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2RCHA · Veteran Member

I Think you Guy's should PAY Close Attention to the Part that mentions HUNTING ETHIC'S "RESPONSIBILITY AND RESPECT: A CODE OF CONDUCT FOR HUNTERS"

A HUNTER'S PLEDGE

Responsible hunting provides unique challenges and rewards. However,
the future of the sport depends on each hunter's behavior and ethics.
Therefore, as a hunter, I pledge to:

RESPECT THE ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE.

- Show respect for the wildlife you hunt by taking only clean, killing
shots, then retrieving and properly handling your game. Take only what
you will use, even if it is under the legal limit.

- Learn to tread lightly while afield. Use vehicles only on
established roads and trails, practice low-impact camping and travel,
and pack out your trash, including cigarette butts and spent shell
casings.

- Report illegal activities immediately.

RESPECT PROPERTY AND LANDOWNERS.

- Always get permission to hunt on private land.

- Close any gates you open. and never damage crops or property,
including fences, outbuildings and livestock.

- Alert landowners or land managers about any problems you find on
their property.

- Share your game with the landowner, or say thank you in some other
way.

SHOW CONSIDERATION FOR NONHUNTERS.

- Remember that the future of hunting depends on hunters and
nonhunters alike. Be considerate of nonhunters' sensibilities, and
strive to leave them with positive images of hunting and hunters.

- Don't flaunt your kill. Treat game carcasses in an inoffensive
manner, particularly during transport.

- Be considerate of all outdoor users, including other hunters.

HUNT SAFELY.

- Exercise caution at all times.

- Fire your gun or bow only when you are absolutely sure of your
target and its background. Use binoculars, not your rifle scope, to
identify your target.

- Wear hunter orange whenever appropriate or required while afield.

- Remember that hunting and alcohol don't mix.

KNOW AND OBEY THE LAW.

- Obtain proper tags and licenses.

- Hunt only in allowed areas and during designated times and seasons.
Read hunting regulations carefully.

- Obey bag and possession limits.

- Use only legal hunting methods and equipment.

SUPPORT WILDLIFE AND HABITAT CONSERVATION.

- Provide hands-on and financial support for conservation of game and
nongame species and their habitats.

- Learn more about wildlife and habitat issues, and urge policymakers
to support strong conservation initiatives.

- Become involved in wildlife conservation organizations and their
programs.

- Purchase state and federal wildlife conservation stamps, even if
such stamps are not required for hunting.

PASS ON AN ETHICAL HUNTING TRADITION.

- Invite a young person or a nonhunter next time you go afield to
scout or hunt.

- Attend a hunter education course, and urge others to do the same.

- Set high ethical standards for future generations of hunters to help
ensure hunting will continue.

STRIVE TO IMPROVE MY OUTDOOR SKILLS AND UNDERSTANDING OF WILDLIFE.

- Know the limitations of your skills and equipment, and hunt within
those limits.

- Improve your outdoor skills to become more observant, a better
hunter and a better teacher.

- Sight-in your firearm and bow, and practice shooting to ensure a
clean kill in the field.

- Learn more about the habits and habitats of game and nongame
wildlife and their management needs.

HUNT ONLY WITH ETHICAL HUNTERS.

- Take pride in being an ethical hunter.

- Insist that your hunting partners behave in a responsible, ethical
manner.

- Compete only with yourself.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The Hunter's Code of Conduct was created cooperatively by the:

International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
Izaak Walton League of America
National Rifle Association
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
Tread Lightly! Inc.
Sport Fishing Institute
Times Mirror Magazines Conservation Council
U.S. Department of Agriculture - Extension Service
Wildlife Management Institute

The Hunter's Code of Conduct was produced by the Izaak Walton League
of America. It may be used freely by any hunter or hunting group.

Copies may be obtained free of charge from the Izaak Walton League of
America, 707 Conservation Lane, Gaithersburg, MD, 20878-2983 USA (301)
548-0150.

DAMAGE · Member

Deer here are considered a pest and part of your make your self feel better about your self speech RESPECT THE ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE. My Government or Department of Conservation drops hundreds of tons of 1080 pellets all over my country each year to try and control pest species such as this and many others, The death from such poison is a long very long and the most cruel sh!t I have ever seen kill an animal in my life, My dog was killed by 1080 many years ago as are many pig hunters dogs in present time along with native birds and other animals. So I will hunt what I want how I want and where I want.
In this country we are practically born in the bush we respect our native bush lands more than any other country in the world so I also respect animals that live there.
Keep in mind it's a different culture here and things are done different we still farm kill the old way no bullet just cut the throat and break the neck get a good bleed out.
I know your culture and lifestyle is a lot different over there as are the laws of hunting but that code does not work in NZ.
I knew my limits I knew I could do it and I knew I could do it in a human manner I shot it at 15 meters maybe a little closer this was the perfect distance for a clean kill in fact it was a cleaner kill than when I use to hunt deer with a compound bow, We also hunt wild pig with just dogs and a knife the pig goes through quite a bit of pain there before we drive the knife home to make the kill.
My point is in my country this was accepted as a good kill just check the NZ forum.

