I have broken laws and not just this crap of staying in the stand too long either. The first time I ever tresspassed I got caught. I was 24 yrs old and with a bunch of guys and we all decided to hunt some land that belonged to Dupont. "we will be fine" they said.. "we do it all the time"... "trust me" ..yeh well within 30 mins of being there we got surrounded by the game wardens and I spent the rest of the day in the green SUV. I caught for tresspassing and carrying an un-plugged shotgun... ( too many shells in the gun) and I also got a ticket for no blaze orange. So the judge made me do 30 hrs of comm service and my tresspass was dropped..I paid 100$ fine for the gun and blaze orange viloation. I thought the judge took it easy on me. This was my first and only offense and he knew I was not a bad guy, I was just stupid and made a bad decision to go in there. I paid my debt and have been straight ever since. Now, is that good enough for the ethics police on here? I broke the law and I paid the price, im very ethical and legal now, but I did make a bad joice once, and Im man enough to tell you guys about it. This happened 10 yrs ago and I still remember how awful I felt before, whilst, and after it happened.
Vabowman = lethal connection. Get the pitchforks!!! J/k man, you made a mistake, got caught and paid the fine. You learned a lesson, life goes on.
VA keeping and setting a standard for yourself has little to do with "Ethics" IMO. Remember they are YOUR standards, so what I or anyone else thinks of your standards is pointless IMO.
It's like this for me.....whatever floats yer boat...but if your cheating affects me, then we got a problem...or if you bait turkey, I'll gut ya like a fish. SB
Many people try to portray as best an image as we can to other hunters & non-hunters alike. Sometimes that translates into a holier than thou attitude. I'm certainly not perfect, never claimed to be. Things are almost never black & white, there are infinite shades of gray.
Interesting thought. I think of the verse in the new testament, "Let he is without blame cast the first stone." In other words, ain't nobody perfect. Ethics, IMHO, are open to interpretation. They aren't real well defined. I guarantee you we don't all see eye to eye regarding ethics. A synonym for 'ethics' is 'opinion.' Game laws, on the other hand, are pretty straightforward. Legal shooting time is (fill in the blank) ......Daily limit is......You can't be in posession of both a firearm and a bow. No sights that cast a beam of light on the animal.......While we may not all AGREE with said game laws.......they are simply not open to interpretation. They are what they are, like it or not. I'm guilty of most of the stuff you mentioned. I've used a bow hook on public land....I've trimmed a few small branches off the tree I was climbing, on public land. I've sat in my stand until I positively couldn't see anymore, with complete disregard to the time.
Havnt read the whole thread, I just know that im not perfect, and i have broken laws, but i strive to do the right thing. Ethical and law wise.
I agree with the thought of what are the intentions behind your actions. If it is to gain a distinct advantage then it isn't right. We all make mistakes everyday of our lives, but the question is what do we learn from them? If we don't learn from these mistakes, then they are no longer mistakes, they are intentional behaviors.
Guilty and guilty. I aint perfect, and I am sure I have broken some laws before when out hunting. I don't always carry a watch when on stand to check the time, I apparently broke a law by removing my hunter orange to take a photo with my archery killed deer during rifle season , but hey hunter orange and bowhunting memories don't jive for me. Sue me. We were also warned by the Game Warden at the last Dove shoot not to pool our birds in the same pile. It was actually kind of funny, considering we all DESPISE this arrogant guy (ONLY GW I have ever not liked, he has ALWAYS had an axe to grind with the world), always a prick. He walks up to three of us sitting there, with a pile of 6 birds out in front (limit is 15 each), and says who killed these...we looked at each other, I said "I killed 3, he killed 2, and he killed 1." He went ape **** about how it was illegal to keep birds together, we could be cheating on limits, blah, blah, blah....finally, my buddy said, "He was confused, I shot all 6.:d" LOL He finally shut up and said, this will just be your warning. Things like that are blown waaaay out of proportion by some GWs, while others are actually understanding and down to earth people. I also LOVE Christine's point about not having to be perfect to turn others in. Even if the person who placed the call did the exact same thing crime wise, it still doesn't cheapen or lessen the crime the guy commited in the first place...and like Germ said, knowingly breaking the major laws is a pretty big no no compared to inadvertently breaking minor infractions that likely wouldn't be ticketed anyway.
Yeah, I've trimmed public trees, I usually go 4 mph over the speed limit too. But if I'm 4mph over and I see a drunk driver, I'll still call him in. Is that wrong? We're all broken... pretty sure I sin every day, but that won't keep me from telling someone when they sin. Call me a hypocrite if you want, I'm just trying to better myself and those around me. Matthew 7:3-5 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." I think this is a better parable for this thread than the Casting of Stones one. I would hope that my brother (with the speck) would tell me about my plank... Just my thoughts
