a deer that I had made a bad shot on previously, I would end it and no one would know but myself. I was the cause for it and it would be up to me to end it. I came across a doe a couple springs ago while out mushroom hunting, she'd been hit by a car and broke her back in front of hind legs. She had managed to make it with her front legs into a creek about 150yds from the highway, but could not get back up the bank. I backed away and called DNR, as I was leaving about an hour later they pulled up so I flagged them down and took them to her. I could have easily dispatched her myself, but in IL it is illegal even if you hit it with your vehicle and it's suffering in the ditch. Mother Nature can be a cruel witch, but sometimes we have to let the cycle run its course.
