Federal government is required to take certain actions according to NEPA, Endangered Species Act, etc. Private ranchers are driven by money and state agencies are driven by money and/or political agendas.
Very true, San Andres mountains in NM for example. The ethics of that could be discussed in a whole new thread, but regardless of that we should not be using that as an excuse for our own unethical behavior.
Correct.
I do
Hmmm...is it responsible to kill 2 moose on one tag? Continue to hunt once you shoot an animal, find significant blood, and continue on to shoot another? Most of the hunters I hang with would find that pretty irresponsible, if not downright reprehensible.
Agreed. If its not required to take the meat on bears, most don't. Even when its taken, I bet a majority of it is freezer burned and chucked the next year. Personally, I'd rather see that bear meat left in the woods for other critters to eat than thrown in a landfill.
Who did the moose shooting and what does that have to do with the rest of us “ethics police” or the topic at hand? You call it dog piling, I see it as trying to educate and having legitimate rebuttals for the arguments justifying leaving meat out to rot. I thought we were allowed to have debates here.
Why is it necessary that every animal ends up a human turd? Aoudad are invasive, its not legally required to take the meat in Texas, and I'm not sure why the need for anyone to justify leaving it. Further, I don't think anyone needs an education about leaving meat they aren't required by law to retain.
I think people would be amazed at the amount of hunters who do this even with deer every year. I've known several that I've worked with etc who do the same every year. Spend money at the processor etc then toss it next year in the name of freezer burn. All feel good bullshit.
If you want to eat bear meat, aoudad, carp, raccoon, skunk, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, starlings, whatever is legal to kill, I think YOU should.
Maybe you don’t but there’s clearly a lot of us that do see the need. If aoudad are such a destructive invasive species then why don’t we all band together to remove them from the United States? The only reason not to eradicate them is for their hunting value. So if we are not eating the meat, we are basically keeping them around because we enjoy killing them. If that’s not f—-ed up in your book then in my opinion your basic moral compass is screwed up.
Do you even kill the carp before you throw them on the bank or do you just let them die slowly?
Look, I don't have a dog in this fight. Buzz makes some good points, and so do you. But your name is literally TX Trophy Hunter... and you're lecturing about eating every animal we kill? That's what you call ironic!
I wouldn't lose sleep if the exotics in Texas were gone, they're invasive. The only reason most of the circus/exotic animals in Texas are around is precisely because people enjoy killing them. People enjoy killing them, and others profit off that killing. The meat is not even a tertiary thought. I would like to know how much exotic game is actually consumed by humans in Texas, I bet less than half.
www.hunttalk.com
I use the same bat on them as I do baby seals.
I agree about the exotics. I also believe that the second half of your statement is what the anti hunting crowd is using to fight against hunting. And we need support from the non-hunters who have not picked a side. Now read through this whole thread and think about what kind of opinions a non hunter might get based on the different comments. And I can guarantee you that a lot of the “lurkers” here are looking for information to use to draw those non hunters to their side.
