Ethical Question

[bsimm78]

I have a question and maybe someone can help me out with it.  I read a post on another site by someone saying that they haven't shot in 5 years and they aren't comfortable enough to hunt deer yet with trad gear.  However, they did say that they would pursue hogs with trad gear.  I am a huge fan of hunting ethics.  I won't make a questionable shot, meaning I'm not going to loose an arrow through brush at any animal.  I won't take a shot outside of my effective range and I won't go hunting until I know I can hit my target.  I personally think it's irresponsible for anyone to say (in not so many words) that "I don't want to wound a deer because I'm not good enough yet but I have no problem taking that chance with another animal."  A response to my dislike on the other website said, "ethical? We are trying to kill them." (made no sense to me)  As an avid outdoorsman and hunter, I feel I have certain responsibilities.  If I'm camping, I carry out all trash...even if it isn't mine, respect nature, and when hunting, don't do anything questionable...especially with stick and string.  Am I wrong?  Am I overreacting or did I miss something?

[AZ_Shooter]

I would agree with you.  Regardless of the animal that I am hunting, even those considered to be vermin, I will not take a shot that I think is questionable.  If I wouldn't take the shot on a deer, I most certainly wouldn't take it on a hog.  Not to mention that shot placement on a hog can be a little tricky.

[Ragnarok Forge]

Ethics are a very personal thing.  I will take a long shot at a yote.  The farmers that let me hunt their land want them all dead any way it can happen. But on deer and elk I call it at 25 yards.  Some would call that unethical, others wouldn't.  

I would agree that no one should hunt who is not capable of taking a clean accurate shot.  Here is the problem, any of us on a bad day can make a bad shot so how do you pick which days to hunt and stay ethical?

The real question for each of us is do you hunt within your ethics?  I hunt within mine.  And the next guy hunts under another set of ethics he believes in.  They are very personal and cannot be translated from one individual to the next.

What is legal is an entirely different subject.

[bornagainbowhunter]

Part of the issue may be disease also.  Hogs around here, Arkansas, tend to have alot of diseased animals in the herd.  I know of folks that kill them and leave them lay, never even walk up the them.  Others catch them in a portable pen, kill every pig they catch, then move the pen to another location and do it again.  It is done in an effort to get the animals off of their property.

I don't blame them for it.  I have some friends that have pigs on their farms and lose major portions of crops and fields almost overnight when these critters move in.  

Like RF said, questions like this need to be looked at through the eyes of the man making the decision.  If they were hurting my crops, therefore hurting my income, therefore hurting my families wellbeing, I would do whatever it took to cure the problem. Regardless of what another thought was ethical.

I am not trying starting a base for arguments, but a person needs to know the whole situtation to make a judgemnt call.  If it was just hunting situtations and the person simply had a low reguard for the pigs, then I would tend to agree with you.

[bigbadjon]

I can understand trying to get rid of pigs but still don't want them to suffer. If I was not comfortable erradicating them with a bow I would pick up a rifle.

[bsimm78]

I agree with the pig problem but the statement he made was about him hunting

[Terry Green]

My range on pigs is shorter than on deer....hogs have trickier vitals and they move a LOT more than deer do.

[Shawn Leonard]

Clay has it right. I always tell guys even if ya are not a great shot to go out and hunt. Shooting at game is a different(pardon the pun) a different animal. I am not a great shot but kill plenty of stuff. I know if I went out and shot and than decided by my accuracy that I would hunt or not, I would be sitting at home more than hunting! This guys ethics are not for you to judge, only he can judge them and live his choices. Shawn

[smokin feathers]

I for one do not agree with it, but it is a practice her in TX to shoot hogs in the guts and let them run off so the deer will start returning to feeders. Most people around here put a hog on the same level as a rat and dont really care, if they kill it clean good, if not oh well there are plenty more to eradicate and are not on the same level as a deer in their opionion. I have watched them shoot over 200 hogs a day in a helicopter and leave them all lay both here in E TX and even more so in the fields in the panhandle. Which I have to agree they are an epidemic and are going to really get terrible through out the country but I still like a good clean kill and skin every one I kill, if I have a full freezer like during the summer when we kill or trap 40-50 hogs a month then I give the meat to someone who needs it.

