timbercruiser

IMHO I think one of the most over used words on that regularily appears on this forum would be ehtics or ethical. The way I look at it, there are dozens of ways to hunt. Lots of them are due to the area of the country, topo, visibility, etc. Often it is based on how your relatives or friends taught you to hunt. If it is legal, doesn't matter to me if it is bait, fence, man drives, dog drives, scent lures, plots, stands or any other method of hunting. At times I have seen about every kind of hunting there is dogcussed by somebody as being unethical. Just have good time.

eatsleephunt

Amen.


Speaking of other ways/forms/methods of hunting....

Go to the bowhunting forum. They are discussing how bows are pretty much a naturalbiological body part the rest of us are unequipt with. I use mine sometimes, but I had to cut the embilical cord cause it was gettin' in the way.

wyote

I hate the word "ethical" All it usually means is "holier than thou"

If it's legal or not legal that settles it. It doesn't matter if it's legal in one state and not in another. "LEGAL MEANS IT'S RIGHT"............"ILLEGAL MEANS IT'S WRONG"

retrieverman

Well said timbercruiser, but I am afraid you will need a flame retartent suit.

Colorado Luckydog

That's a bunch of bull chit. Who are you tosay, if it's legal, it's okay. My ethics are mine, and yours are yours. Ethics are personal, but they definitely exsist. I think that discussing them on an open forum, may help someone, who was taught by someone with poor ethics, that there are other points of veiws that may be better than what they were taught.I know a few hunters, (not many) that hunt legally, but that I would never hunt with. I might add, MOSTOF THE HUNTERS,I know,I would hunt with anyday of the week. Openly discussing our own personal ethics can only help us all get better. Before reading about baiting on here,I was totally against it, now I would do it in a heart beat!!

timbercruiser

OK Luckydog, tell us the only ethical ways to hunt and what makes them ethical.

Colorado Luckydog

My ethics and yours may not be the same. Ethics are personal. I'm not going to try and tell you how to hunt, nor should you try and tell me. But discussing our views, without bashing each other, to me is a good thing. I've learned a lot on this board, and have changed my way of thinking more than once, after hearing other hunters points of view.

cr422

I think what you're referring to are personal preferences not ethics. Ethics would be some standards on which we would all agree.

For example, I think we would all agree that poaching is unethical.

Also, choosing to hunt on a forty acre game ranch would be a matter of personal preference if legal where you do it. But posting pictures here implying that you tookyour deeron public land would be unethical.

My opinion.

retrieverman

The confusion is between legality, ethics, and sportsmanship. Poaching, though it may be unethical, is first and foremost ILLEGAL. Shooting fish in a barrel, so to speak, is legal in every state that I know of but is a perfect example of POOR SPORTSMANSHIP. Posting pictures of an animal and falsifying a story is very simply telling LIE. Let's call a spade a spade. Don't "muddy the water" with a vague term like ETHICS.

I have been deer hunting for 25 years and have been pretty successful so far, and I have no intention of changing due to OPINIONS of the members here. I am also not going to push my methods or views on anyone either.

chucker34

I used to work with a very successful salesman who told me "what's legal is what's ethical." Now this guy never screwed anyone over on a consumer side like selling a lemon of a car. He sold limestone and granite to builders who used them on the exterior of buildings and sports stadiums, etc. But he did do everything within the power of the law to get the sale and if that meant legally interfering with the competition's sale, he did it. One time the competition got their bid for a job in a few minutes past the official deadline. This guy was there when they submitted the "late" bid and he pointed it out and demanded that bid (the likely winningbid) be thrown out. It was. Ethical? Who knows. Legal? Entirely.

He was kind of harsh in his methods but he got the job done and he presented a valid arguement. If its legal, who am I to tell someone they can't do it? I either get the law changed or leave the person who's violating my own personal ethics alone.

Someone may not LIKE hunting over bait. They may not LIKE shooting spike bucks. Bottom line, if they're legal, leave the person who's doing those activities alone.

I don't particularly care for drive hunting. I sit hours on stand with bow in hand and watch at the end of the season as a group scares up deer and blasts away. I don't like it but its legal, they're having a good time, and that's life. There'll be next year.

Ethics are personal. Do what feels right to you and go on with your own life. Let everyone else live their own.