Hunting ethics...changing with the times?

Man, Paul, I never would've dreamed anyone could be that desperate, stealing from an (obviously) armed man out in the middle of nowhere!

Whereabouts was this; I've got a cow elk hint this fall!
 
I never thought I would lease hunt, but I tell you now that I might never do it any other way. Keeps the slobs away, and the property owner just happens to be a correctional officer at the state pen in Colorado City, so I don't think there will be issues in getting a response if I see trespassers and such :D

I miss my old lease in the Hill country, but there were a couple of idiots who were cutting fences, shooting over fences onto the neighbor's property, and a few were starting to bring alchohol. Outta there. I'm no teetotaller, but beer is for the house in my domain, long after the weapons are cleaned up and put away.
 
I am sorry to vent and I don't mean to create a storm, but why is this stuff being portrayed as normal and appropriate on television. Am I way off base here or what?
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No need to be sorry, and no you aren't off base.

All I can say is that each of us who love hunting really need to figure out what we can do to save it, and the RKBA. No, the RKBA ain't about hunting. We all know that. But a lot of people get negative exposure to firearms through the kind of BS TV programs you are talking about, not to mention nimrod blasting one of their cows or some other such nonsense.

Here's what a bunch of us at our local sportsmen's club do.

We have three Hunter Safety Instructors.

We give classes in the spring so we can at least encourage our students to practice what they learn before hunting season. We live on an island, so most students have to take it in the spring, or they probably won't get their license. Too hard to go elsewhere for the last minute before season classes.

We are working very hard to update/augment the Hunter Ed. materials. With all of the Pittman-Robertson money the gubmint collects, one would think that the instruction videos could have production dates post 1978. Today's kids are extremely visually oriented. Giving them a movie to watch that was made in the late 1960s doesn't get it done!

We offer NRA rifle/pistol/shotgun/home firearms safety/personal protection/range safety courses. We're working on blackpowder and reloading courses. More knowledge is better. They become better people for having become less ignorant of firearms.

We offer a Kid's NRA Shooting Sports day-camp. The more the kids shoot, the better for us as a society. They learn respect, discipline, sportsmanship.

When a controversy involving firearms comes up locally, we make sure to write letters to the editor explaining that we, as RKBA advocates are appalled, and we go on to explain those things we make available to prevent the problem in the future. People respond very positively to this. Complaining is right and necessary, but doing something is what makes the change.

We try to pick out new people to take hunting with us, so that we can try to instill the spirit of the hunt into newbies.

I could go on, but everyone gets the drift. Do what you can, when you can.

Some people have accused me in the past of too much altruism. They should hear my intro to my classes where I tell my students that my #1 reason for teaching the class is that I'm not bullet-proof, and I love to hunt, and I'm going to make sure that at least they are going to come out of this class knowing how to do it right, or they are going to fail. No in between!

Good hunting.
 
I'd like to add our club's website for folks to look at/critique/etc.

If you have any questions about what we all can do to stop dangerous or unethical hunting and/or screwy firearms usage, feel free to PM, e-mail, or even call me (my number is on the website).

We are succeeding in repealing bad gun laws, we are succeeding in obtaining "shall issue CCW", let's keep up the momentum.


www.vashonsportsmensclub.com
 
One of the reasons I lost my desire for deer hunting

Around here we have to use shotguns...Which as far as I'm concerned means my shots are very limited...Like MAX 50 yards at a motionless deer..because I want it to DROP, or at worst travel a short distance. Shots like that are few and far between, but when I used to hunt I had several easy shots at 150-200 yards. Most of the yahoos around here would've taken those shots (and probably wounded the deer, if they hit it at all). The gun just stayed on my lap where it belonged.

I have a friend that has some land nearby, and has a flock of 20 or so semi-tame deer that come into her yard almost every day (she feeds them). After last hunting season she saw one of the bucks (who tend to be spookier, don't come into the yard as much) with no less than 6 (yes, SIX) obvious wounds on him, none serious.

I used to work with a guy that bragged that when he went out he would "empty the gun at anything that moves". Unfortunately, there's more like him out there than there are like me out there.
 
Dfaugh

I'm also in Upstate NY and have rarely used my shotgun in the past few years. I use a bow, muzzleloader and .44MAG. The bow and .44 are inside 50 yard weapons but the muzzleloader is a 200 yard gun. If you want the long shots try a ML.

