Ethics Test by the Hunting Gods

[dhoover]

A friend of mine was moose hunting along the Yukon river and in the middle of the night he heard something moving outside his tent. Figuring it was a bear he grabbed his rifle and slowly unzipped the tent. 20’ away was a good bull moose which was clearly visible in the full moon light. He shot it and it ran 50yds and fell dead. In Alaska there are no shooting hour limitations, You just cant use any artificial light.

I have an unused Moose and Bear tag from Alaska this fall. I would have absolutely shot out the tent door.

 

[farmer_john]

I think a better ethics question would be something like.

You have 2 deer all things being the same except. One you can take a perfectly clean shot. The other is maybe a good shot but the distance or some brush or other obstruction might make it high probability of not a good/clean shot.
Do you take the questionable shot. Or pass on the shot because you cannot garuntee and clean ethical kill.

Vs blind or house. Alotnof folks walk from car to blind and car to house. Mindset is functionally only difference.

 

[KEC]

Maybe im just ignorant on the intricasies but
I dont see how a blind = woodsmanship or stealth? A blind is a pre positioned box. (Kinda like a house ) designed to give the hunter greater comfort and advantage in the field.
And for clarity of deffinition im assuming some kind of comercial style blind.

And i never mentioned antlers buck or doe the process is the same

You're referring to box blinds; we don't use them. Blinds are any type of "hide" usually natural on our land.
I hunted from my son in laws box blind twice on their farm and felt disconnected like I was hunting from inside a house, nothing wrong with it just not for me.

 

[farmer_john]

You're referring to box blinds; we don't use them. Blinds are any type of "hide" usually natural on our land.
I hunted from my son in laws box blind twice on their farm and felt disconnected like I was hunting from inside a house, nothing wrong with it just not for me.

Just curious if you have any photos of blinds folks commonly make that are not like your commercial types?
Iver never hunted with them or treestands.

 

[Hunt anything]

This is a homemade version, the black triangle in the upper middle is my shooting port.

 

[Sabre]

Has anyone felt their hunting ethics were tested by the hunting gods?
Mine were tested twice this year:
The first one was 3 weeks ago while hunting a specific buck on our property. Two bucks were full out fighting behind my stand 15 minutes before sundown, 75 yards over the line on my neighbor's property. They broke up after their fight to go in separate directions; the larger one (the one I had been after) headed towards my property only to stop 35-40 yds still off my line. I had my safety off, and a clear broadside shot but did not shoot because I had not met my new neighbor and don't have an agreement with him regarding matters similar to this. I lowered my rifle, the buck hung out for a short time and wandered back into the brush- Test #1 Pass!

The second test was 2 evenings ago. I was starting to prepare our dinner when I caught movement in our back yard from the kitchen window. I was shocked to see walking through my yard, in the wide open most likely one of the largest bucks I had ever seen! He wandered through the yard and up to a spot where I had dumped our pumpkins from Halloween and started to paw, kick and eat at them for 10 minutes just 45 yds from the back door. At that point while he was busy with his business I would have had plenty of time for an easy shot from my back door but instead opted to watch him instead, it just didn't seem right for him to go this way. I might be a fool, but we will call it -Test #2 Pass!

Does anyone else have an incident that could be an "Ethics Test" that makes you proud of the hunter you are??

I think a higher power likes testing me constantly. I don't have the best luck. I would say I have had many more times where my ethics were put to the test than I have had clean opportunities at trophy animals. Some of it is self imposed, but of course some of it is legally imposed as well.

But the number of times I have had very large bucks or other target game come in a minute or two past shooting time and I'm still packing up, those instances alone far outweigh the number of times I've seen trophy animals well within the legal limits. I know a lot of people would just take the shot, I know this based on all the shooting around me every year on neighboring properties after legal time. But, for me, I'd just prefer to do my best within the limits outlined.

 

[Bandera]

I moved a shooting box to a place for my buddy to hunt. He hates ladder stands. I picked a spot and set up the box and decided to sit in it to make sure the angle for shooting was right. Figured I would see a few does. This bad boy walked down the trail about 20 yards from the newly placed shooting house.
I did not pull the trigger.

 

[Flbt]

Couple of years ago I had three Bucks in my pasture, sizes small medium and large. They were seen almost daily browsing right up to the fence line maybe 25 yards away from a small porch which I could step onto and watch them feed.. They were there during Archery, Rifle and Muzzle Loading seasons...

*** For "me" shooting one of them would have been just that shooting.. not hunting....

For me those are the ones I want gone they eat to much clover