23ib0d0n · Moderator

2RCHA · Veteran Member

First Off, Our Deer aren't the size of dog's, and when I go Deer Hunting I want to get the job done in the most humanely way possible, and the gun chosen for the hunt would warrant no less than that. In other word's, I wouldn't be carrying an air/rifle unless it was gauranteed to bring down the animal with a shot in the kill zone, much like something like this : http://www.airgunadvice.net/viewtopic.php?t=5361&highlight=shiloh+ranch+hog+hunt , not with a TUNED GAMO Anything, hoping to find some pre-disposed "sweet-spot", It's obvious to me that you have no ethic's in your hunting practice's by the way you just described your so-called "Pig-Hunt", This is what you guy's are trying to pass off as Ethical?,,,,,,,,,,,I just wish Eric didn't "Beautify" my original response to this, Have a nice Bloody Day.

DAMAGE · Member

So you are saying that every pig hunter in my country is bad and unethical, Thats the way it has always been done we don't need guns for everything we do here but thats ok my friend thats ok I am from Maori blood we are born warriors thats why we use to eat people like you, But don't feel bad about your post you have the right to your say as does everybody else & I'm fine with that.
In Aotearoa you need a big pair to get things done the old way like my forefathers they were real warriors & hunters & I strive to be as good as they were.
Ethics has nothing to do with this sorry.

Anyway sorry to anybody that has found this offensive or trouble causing it was not my intention and sorry to the mods and admin for this.

PS. sorry to you to 2RCHA I didn't mean to upset you or cause you any distress.

23ib0d0n · Moderator

Guess I just don't see the 'overkill' concept quite the same way. If a small caliber low pressure airgun was able to humanely hunt with almost 500 years ago, then the only thing that has actually changed is the 'velocity' propaganda of the advertisers.

Would I want to hunt hog or deer with a .177 or .22 spring rifle? No. Do I think some of the guns are capable with a proper shot? Yes.

As for 'projecting' hunting ethics onto me for the post you linked, I haven't ever hunted at the Shiloh Ranch in Ok, and the only game I've taken in the last few years have been squirrel and non game starling.

I study the DNR regulations every year for changes, and pay for the sportsman license to fund hunting and fishing projects throughout the state.

What I find to be the apex of hypocrisy, is when someone that claims to be a 'hunter' spouting tree hugger epithets at a legal hunt with a clean kill. The hunt Sean went on was not 'staged for the advertiser' nor was it shooting 'zoo fed' animals.

For a hunter to attack any legal hunt because it isn't the way the tree huggers condone the way a hunt should be, then the tree huggers have already won.

Tree huggers want to divide us to conquer {stop all} hunting. Wouldn't it be better for hunters to unite and stand against the opposition? Yes Nod

BCSteel · Member

Just because something can be done, doesnt mean that it should be done.

23ib0d0n · Moderator

BCSteel · Member

23ib0d0n · Moderator

What I stated is that hunters against any legal hunting is exactly what the antihunter crowd wants. Your 'type' of hunting isn't going to be 'good enough', nor is my 'type' of hunting ever 'good enough' for the antihunter bunch.

So when any hunter legally takes game, whether it is the 'type' of hunting you personally ascribe to or not, as a hunter we should spread the message that legal hunting is of great value to the ecology.

Hunters benefit all, even if the antihunting contingent says otherwise.

See for yourself what anti hunter propaganda has created in North America. http://www.reason.com/news/show/34914.html Of course this article, written by a tree hugger, doesn't like the idea of 'hunting' and suggests other alternatives. How's that working out?

I guess more humans needlessly dying for the great 'antihunter' cause is a small enough price to pay?

So, I prefer to manage game as best I'm able, and save humans. Even if they want to be 'against' it. Everyone has a voice in this, but how often is this side of the game management controversy heard?

If you aren't for all legal hunting and game management, then you also have become part of the propaganda force in the anti hunting rhetoric problem.

BCSteel · Member

Poor judgement of hunters effects all of us and gives more fuel to the "anti" crowd than hunters trying to hold fellow hunters to a higher standard.

If we cant keep our own camp clean, then someone else will.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

I think one thing that is perhaps being overlooked here is that we're talking more about pest control than we are about 'sport' hunting proper. People all around the world use common snap-traps to catch/kill mice and rats. We all know the type- the spring-loaded arm that's supposed to crush a rodents head/neck to kill them. How many times have we heard the trap slam shut and the rodent jump around for 5 minutes afterwards before either bleeding out or suffocating? This wouldn't be what you could call a "clean" kill- but we're not talking so much about hunting as we are pest elimination. Is it less than a perfect situation? Sure. Is it something for everyone to get up in arms about and demand we pull out a 9mm to shoot mice with? I'd say "no". And as we are likely all aware, poisons tend to be even worse- they can kill other animals and a poisoned pest doesn't lick the poison and drop dead instantaneously- they wander off feeling like a bag of sh!t, and then either collapse due to heart failure or bleed internally until they drop. Poisons "look" more humane to the casual observer- but they generally aren't.

Unfortunately, I don't view pest control and "hunting" proper as really being the same issue. Pest control has a direct and immediate goal to accomplish and if a few of the pests don't go down fast and easy, that is unfortunately their bad luck.

"Ethics" is a variable concept depending on a particular situation and culture in which an action is carried out. Just because shooting a 200 pound deer in North America isn't easy with a .22 cal airgun doesn't mean that shooting a 100lb deer in the southern hemisphere is the same thing.

Just my opinion of course, but things are different all over, for different reasons and different motivations- trying to beat everyone over the head with one's perceived standard of conduct or action seems a bit bold.

BCSteel · Member

AirGunEric · Site Admin