Is There a Line?

[dieselchessy]

I think its probably like with wolves or cougars, when they get excited and kill several animals they cant drag off and eat before it rots. If a person gets to killing so much they get lax with meat care, start taking only the prime and leaving the rest, ect... than they've crossed the line.
From what I've seen for some folks that happens with the first animal. They just don't seem to have the sense of respect and desire right from the get go. For others that may be many animals into the year.
If a person respects and takes care of the bounty and its shared with the tribe so all goes to good use. I'm good with it.

The sad part to me is that we have a need for "waste of game" laws. That shouldn't even be a thing.

 

[Michael54]

We have a family farm with multiple families hunting. If one family isn't as successful we will fill a tag and give them the meat. I have one doe tag left and 2 days to fill it. I wasn't going to but a friend said his pastor couldnt hunt this year due to eye issues. I'll be doing my best to try and get a doe for that guys freezer. I've found for every guy that can tag out yearly there are 5 or 6 that cant seem to fill one.. if the freezer is full i wont hesitate to fill a tag and give the entire animal to someone i know can use it.

 

[swampthing]

I think a guy who hunts multiple areas taking multiple animals is just plain hardcore! He is a hunter who hunts to hunt! I never have and never will hunt for meat. I hunt to hunt! I dont often kill an animal because the hunt is over then! I absolutely eat everything I do kill but meat isnt why I hunt.

 

[Prrstonpaulh]

I've never hunted back east or Midwest, so I can't speak to harvesting multiple deer from the same area each season. But I tend to agree with much of what has been said. Basically that line is a personal line for each hunter to determine. If the meat is being used and the animal harvested is respected (and taken legally of course) then I'm good with it. And maybe a little jealous of those who get to kill multiple animals per season.

 

[OXN939]

In my opinion yes, a distinct line.
I went to a bud's house last Dec and met a new neighbor and his wife--nice enough folks.

We got to talking about our past hunting seasons and he proceeded to say that he and his wife both killed bull moose with their OIL Idaho tags, and then they both killed cow elk during ID cow season. I thought (inwardly) that it was ridiclous for two people with no kids or dependents to kill that much game in one season. I could see the moose tags, but the two cow elk tags? Pure greed.

Some family man was out there trying to put an elk in his freezer for his family, but that certainly didn't happen for some with two less cows to be found.

Just my .02.

I was glad to hear that those two recently moved again, to Montana.

Same. I never shoot anything I, or my family, won't personally use. When I was in college, less than a decade ago, Virginia had the best Striped Bass fishery on the planet. I remember one night in January 2011, my friend and I landed 14 citation striper in about two hours. It was better than the ridiculous fishing shows you see on TV. That fishery is now absolutely dead. The Mid Atlantic Rockfish Shootout, a tournament that pays out hundreds of thousands in prize money, had to raffle off its prizes one year because not a single team of professional captains caught anything the entire time.

There's debate about why it died, but the hero pictures of guys smiling with a dozen big breeder stripers on the dock are absolutely one of the top causes. Fishery managers were myopic with their limits, and guys exploited them. I'd ask them a lot of the time what they were going to do with all that (pretty low quality) meat, and it was always "I'll find someone to give it to. We're within our legal limit."

This picture brings back some really incredible memories, and I don't think it would if this fish had been killed just to hang it up at the dock.

 

[robby denning]

hey bro, good subject. Anytime I’ve had too much meat it has been very easy to share with others, and a great “ministry“ to non hunters. I would say if you’re using the meat for human consumption, hunt as much as you can.

There was that guy from Hoback Wyoming on here a couple years ago trying to start a law that people could not shoot more than what they could eat. Flippin’ ridiculous. if the state issues the tags, I say let’s fill ‘em. But never waste, that’s the line to me.


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[Comerade]

Well, I believe I saw and did so much Game killing when I was younger working for various outfitter's that it is out of my system. Now if a 40" ram would reveal himself next season I will be sending my appreciation downrange. I usually kill a bull elk and raise beef and chickens.
There is no shortage of meat around here. I hunt for the adventure- horseback or nothing.

 

[Broomd]

Same. I never shoot anything I, or my family, won't personally use. When I was in college, less than a decade ago, Virginia had the best Striped Bass fishery on the planet. I remember one night in January 2011, my friend and I landed 14 citation striper in about two hours. It was better than the ridiculous fishing shows you see on TV. That fishery is now absolutely dead. The Mid Atlantic Rockfish Shootout, a tournament that pays out hundreds of thousands in prize money, had to raffle off its prizes one year because not a single team of professional captains caught anything the entire time.

There's debate about why it died, but the hero pictures of guys smiling with a dozen big breeder stripers on the dock are absolutely one of the top causes. Fishery managers were myopic with their limits, and guys exploited them. I'd ask them a lot of the time what they were going to do with all that (pretty low quality) meat, and it was always "I'll find someone to give it to. We're within our legal limit."

