Ethical Dilemma

powder burner

powder burner

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Alberta, Canada
what do you say about driving in an area you intend to hunt, push bush whatever, and while you are in the truck you see a hanson buck. He is farther away that you are accustomed to shooting from.

You want to get closer, so you can drive closer or walk. You can choose to drive closer to where the animal was last seen.

Is this road hunting or hunting from a vehicle? Is it ethical? Please state your answer. What would you do?
 
I say get off your butt and hunt. Hunting from a vehicle is illegal, and unethical, certainly not sporting. I have been hunting and had guys drive across the field to get closer to a buck that I am "really" hunting. I have no respect for them at all.
 
Have to agree with Snoeshoe, get off your ass and walk. Hansen Buck or not, would be great to look at the rack on the wall and think"wow I drove up real close to that one".
I turned down a 80 yard shot at a nice buck with my muzzle loader last week because I could not be sure of a clean shot, was tough to watch him walk out but way better than wounding him.
 
You drive, he runs and you get arrested. You walk, assuming he's not on posted land or you have permission to hunt where he is, he'll likely see or smell you and run. You stalk and you might get a shot.
What's a hanson buck?
 
I know that Powder Burner would do the right thing and walk. :)
Yeah...what the heck is a Hanson buck?
 
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I call that Stagecoaching.... drive up jump out and shoot.... many even accept that as a perfectly acceptable form of hunting. And if it is done within the confines of the law I certainly would not publicly criticize anyone for doing it. But I would not consider them ethical hunters by my own standards and would dismiss any trophy taken in this manner as less worthy.... much less worthy!
 
This question is general. I am not asking it for myself, as I know its not ethical. I just wanted to post it so new hunters on CGN could understand the theory of fair chase and proper ethics.

If we can teach them the right way from the beginning we can set them on their way to becoming proficient, ethical, upstanding outdoorsmen/women

Some people throw all comon sense out the window (literally) when driving on roads and see a monster buck, bull, etc. They dont think much of the consequences, and only think about having it scored at the annual fish and game trophy night.

Im glad to see the people who have responded so far, feel it would be unethical/illegal to shoot from a vehicle whether on the road or not.;) good on you's
 
powder burner said:
what do you say about driving in an area you intend to hunt, push bush whatever, and while you are in the truck you see a hanson buck. He is farther away that you are accustomed to shooting from.

You want to get closer, so you can drive closer or walk. You can choose to drive closer to where the animal was last seen.

Is this road hunting or hunting from a vehicle? Is it ethical? Please state your answer. What would you do?
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I answered this in the other thread, but to qualify it , as soon as I saw the critter I would be out of the truck.
I don't intentially hunt from as truck, but do lots of drifting for animals on the river.

You have to get out of the boat however, to try and take a deer from a moving boat is foolish, if not risky , not even to mention the legal and ethical ramifications ,!!:eek:
I would not compramise for any deer , be it a BIG BUCK OR A DOE.
Last day of the season I ws driving down a road and spotted some deer down a cutline.
Stopped the truck, walked back about 100 yards and down the cut about 50 and shot one at 97 paces.
As far as I am concerned , the hunt started when I got off the road!
Cat
 
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From what I remember, I think the Hanson buck was taken during a push?
I may be wrong, however.

As a side note, although Hanson goes about to shows and makes money talking, he has refused some VERY huge sums of money for the original antlers.
Speaks well of the man, IMHO.
Cat
 
Senerio #1 - You & a buddy are driving on a bush road towards your predetermined hunting spot and out walks a small legal moose in the middle of the trail. You bail out and drop the moose :) You post the pic's and story on popular internet hunting sites and everyone is patting you on the back and telling you you have horse shoes you-know-where, great job, etc ;)
Senerio #2 - Lets change the immature bull moose to a world class Boone & Crockett typical whitetail. Suddenly the "ethical" former congradulators are all over this screaming "low-life road hunter" :mad: What a bunch of hypercritical jerks. Stay within the laws and the self proclaimed ethics police can stuff it :D
 
powder burner said:
if you get off a ATV can you use it as a rest?
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In Alberta now you don't even have to get off the quad any more. They changed the rules this year. Here you have to be 50 yards from the truck.
I don't shoot deer from my truck, but if I am cruising between spots and see a nice deer I am not above getting out of the truck and shooting a deer.

Alberta govt says it's legal, who am I to argue.

If it's leagl and ethical to drive old riads for grouse, jump out and shoot them with a shotgun, what's the difference between birds and a trohpy deer from an "ethical" perspective. I find the discussion of ethics tiring, most guys think running deer with hounds is unethical. In Ontario or the deep south, it's not only legal, it's an accepted method of hunting.

For me just about the most "unethical" method of hunting is the hounds and a treed cougar or bear.

Everyones definition is different and the discussion should be more about what's legal and safe than what's ethical.
 
