hypothetical ethics discussion

is it poaching?

  • this is a case of poaching, pure and simple.

    Votes: 68 91.9%

  • this is a case of doing what's right.

    Votes: 6 8.1%
  • Total voters
    74
  • Poll closed .
Here in the northeast

the situation is in no way hypothetical.
Local Firearm restrictions prevent the discharge of weapons, including bows within most village limits. It takes an awful lot of non-hunters to get tired of the deer decimating their landscaping and colliding with their vehicles to get local laws changed or temporarily relaxed. Some towns hire professional sharpshooters many do let local hunters in with restrictions after a special training class. My town hasn't gotten to that point but what has happened is limited poaching has occurred to keep the numbers in check. (Much of it by local LEOs.) Also areas that were once open to hunting but are now closed are still hunted by the locals. Is it illegal - yes, unethical - probably not, but if everybody did it...
 
Ah, but what is funny about that is that while many place may not allow for the discharge of firearms, they do allow for air rifles and there are some very nifty high powered air rifles, but few folks realize this and few folks would consider the option.
 
The Texas deer herd was severely depleted by the 1930s and thus "Don't shoot does!" became the watchword. That emotion held even after the population explosion from both game laws and the eradication of the screw worm fly. Thus the rules on legal take, precluding does but for one doe per fifty acres. That created a Big Oops insofar as deer becoming pests in some areas.

I read where Alabama's limit was something like a buck a day. Dunno about does, but it indicates a very large population. OTOH, western Texas habitat in some areas will support one deer per fifty acres.

I still believe that the worst enemies of rational dealings with wildlife are Felix Salter and Walt Disney.
 
Here in the county I live and since I have been hunting it has gone from no deer season at all to bucks only, to bucks and doe.....

Now you can kill 6 deer all the same day if you want to. Only two can be bucks, but they can all be doe.

If that doesn't satisfy you two doe tags can be bought extra as many times as you want.

So, other than the two buck limit there is no limit.

It is a moving target over time.
 
Ah, but what is funny about that is that while many place may not allow for the discharge of firearms, they do allow for air rifles and there are some very nifty high powered air rifles, but few folks realize this and few folks would consider the option.
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Before using the air rifles in city, check your local laws. In my city, air rifles, BB guns and even sling shots can get you ticketed for "discharge of a firearm within city limits." I found this out the hard way when I was 15 and got in trouble for shooting BB guns in a buddy's back yard. A neighbor called to complain, and we both got ticketed.
 
It always amazes me that while the great majority of people (I do not know of anyone who has not), will admit to breaking some law on purpose (speeding, parking meter, etc., etc.), they loudly denounce the people who break some other law. I can imagine some child molester voicing an opinion that poaching is "unethical".
Humans do seem to wear selective blinders.
"Judge not least ye be judged". "Your righteousness are as filthy rags."
 
When considering ethics in hunting, we have to think about several things.

We have to do right by the law, we have to do right by our fellow hunters and we must do right by our prey. Problems arise when one of these areas conflict with another.

If I had to prioritize, I'd put doing right by our prey first, doing right by fellow hunters second and doing right by the law third. I don't want to minimize the importance of doing right by the law and I'm not commenting on the Op but there are times the most ethical choice requires violating the law.
 
Stable ecosystem? I doubt anybody here would condone poaching. There's certainly no justification in the lower 48 insofar as a need for meat; too much public assistance available. (When I was in the Army, the ration was four ounces of meat per GI per meal.)
 
I've heard stories about the lewis clark expedition. some of the men were eating as much as 5 pounds of meat a day....that is a lot of meat...but probably not much else.
and I agree, there is, unemployment, social security, food stamps and welfare and if that runs out there is a food bank in almost every town in america. my town has less than 1100 people in it and it has one.

poaching for food is almost an obsolete crime nowadays, it might not be an obsolete excuse however.
 
Well I'm not so quick to lock someone in jail for killing out of season or too many as long as they are not selling the meat. And as far as law goes, we have a speed limit too and how many on here go alittle past that? Laws are laws right? Let's say if our Government passed a law for Everyone to turn in all your weapons and that was Law. How many of us would grab everything we had and stand in line to turn everything in? I think Not! Law or not. Taking a deer or animal is way low on my list. Just saying
 
And as far as law goes, we have a speed limit too and how many on here go alittle past that? Laws are laws right?
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I think your logic is a bit flawed, here. Yes we do have speeding laws, and when someone gets caught speeding, he receives the appropriate punishment. Just because it is common to break a law does not mean that it is OK. It simply means that most people are willing to accept the punishment if they get caught. The point is that we do not have the RIGHT to speed, poach, steal, etc. Instead, we have an OBLIGATION to obey the laws. You can't legitimately argue that just because a lot of people break one law it should be OK for people to break another.
 
To the OP: that's precisely what happens over and over again through time. State regulations in the USA seldom address the independent herd issues; rather they choose to regulate the entire population. Micro zoning is the only way to overcome this, and is unused by most wildlife agencies as to date. Just do the right thing. -7-
 
OK, so we also have millions of acres of timbered country with high fuel loads due to a century of fire suppression by the government's land managers. Think you should be able to torch off a few hundred ground fires to improve the health of the forest?

Get involved in the improvement of your public game resources and land management practices through the system, not in spite of it.
 
Same goes for Prairie Chickens. Prairie Chickens were once very abundant the U.S., but hunting and loss of habitat have made them almost rare in most of their original range. Maybe them there "europeans" are the ones that introduced them midget deer........
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The Heath Hen is gone and the Attwater's is almost gone. I'm told the greater prairie chicken lives in only a few places in much of it's origional range such as Illinois and Wisconsin. Here? SD, Kansas and Nebraska have huntable populations of chickens. I'm not sure about OK or CO. We have a few chickens in the eastern portion of SD. I'm also pretty sure many organizations have been trying to put the lesser prairie chicken on various lists for a long time.

Brad
 
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