[Brad_Gentry]

What the guy is hunting, whether it be deer, hogs, buffalo, or whatever, doesn't really matter. Having confidence to make a good clean kill with the equipment you're choosing to use goes a little beyond personal ethics. For the folks that don't have a problem with it, what about having respect for the animals we hunt?

Bigbadjohn hit the nail on the head... if you're not sure you can do it with the bow, then grab a rifle...

Originally posted by bsimm78:
I have a question and maybe someone can help me out with it.  I read a post on another site by someone saying that they haven't shot in 5 years and they aren't comfortable enough to hunt deer yet with trad gear.  However, they did say that they would pursue hogs with trad gear.  I am a huge fan of hunting ethics.  I won't make a questionable shot, meaning I'm not going to loose an arrow through brush at any animal.  I won't take a shot outside of my effective range and I won't go hunting until I know I can hit my target.  I personally think it's irresponsible for anyone to say (in not so many words) that "I don't want to wound a deer because I'm not good enough yet but I have no problem taking that chance with another animal."  A response to my dislike on the other website said, "ethical? We are trying to kill them." (made no sense to me)  As an avid outdoorsman and hunter, I feel I have certain responsibilities.  If I'm camping, I carry out all trash...even if it isn't mine, respect nature, and when hunting, don't do anything questionable...especially with stick and string.  Am I wrong?  Am I overreacting or did I miss something?

I think maybe you missed something. I read that whole thread and part of the way down the author said this:

"I understand exactly what you're talking about bsimm78. I've killed numerous hogs and javis with my recurve but it's been a while and the way i've got my tripod set up, i'll have a 6-8 yard shot MAX on these hogs........and I'm deadly at that range. So you're right, if I don't feel comfortable, I WILL NOT take a shot at a game animal."

It sounds like he is saying that he is giong to take a shot he knows he can make to me. It also sound like maybe he can get the hogs into a range that he does not think he can get the deer into. That's just the way I read it.

Bisch

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

No matter what the animal you are taking a life.  I wouldn't want to suffer needlessly, therefore I don't want the animals I hunt to suffer.  A life is a life, bottom line!

[Sam McMichael]

If you ain't competent to kill a deer, you ain't competent to kill a pig.

[seabass]

i agree with you totally,steve

[RAU]

I agree with some of what everyone said above. I dont live in a state with a pig problem but I understand their a real problem in alot of places. I agree with ragnarok forge especially in  that ethics are a personal thing. That said if i had a bad varmint problem I too would reach for the scoped rifle and put as many down as quickly and humanely as possible!! Why waste my time and cause undo suffering to anything? Just cause we see them as a pest doesnt mean they have to take an arrow to the guts or hams and runn off and die slow. If they have to go get em gone!

[YORNOC]

I agree with you. All deserve the same respect. All living creatures trying to survive. I personally would give the "lowly" rat the same respect. It's just trying to make it like everything else. Just because there are high numbers doesn't mean you disregard the individual. None are "evil" creatures trying to destroy the world. Everything that is alive is alive for a reason, don't just kill it to kill it. But thats just my opinion......

[Pointer]

If the guy is saying a deer is more worthy of a well-aimed arrow than a hog I'd say its an ethics issue...he doesn't have any

If the guy means he can consistently get within his effective range on hogs but can't on deer, so he'll hunt hogs but not deer then I'd say you misunderstood him. He's doing exactly what I consider to be ethical.

I shoot with guys who set up for 12 yard shots all the time but who also shoot well enough to take a turkey at 40. If you ask them whether or not they'd shoot at a particular animal under a certain set of conditions they'd tell you that as long as they felt they could make the shot, they'd take it..20-30-40yrds...whatever. These same friends have had deer under 10 yards but won't shoot if the situation isn't to their liking for whatever reason.. There's nothing wrong with that in my opinion.

The question of ethics is always a very slippery slope...very hard to define and navigate.

[joe ashton]

I agree 100%.  I once heard a discussion taking place at a 3d shoot.  We were in front of the cast iron deer target,  you know with the soft spot for the kill zone.   The guy said, he did not want to take the shot but if it were a real deer he'd take it in a heart beat.In other words he was afraid to brake an arrow but would be ok wounding a deer...  More respect for his $4 arrow than God animals.....