The elk were able to get to the island, they can get off. I wouldn’t consider them trapped. I don’t see this as an unethical as stupid. If they had a game plan for retrieval I might give a pass to the spot. It’s still Wyoming where everyone wants to eat elk.How do we actually feel about the suggestion (in the story) that the mere act of shooting elk that were "trapped" on an island is not ethical? The story seems to spend more time on that portion--that it's not fair chase to kill elk that are in the middle of an island--and less on the issue of shooting an animal that you can't retrieve. For me, the inability to retrieve always means you don't take a shot. But I'm curious what others think about the ethics of shooting the elk where they were, assuming you had a retrieval plan in place.