Would you shoot a swimming bear/deer/moose?

I was just looking through the latest bear defence thread and after reading it I'd motor up beside it and hit it with an ax.;)
 
Grizzlypeg said:
What are you arguing is legal? Not what the question asked, Would you shoot a swimming bear/deer/moose?

What is illegal (in Manitoba) is what was asked about, Would you shoot a swimming bear/deer/moose?
The fact a power boat is not a vehicle when the motor is no longer in operation and it has stopped coasting, has nothing to do with making it legal to shoot a swimming moose. Sure, you can shoot a moose from the boat, but the moose has to be on shore, not swimming.
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You can shoot a moose in the water out of a canoe/boat as per above regulation legally. You can also do it while you're standing on the shore. Please show me where in the Wildlife Act it says otherwise.

The only animal you can't shoot in the water is a beaver. Must be on land. EDIT: Also Muskrat and Otter.
 
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I've watched folks do it before. I've never had a chance myself. They'll dive right up beside the moose and pop em in the head and tow the moose back to the landing. If it was the last day of the season and i had a bull tag burning a hole in my pocket, i'd definatly consider it but i think i'd rather do it the old fashioned way. On dry land.

However, alot of people i've known over my life like to hunt on or very near a river. Some moose i've seen shot we're killed while the hunters were "bay-hopping" on the river. You just motor into the bay doing about 30 miles an hour and the guy in front opens up on the moose on shore. Definatly not legal and not ethical in my opinion. Bottom line is that people do some f*cked up sh*t to get what they want!
 
Illegal in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I have heard that the last caribou seen in Southern Labrador was killed by my great uncle, using an axe, from his boat.
 
I've heard a story from a lodge owner in Manitoba about natives guides that were fishing together at the end of the day and saw a moose swimming along. Since they didn't bring a gun, they boated out to the moose and tied it up by the antlers and tried pulling it to deeper water with the boat to try and drown it (pretty disgusting IMO). Problem was they tied the rope to the boat and the moose got its footing before they could drag it out deeper. They did manage to cut the rope, but not before the moose started running on solid ground and up through the forest. Another problem was that they were pinning the boat in reverse and had the tilt lock on the engine. The lodge owner said that when the moose pulled their boat up onto the rocks and up through the bush, it ripped off the lower unit, bent the crap out of bow and put a couple nice dents in the boat. The good news is the moose got away fine, and the guides got the boot right after they paid off the new boat and lower unit.
 
But if it were legal in Ontario, I would consider taking the shot at the animal. However, I would not chase it in my boat and get up right beside it. There's no sport in executing an animal point blank like that.

Then we open up another debate on whether or not we it would be sporting to shoot the animal as soon as it gets onto shore.
 
Legal or not I wouldn't.

Fingers crossed that I'll never have a moose die in the water.

They're enough work quartering them up on dry land.:D

I'd rather eat bologna all winter long.:p
 
bearkilr said:
You can shoot a moose in the water out of a canoe/boat as per above regulation legally. You can also do it while you're standing on the shore. Please show me where in the Wildlife Act it says otherwise.

The only animal you can't shoot in the water is a beaver. Must be on land. EDIT: Also Muskrat and Otter.
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Bearkilr, you are correct. I read the regs, checked with a CO, and it is legal to shoot a moose in the water in Manitoba. Thanks for setting that straight.
 
Legal or not, why are we hunting? Truly, all but a very few of us are out hunting for sustainance.

Define fair chase? What about all those letters we right defending our activity. You know, "it's more about the hunt . . . ., the experience . . . . etc. etc. etc. Wouldn't the anti's love to tell of "hunters" blasting defenseless swimming animals?

IMO. Shooting a swimming animal, is nothing more than just killing it. It is not very sporting or in the spirit of recreational hunting. There is also the danger of shooting across water and the potential loss of the game.
 
why not wait for the moose to get to where he is going , get your stuff set up and try to make the cleanest shot possible ?

even if he was wounded i'd wait till he was near / on the shore .

legalities aside , what would happen if you killed it in the water ?
if any of you thought that packing a dry moose was tough , try a wet one , while you are soaking wet .
 
I always assumed that the laws about swimming animals were more about game recovery than fair-chase, but in my experience it's not an issue. Took my first moose from an unpowered boat on the Fraser River. Clean double lung shot on a big spike-fork as he drank from the shore. He wandered out into the water to die, and floated for several minutes while I lasso'd him. Dragging him to shore for quartering wasn't really a big deal.

As far as fair-chase, I think the animal has about the same chance of outswimming a bullet as outrunning one... so... yeah.
 
Where it is prohibited, pay close attention to the regs because it may indicate not legal to shoot below the high water mark, so while your Moose or what have you, may be out of the water and standing on dry ground .. that dry ground may still be below the high water mark and so in fact the shot would be illegal.
 
In BC it is strictly illegal, unless the animal is wounded and tries to swim away.
To go up to a swimming animal with a boat and shoot the animal is the most cowrdly, unfair method of shooting an animal that I could think of. I am amazed at the number of "hunters" reporting on here who think it is an OK way to collect an animal. Did you ever hear of fair chase?
Many on here condemn trophy hunting. A major feature of entering a trophy animal for consideration in the record books, is the hunter has to declare it was taken in fair chase.
I like to be proud of any game animal I shoot. I like to go into the bush on foot and meet an animal on its own terms. if I can outwit and shoot it, I am proud of it. To me, that is what hunting is all about.
I can remember when virtually all hunters felt as I do. Alas, things have changed.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
Bearkilr, you are correct. I read the regs, checked with a CO, and it is legal to shoot a moose in the water in Manitoba. Thanks for setting that straight.
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I checked that out a few years back, that's how I knew. Had an argument with a friend; he said it was legal, I said it wasn't. :)

Regardless of the law, I consider it unethical and rather anticlimactic in a hunting sense, unless you're starving.
 
H4831 said:
In BC it is strictly illegal, unless the animal is wounded and tries to swim away.
To go up to a swimming animal with a boat and shoot the animal is the most cowrdly, unfair method of shooting an animal that I could think of. I am amazed at the number of "hunters" reporting on here who think it is an OK way to collect an animal. Did you ever hear of fair chase?
Many on here condemn trophy hunting. A major feature of entering a trophy animal for consideration in the record books, is the hunter has to declare it was taken in fair chase.
I like to be proud of any game animal I shoot. I like to go into the bush on foot and meet an animal on its own terms. if I can outwit and shoot it, I am proud of it. To me, that is what hunting is all about.
I can remember when virtually all hunters felt as I do. Alas, things have changed.
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things have changed too much for my liking...
It is getting,for some,that the kill is more important than the thrill of the chase.
I enjoy hunting.The kill is a byproduct of success...
 
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