There are two types of
laws, Written and Unwritten. Written is what you
can and can’t do, and Unwritten is what you should
and shouldn’t do,” according to T.D.
Carroll, the first Hunter Education Coordinator
from Texas. T.D., a member of the IHEA Hall of
Fame, is now deceased, but left his philosophy
with many instructors across North America. Now,
what will you do?
You face numerous decisions
on any given hunt. Most of these are
straightforward, dealing with the law. If you’ve
got the biggest buck you’ve ever seen in your life
staring at you from the glow of your headlights,
you don’t shoot. Period. End of story.
But it’s not always that easy. There are
situations that sport a fringe of “gray area,”
scenarios where the choice is not always so clear.
And while some of these situations may not involve
the breaking of a law per se, they may push the
barrier between ethical hunting and unethical
hunting.
Take some time to read over
the following hunting situations. Study them, then
read the three choices listed after the scenario.
Which would you do? Would you do something
different?
Ready? Let’s get started.
You and your buddies are
quail hunting and have separated. You take a few
birds, nowhere near your limit, but when you
reunite with your friends they have more than
their limits between them. They suggest you all
divvy up the birds equally, giving each of you a
limit.
Refuse. Explain to your
partners how party hunting is illegal, and you
don’t want to be a part of it.
Agree. They’re your
buddies, they just got carried away, and if
checked later you all have legal limits.
Agree, but make it clear
that if it ever happens again you’ll not be a
party to it.
Answer: a. Refuse. Party
hunting is ILLEGAL, period. Your buddies got
carried away, they’ll have to bear the brunt of
it. You might consider choosing a new set of
hunting “buddies” if they continue irresponsible
behavior.
A black bear hunt, late
August, and you’re looking at a 400-pound class
monster 350 yards across a wind-swept canyon. The
temperature is above 70, the winds are gusting to
35 miles per hour, and it is 30 minutes before the
end of legal shooting hours. You’re shooting a
rifle that can easily deliver a clean kill at that
range under the proper conditions.
Don’t shoot. The winds make
it iffy, and the canyon would be hard to
traverse with so little daylight left. If the
bear was not hit mortally, you would not be able
to track it down until the following morning,
and the weather is too hot to hope the hide and
meat wouldn’t be ruined if the bear died during
the night.
Take the shot. If the bear
doesn’t go down immediately, make tracks across
the canyon, pick up blood and track until it’s
too dark to see. Return the following morning
and resume the trail.
Shoot. If the bear doesn’t
go down, return to camp, come back the following
morning and begin tracking then, as not to
pressure the animal in hopes it will bed,
stiffen and expire more quickly.
Answer: a. Don’t shoot. The
shot is too iffy, it’s too hot, the wind is bad,
this has all the trademarks of a scenario where
it’s best not to shoot. Put him to bed and look
for him tomorrow.
You take a shot at a good
bull elk. The animal goes down hard, but
immediately gets to its feet and bolts into the
timber. You find good blood and track, but
darkness is coming and you need to get out. You
return the following morning and pick up the
trail, but as the day winds on the trail all but
disappears. There are two days left in the
season.
Continue to look for the
remainder of the season. Stick to the area,
circling, back-tracking. Do not shoot another
bull unless you are certain it’s the one you
hit.
Forget it. The blood, what
there is of it, does not indicate a solid hit,
though the initial trail was quite good. Move
on, continue your hunt.
Give yourself the remainder
of the day. Continue to look until the blood is
gone and you can no longer separate your bull’s
tracks from any others. After that, hunt on,
confident the animal is not critically wounded.
Answer: a. or c. It is the
responsibility of every hunter to make every
possible effort to retrieve the game they have
shot. Ethically answer a. is probably best, as it
means you have done all you can. However,
realistically, answer c. can also be acceptable.
Again, give it your all to find the game
regardless of the situation.
You’re still-hunting a timber
flat when the hair on the back of your neck stands
on end. Behind you is a mountain lion, not 20
yards away, looking like it has every intention to
make you a mid-morning snack. You have no cougar
tag.
Stand up straight, hold
your arms wide, make a commotion in order to
scare the cat away.
Shoot. It is perfectly all
right to kill a mountain lion if you feel your
life is in danger.
Fire over the mountain
lion’s head. While this puts you in a situation
where a follow-up shot, should the cougar come
at you, would be impossible, it should be
effective in scaring the animal off.
Answer: a. Your best bet is
to make yourself look big and make some noise. If
you are not certain your life is in danger you
have no legal cause to fire. And firing over its
head is a bad idea, as it is always a bad idea to
fire a bullet that is not aimed directly at
something. If the cougar advances and clearly
threatens your life, take it down and contact the
authorities.
You’re hunkered in a duck
blind on a dark, blustery, gray, foggy morning, in
other words, in perfect duck hunting weather. You
are allowed only mallard drakes, not hens, in your
limit. A flight comes over, you swing on a drake,
which peels off at the last second as a hen flies
into your pattern.
Leave the hen. It is
illegal for you to possess a hen mallard, it was
an honest mistake, leave it for the coyotes and
keep yourself legal, bag limit-wise.
Cut the breasts out of the
bird and dispose of the carcass. This way you’re
not wasting the bird and likely won’t be caught.
