What is wrong with Wisconsin Hunters?
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WisconSIN (think of all of the sins we commit, it will help you remember how to spell it).
Flatbrimmer
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Every forest LEO or state game warden I see driving in the heavily populated hunt/camp sites seem to be on a mission, flying toward some omniscient place and I have to assume they know where the game is and how to watch how people are taking that game..
Then i solidified this hypothesis in my head this year, when I knew there to be piles maybe 1000+ head of elk in the area I was in, and the necessary trek for most to get to public, leading to trespass and flock shooting at the edges. Game wardens on the scene almost daily. It got to the point where I’d notice the elk, ONLY if I saw wardens, or if I saw wardens, I knew I was in the money. Sure enough…..
Point is, they definitely get their chance to hunt, and most times they don’t even need to hunt more than the avg joe, necessarily… an ear to the ground and a hoofbeat… lol or helicopters and walkie talkies….
rjthehunter
Well-known member
Man that's a loaded question!
Sounds like you spent a lot of time road hunting, my man. Gotta throw it in park and burn some boot leather next time.
mountainlaurel3
Well-known member
Hey now. Some of us non-wisconsinites have abnormally large heads and still refrain from unsafe shooting.
Signed, 150 pound man with a 7 7/8 hat size.
Dougfirtree
Well-known member
Frankly, that's insulting to the wardens there in Colorado.
This (and the warden salary you posted earlier) jibes pretty well with how our culture seems to look at conservation laws as "second tier." I've lost count of how many times I've seen troopers and other police officers involved in illegal ATV trails, illegal snowmobile trails, poaching, baiting, etc.
Hem
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Okay, Pilgrim.
Gerald Martin
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About time someone told @theat to quit warming the truck seat and put some effort into hunting. The guy probably doesn’t hike ten miles in an entire season…
corndog1
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I've talked to two BMA folks in eastern Mt that I have known for a while and they have permanently kicked out two groups from Utah I've had terrible experiences with people from Utah.
Gerald Martin
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On a serious note, I think that our season structure, liberal bag limits and diminishing wildlife on accessible public and private land are a contributing factor to what seems to be increasing incidents of bad hunter behavior.
Hunters have a sense of entitlement based on their perception that “opportunity focused management” guarantees they can hunt deer and elk for a long time on an OTC tag every year. That entitlement crashes against the reality that generally the only place game is abundant and visible is on inaccessible private land. Entitlement, the high cost of licenses, competition with other hunters on accessible land and a lack of quality condenses into a sense of desperation that influences hunters to make poor choices as they weigh the chances of being held accountable against not filling a tag.
That cycle left unchecked and unchanged for too long morphs into a cultural norm which ensures that hunting as an activity will be less and less acceptable to the general non-hunting public.
Hunters are regressing on the public relations front and will continue to do so if a lot of something’s aren’t done to change that trajectory.
Hunters have a sense of entitlement based on their perception that “opportunity focused management” guarantees they can hunt deer and elk for a long time on an OTC tag every year. That entitlement crashes against the reality that generally the only place game is abundant and visible is on inaccessible private land. Entitlement, the high cost of licenses, competition with other hunters on accessible land and a lack of quality condenses into a sense of desperation that influences hunters to make poor choices as they weigh the chances of being held accountable against not filling a tag.
That cycle left unchecked and unchanged for too long morphs into a cultural norm which ensures that hunting as an activity will be less and less acceptable to the general non-hunting public.
Hunters are regressing on the public relations front and will continue to do so if a lot of something’s aren’t done to change that trajectory.
Irrelevant
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What about having a system where someone can be reported for unethical behavior that's not necessarily illegal and lose their ability to apply for a tag in the future?
TheJason
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Isn’t that the same as making it illegal?
Irrelevant
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Sorta...? Idk, I'm only 1 coffee deep
Who determines what is "ethical" and what isn't? mtmuley
Irrelevant
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That's definitely the hitch. Potential abuse of power, no due process, etc
People who've had at least two cups of coffee.
Bullshot
Well-known member
I think much of this can be correlated to the legal trouble and financial trouble someone gets into for just plain kicking someone’s ass. These “hunters” that are being spoke of have probably gone most of their lives without losing their teeth as they should have long ago. Once again proving that the “law” often protects the bad apples more than the good guys.
Irrelevant
Well-known member
I guess I was thinking of something where you are rated by your peers, similar to Uber. There's a lot of research into the effectiveness of social pressures like that.