My shotgun is very good out to 150 yards. It's a Winchester 1300 with full rifling and a 4x scope. I shoot 2-3/4" Federal Classis Sabots withthe Barnes Expander slugs. My nephew typically uses this gun; he gets 3 rounds and a lecture about that being all the ammo he gets for the day.

I too have a problem with some of the Upstate Hunters. I would never suggest banning semi-autos but many of these folks are more worried about the second and third shots than with getting a good first shot off. I'd almost guess that that deer with all the wounds got them in the same hunter encounter.
 
Besides the hunting TV shows themselves the commercials are bad. One showed a hunter shooting an out of the box muzzleloader and of course he hit dead center on the first shot. They claimed that all their guns were sighted like that. And people BELIEVE them! :rolleyes:

In a gun magazine (a commercial of sorts) a few years ago the writer tested a handful of factory rifles for long range hunting. One of them averaged something like 14 inches at 400 yards with the BEST of the loads! The writer went on to excuse this and said that all were good enough for long range deer hunting! Again imagine someone who has never tried it when he reads that. He isn't thinking that his unsupported shot, with a pounding heart and gasping lungs, will be several times worse than that benchrested group, yet he will try it, and wonder what went wrong.

I like the comments about the "empty the gun hunters". Although I don't think we should or would enact shuch a law, I believe requireing hunters to use single shots would actually increase the odds of them getting a deer.

Finally I'll close with some good news. I see an increase in hunters picking their shots, passing on little bucks, favoring bow season, and generally trending away from bad behavour. I think a lot of this is from the increase in deer populations and our correspondingly bigger bag limits. Access si still a problem (we may lose our lease this year) and there still is the "shoot everything" crowd out there, but it's encouraging to hear someone explain the idea of shooting that little buck next year to them, and they are listining.
 
Equipment Idiots....

...are taking over the world. Yesterday, for example, a guy approaches the gun counter and proclaims he needs a rifle scope and a box of ammo. Okay. In the following 30 minutes or so, I saw this dude demonstrate an uncanny level of stupidity, ignorance, arrogance, and misinformation. In preparation for an imminent elk hunt, this yahoo had purchased his first-ever rifle, a Weatherby Mk V in .30-378, just two weeks ago. With his departure date fast approaching, he figured it was time to get a scope mounted and sight it in. Obviously quite proud of his nothing-but-the-best-for-me elk blaster, he confidently told me that he wanted a premium-quality scope with at least 16x top end magnification, to take full advantage of the rifle's long-range performance capabilities. This yutz proclaimed that he had researched rifles and cartridges thoroughly, so he was totally confident that, with a big enough scope, the gun would perform easily out to at least 600 yards. I made a few subtle attempts to get this guy to rethink...well, pretty much his every notion about everything, but he knew for a fact he had selected and paid dearly for the very best, and wasn't about to give credence to some less-informed salesman's obsolete ideas. Once he had his Mt. Palomar riflescope selected, he ordered up a "box of shells". When I inquired if he had a particular bullet preference, he looked at me like I hadn't been listening, and said, "Yeah. .30-378 Weatherby, remember?" Uh-huh. Just one box, sir? Oh, sure. Shouldn't take more than a few rounds to sight-in, leaving plenty for the elk hunt.

Company policy forbids taking a customer out back and kicking some common sense into him, unfortunately. On the positive side, though, I think it's highly unlikely that this moron poses any serious threat to the wildlife. And to be fair, I suppose this d*ckhead isn't totally responsible his massive ignorance. Some of that has to go to the gunzine writers and Outdoor Network producers who keep promoting high-testosterone gear, pumping up the advertising income with rave gun reviews focused on high velocities and tiny benchrest groups. Just once I'd like to read a story that instructs hunters buy at least 100-200 rounds of ammo, sight their new rifle in, then walk away from the bench and practice under field conditions regularly for a couple months before hunting.

About 90% of the customers buying scopes for their deer shotguns seem to feel they need 3-9 power variables, 'cause these new slug guns are accurate out past 100 yards. Huh...

Over-powered rifles and optics, under-powered shooting ability and hunting prowess, and a misplaced confidence in the one to compensate for the other. How do we fix this? I'm...

OutAtTheEdge
 
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