Place the hen in with the
rest of your bag limit. Report it to the local
game warden or USFWL officer. Explain the
situation, but do not hide, nor deny the kill,
and then go by what the warden advises at this
point.
Answer: c. Do not waste an
animal you have taken. Place the hen in with the
rest of your bag limit. Report it to the local
game warden or USFWS officer. Explain the
situation, but do not hide, nor deny the kill, and
then go by what the warden advises at this point.
You and a partner spot two
nice bucks in the same clearing. You each pick one
and fire. Your buck goes down, your partner’s is
hit but takes off. You head to your fallen buck,
your partner goes after his. You’re gutting your
deer when what you are certain is your buddy’s
deer wanders by, clearly hit hard
Nobody likes to see a
wounded animal. Finish your buddy’s buck.
You have already taken a
buck and have no other tag. By finishing your
partner’s buck you have basically taken two bucks.
Holler for your buddy and point him in the right
direction to finish the job himself.
Keep an eye on your
partner’s buck and keep quiet, waiting for your
buddy to return. If the buck is about to disappear
from eyesight before your partner arrives, mark
the last place you saw the buck, and advise your
buddy when he arrives. Finish field dressing your
deer and then go help your buddy track his deer.
If he is successful in finding and finishing of
the buck, help him field dress it.
Answer: c. Once you’re tagged
out, you’re tagged out. Shooting your buddy’s
deer, even if it’s just to finish it off, is
against the law. Responsible hunters obey the law,
and you cannot guarantee the deer would have died
from your buddy’s original shot anyway.
A long-time hunting buddy has
a bad habit which has recently become worse. After
the morning hunt, he’ll have a few beers with
lunch. Then he stashes a few in his pack to drink
during the afternoon hunt. His consumption has
gotten to the point where he appears to be
blurring a bit.
Tell your partner, in no
uncertain terms, you will not hunt with him if
he has been drinking alcohol, for your safety
and your partner’s safety.
Assess the level of
intoxication in your partner, and judge for
yourself whether or not it’s gotten to the level
where it’s become dangerous. If you deem it has
not, continue your hunt as planned without a
further word.
Bring up the problem in a
non-hunting situation. Discuss it thoroughly,
making sure your partner sees how it makes you
feel. If your partner becomes agitated at the
conversation, decide either to continue hunting
with him or her or to find another hunting
buddy.
Answer: a. Alcohol has no
place in hunting or with any endeavor including
firearms. Buddy or not, you cannot be around that
sort of activity, it endangers you, your buddy and
the sport itself.
You have permission to
bowhunt elk on private property. You have a good
bull 25 yards ahead, quartering away slightly.
About 50 yards beyond the bull is a creek, which
you have been told is the property line.
Take the shot. If the bull
does cross the creek it probably won’t go far
and you can simply wade across, take care of the
animal and get it back on the original property
without much fuss.
Take the shot, but if the
bull does cross the creek, go back to the
property owner you obtained permission from and
ask him to put you in contact with the
neighboring property owner. If he gives you
permission to collect your animal, do so. If he
refuses, you’ve done all you can and continue
your hunt.
Do not take the shot. It’s
more responsible to obey the law, and then
maintain your relationship with the adjacent
landowners and the landowner who gave you
permission to hunt. Trespassing is illegal.
Answer: c. Do not take the
shot. Hunter/landowner relations are extremely
important for the future of hunting. Wounded
animal or not, you cannot simply trespass on
private property to retrieve game. Always secure
written permission from adjacent landowners prior
to the season to retrieve any wounded animal that
might go onto adjoining land.
You’re glassing a sage flat
when you spot a 15-inch antelope 250 yards away.
It’s broadside, but all but its head, neck and
part of a shoulder is obscured by a rock
outcropping. The buck has you spotted and if you
try to move for a better shot he’s got you busted.
You’ve got a good rest and confidence in the
shot.
Don’t shoot. If you miss
and hit the rock the bullet can deflect and go
who-knows-where, or possibly just wound the
animal. Not a safe or responsible shot.
Take the shot. Your rest is
solid, you know you can put a killing shot at
that range, you’ve got neck and shoulder to
shoot at.
Head shots are always iffy,
especially broadside and at that range, and an
antelope neck isn’t the biggest target. And are
you seeing just shoulder or are there vitals
underneath? Best not to shoot.
Answer: a. Don’t shoot. Not a safe or responsible
shot. Just wait. The entire animal must be in full
view to insure a responsible and safe shot may be
attempted.
The point of providing these
scenarios is to give you food for thought, a
little exercise for your brain. You probably can
come up with dozens more of these scenarios of
your own, either from your imagination or from
actual situations you yourself have been in or
have heard about through friends.
The whole idea is to provoke
your mind into thinking about some of the “gray
areas” you might encounter in the field. The more
you think about these types of situations in
non-hunting situations, the better you will be
able to handle them when they come up during a
hunt.
Discuss these scenarios, and
any you can think of, with your buddies. Consult
regulations, hunter education instructors, other
hunters, and figure out what is the best thing to
do in each according to your own state’s
regulations and your own experience and level of
ethics (responsibility). The more you talk, the
more you research, the better hunter you will
become, and as such a better spokesperson for the
sport you love.