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I'd say 75% of the moose and black bears and many of the deer in BC are taken with a method similar to this:

Drive truck or ATV along dirt road. See moose, Get out/off. Walk about 50 yards. BOOM!

Or variations of this method..such as 'jump out and shoot":cool:

I've employed both methods before, it's legal and ethcal as far as i am concerned.

I prefer to introduce a bit more activity into hunting, but road hunting has it's place.:p
 
BC Bigbore said:
Stay within the laws and the self proclaimed ethics police can stuff it :D
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X2!!

I personally find baiting bears, hunting with a guide, using dogs on anything other than birds, and many other things condoned by other hunters to be "unethical" by MY standards.

I however, unlike some of these "ethics police", understand that MY ethics don't fit any individual other than myself. At the end of the day if laws are not being broken I truly believe ethics are like religions in that everyone is free to choose their own. Also, again like religions, don't try and tell me that your particular flavour is the only correct one.



Gatehouse said:
I'd say 75% of the moose and black bears and many of the deer in BC are taken with a method similar to this:

Drive truck or ATV along dirt road. See moose, Get out/off. Walk about 50 yards. BOOM!

Or variations of this method..such as 'jump out and shoot":cool:

I've employed both methods before, it's legal and ethcal as far as i am concerned.

I prefer to introduce a bit more activity into hunting, but road hunting has it's place.:p
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I think 75% is low! ;) As you know I spend literally hundreds of hours hunting in the bush on foot in one of the prime hunting regions in the province . Last year The ONLY other hunters I saw were driving by on ATVs or 4x4 SUVs.
 
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BC Bigbore said:
Senerio #1 - You & a buddy are driving on a bush road towards your predetermined hunting spot and out walks a small legal moose in the middle of the trail. You bail out and drop the moose :) You post the pic's and story on popular internet hunting sites and everyone is patting you on the back and telling you you have horse shoes you-know-where, great job, etc ;)
Senerio #2 - Lets change the immature bull moose to a world class Boone & Crockett typical whitetail. Suddenly the "ethical" former congradulators are all over this screaming "low-life road hunter" :mad: What a bunch of hypercritical jerks. Stay within the laws and the self proclaimed ethics police can stuff it :D
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That is 100% TRUE ;)

I Prefer to "Get out and Hike" for my Animals......in Fact I frequent alot of areas that "Off road vehicles" are Banned in, Foot access only. Spot and Stalk Hunting is my Preference:)

In BC "Road Hunting" is a Perfectly Legal and accepted Practise. Obviously we have Rules to Police this, such as NO Shooting from inside vehicles, No loaded guns in or on vehicles, some roads there is a restriction about how far from the centreline before shooting etc. And obviously some roads are Closed to the discharge of firearms.

However when the inevidable Day comes (we all will get there if we live long enough) that I can no longer "Hike" to enjoy hunting and my Old tired Bones begin to spend more time Cruising Bush roads, glassing our HUGE Cut blocks looking for game I hope the Younger more Able bodied Folks out there don't Call me "Unethical" :rolleyes:
 
Ethics

It puzzles me how some people still refer to themselves as hunters when using truck or cars. Whether you are five feet out of the vehicle or 50 feet, if you have not complied with the hunting regs you are a POACHER..
The regs are in place to sustain our natural wildlife resources for ALL of us to enjoy and feed ourselves. They are also in place to provide a level of "fair chase" and define a stand alone class of a true sportsman.

Road POACHERS are classed right up there with low life criminals. That's why it is illegal. As far as I'm concerned the penalties for POACHING are to soft. There should be an automatic jail term and ten year suspension of hunting privledges. If caught again or after the jail term completed, they should be sentenced to two years plus a day. Perhaps a little time in a medium or max pen might change their way of thinking.

Besides road POACHERS and other types are just screwing all of us "true fair chase sportsman".

My 2 cents.

Arch:mad:
 
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In Ontario it is not illegal to leave your truck load up and shoot, it is not illegal to bait bears or hunt deer with dogs. These stupid questions come up on this site all the time. Think about it, you hunt in a way that you have hunted for years, you have your beliefs and that is fine but stop giving ammunition to those who fight us all. Ethics are a personal matter, if enough people have the same ethical views these views come into law and that may not be the same for all areas of the country. In southern Ontario I shoot rabbits outside the back door of my dads house, 15 feet into the bush, have I walked enough to hunt that rabbit? The 3 deer we shot this year in the controlled hunt were within a 5 minute walk of the house and about 200 yards from where the truck was, is that wrong? If you are within the laws of the area that you hunt then you are a hunter and not a poacher, to come out and say that someone who hunts from an old bush road that is not a road because it is not maintained by the municipality is a poacher is just BS. I stay off the roads when I hunt, I stay off the trails but if it is legal and you are not harming the environment, my family why should I tell you what to do.
 
I'm with Arch 100%. I fully support his definition of a poacher and statements. Hunting is a privilige, more so than a right.
 
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