The Ethical Woodsman

[Ramm9]

that by not doing the proper research they set up the future generations of those packs for slaughter.
Rick

If that is the case then yes it would seem unethical to take action without the appropriate due diligence.

 

[August West]

The story I told not withstanding, I consider myself to be a very ethical sportsman and conservationist. I try to be as low impact as possible and follow game laws to the letter. The same stream that I admitted catching over my limit, much more of my trips are day trips that are strictly catch and release. As a matter of fact, the only time I kill wild fish at all is when I am camping and that is only a handful of the times I am fishing. All of the pics I have posted on here, after the pic was taken they went right back into the river, I used that as a justification for catching over occasionally. After this thread and thinking about it, I will still catch my wife a few fish to eat, however I think I will buy her a license. Might still be rationalizing and not right, but I still want to enjoy trips with her and a big part of that is fresh fried trout. Maybe like mtwarden suggested, I can actually get her to fishing....yeah right.

Codger,
I don't shoot bucks at all anymore, not until our ratio gets better. Now I am not trying to act like a saint, if ole rocking chair on his head, mossy horn, walks under my stand I'm not making any promises, but it will have to be a monster to get me to pull the trigger. I would say the last 5 or 6 deer I have shot have been yearling does or older dry does and on the land I am hunting it is working, we are seeing more and more bucks. Who knows, in a few more years we may actually be able to rattle up some nice bucks. Chris

 

[August West]

Oh, and just to resart the firestorm, a large part of the social life of the club was built around the eons old local Southern tradition of using deer hounds to push deer out of swamps and thickets past posted hunters. (Codger ducks and runs for cover).........

I somehow missed this. That is one thing I have got blasted for without fail on the internet. I go on several deer dog hunts a year and when I admit to it, I usually get blasted from a few people. I'm sure you understand this but you can be a houndsman and still be very ethical.

Dogging deer and running hounds for other game is a long tradition where I am from and one that I enjoy greatly. Most of the time I stand hunt but I look forward very much to the dog hunts, it is usually an all day afair with a wild game lunch and lots of socializing with old friends, and we do usually manage to kill a few deer. Chris

 

[mtwarden]

Maybe like mtwarden suggested, I can actually get her to fishing....yeah right.

Chris

Chris- I don't know if they have anything where your at, but we have a Outdoor Woman's program (fishing, hunting, canoeing, etc). It's very successful and I'll tell you why- it's gals teaching gals. Less stress (I can't imagine me instructing my wife causing her any stress ) evidently and less worry about embarrassment. Anyways, you might see if there is something similar- it sure seems to be working here.

Like I said- it's not unusual for my wife to out fish me

Mike

 

[Raisedby wolves]

No different than using dogs for rabbit.

If they want to limit the number of animals or the sex for game management reasons, I understand, but other than that, they should BUTT OUT of the method to harvest.

Dogs have been used by man as hunting companions for a few thousand years. I see no problem with it.

 

[August West]

Chris- I don't know if they have anything where your at, but we have a Outdoor Woman's program (fishing, hunting, canoeing, etc). It's very successful and I'll tell you why- it's gals teaching gals. Less stress (I can't imagine me instructing my wife causing her any stress ) evidently and less worry about embarrassment. Anyways, you might see if there is something similar- it sure seems to be working here.

Like I said- it's not unusual for my wife to out fish me

Mike

Mike,
I will check into that and see if we have any similar programs, my wife is certainly no hothouse flower, and loves to fish especially the slow pace and socializing of catfishing. I haven't gotten her interested at all in fly fishing, maybe it is just a bit intimidating for her. One of my alltime favorite pics below with my two best friends. Chris

 

[mtwarden]

^ nice- I'll predict in 18 months she's out fishing you

 

[Codger_64]

I somehow missed this. That is one thing I have got blasted for without fail on the internet. I go on several deer dog hunts a year and when I admit to it, I usually get blasted from a few people. I'm sure you understand this but you can be a houndsman and still be very ethical.

Dogging deer and running hounds for other game is a long tradition where I am from and one that I enjoy greatly. Most of the time I stand hunt but I look forward very much to the dog hunts, it is usually an all day afair with a wild game lunch and lots of socializing with old friends, and we do usually manage to kill a few deer. Chris

Like any other outdoor sport, it can be done in both ethical and unethical ways. We had several packs. One pack was composed of long tall Walkers. When they lit up on a deer, you'd better be in place and ready. It wasn't uncommon to catch them up miles away from the turnout. The beagles were my favorites. After a while, I could tell them apart by voice and habits. Some dogs were cold trailers. Some were jump dogs. Some were "me too" in that they added to the noise but not so much to the chase. I've watched deer being followed by beagles walking slowly and pausing to look behind them.

The State I was in finally gave in to theanti-hound crowd and outlawed dogs in the Northern half of the State. Luckily, our lease was a few mles over the line in the Southern half.

Even then, I preferred to still hunt or stand hunt. But it sure did get the adrenelin pumping when a good race headed your way.

To up the ethics part, I kept and trained a bloodhound named Sasquatch. He found most lost deer and quite a few lost people too.