This picture brings back some really incredible memories, and I don't think it would if this fish had been killed just to hang it up at the dock.

Thanks for sharing; that's really unbelievable and unfortunate.

hey bro, good subject. Anytime I’ve had too much meat it has been very easy to share with others, and a great “ministry“ to non hunters. I would say if you’re using the meat for human consumption, hunt as much as you can.

There was that guy from Hoback Wyoming on here a couple years ago trying to start a law that people could not shoot more than what they could eat. Flippin’ ridiculous. if the state issues the tags, I say let’s fill ‘em. But never waste, that’s the line to me.


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Agreed, good topic.

Consider the guy who is retired or willfully unemployed with all day to hunt or fish as much as he wants, to kill as much as he possibly can, but what about the little guy who wants to take his two daughters out for their first deer anywhere near the area that 'killer' abides?

Good luck finding that game without some serious effort in some areas. The resource often has limitations.
The perfect scenario is that after so many deer elk, bears, etc, etc, 'killer' gets a hard on for a really quality animal and focuses his attention there. Maybe others can fill their freezer without busting a gut out there.

 

[actionshooter]

This is one of those things that each person has to decide for themselves... if it's legal it's a personal choice... I have never run out of friends who ask for game meat and if I have a good year, I'll pass it out like parade candy... makes pro hunters that don't hunt.

 

[Olympics777]

Personally I have never had that problem. Here in Idaho it’s just one elk tag and one deer tag, and my wife and I can eat those two critters easily. I won’t shoot a young buck anyway so I often eat my deer tag. I know guys that shoot 8-10 critters a year and can’t eat it all, but they just like to kill stuff. I don’t get that, I love animals and I don’t really want to kill them, but I know it’s healthy for the population. Except wolves, smoke a pack a day.

 

[OXN939]

Thanks for sharing; that's really unbelievable and unfortunate.

Yeah, it's sad. The ancestors of that individual sustained John Smith and the dudes through their first winters at Jamestown. There are few, if any, natural resources that are more intimately connected to the history of our country.

Just sharing with the hopes that lessons can be learned.

 

[MallardSX2]

I typically put 6 deer in the freezer and 1 bigger game animal (elk, moose).

Come September we are typically out of all of the meat.

I dont shoot meat for other people years ago after I shot a deer for a guy and he left it hang there for a week and rot and then threw it in the trash.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Lot of good thoughts here guys. I appreciate it. It's been helpful for me in forming a more solid opinion on the matter. Someone here said the line is never straight and it moves. That's the best way to put it that I've ever heard.

 

[brushape]

All the people saying they donate their wild game need to take a look in the freezers of the homeless shelters or soup kitchens they are donating it too. Most of them here are overflowing with too much donated meat and much of it ends up in the landfilll


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[NDGuy]

he proceeded to say that he and his wife both killed bull moose with their OIL Idaho tags

Question I have is what are the odds of spouses drawing OIL moose tags? Let alone in the same year?

Lol I see stuff like that in ND every year and can't help but think there's fishy stuff going on.

Feel like every year I see at least a dozen posts for a ND Elk/Moose OIL tag "First time applying" "My dad AND I drew the same unit" etc etc. I don't see how the odds even allow it when 20k people apply for 40-70 bull tags.

 

[Ozarkansas]

I'd ask them a lot of the time what they were going to do with all that (pretty low quality) meat, and it was always "I'll find someone to give it to. We're within our legal limit."

I had a similar experience with a neighbor who loved to duck hunt but hated the meat. When he found out we liked duck he started leaving his ducks on our woodpile. Sounds like a happy arrangement except he would do it even when we were out of town or the weather was warm, so we lost a lot of meat that way. He also would shoot ducks we didn't want to eat, like mergansers and shovelers, and pile them on there. Often times we had plenty of duck meat and groaned when we got home from school to find a pile of ducks that needed cleaning.
That dude just liked to kill and used us to wash his hands of the moral issue of wasting meat- but his actions resulted in a lot of waste regardless. If you're giving away meat to people who you know want it and will take care of it though I have no issues with killing more than you can eat.

But then with wild pigs I have no issue shooting as many as possible, taking what meat I want and leaving the rest. I'm sure there are some people who would take issue with that.

 

[Glory]

I used to try to pack freezers with everything I could. Not anymore. I like chicken/beef/pork too much to feel like a slave eating out the freezer before the next season. Variety for me. Given I have unlimited access to salmon/halibut/shellfish I really have to have restraint in that area too. Nothing worse than eating older fish when fresh is available. And I have commercial vac packers to put stuff up.

 

[OXN939]

I had a similar experience with a neighbor who loved to duck hunt but hated the meat. When he found out we liked duck he started leaving his ducks on our woodpile. Sounds like a happy arrangement except he would do it even when we were out of town or the weather was warm, so we lost a lot of meat that way. He also would shoot ducks we didn't want to eat, like mergansers and shovelers, and pile them on there. Often times we had plenty of duck meat and groaned when we got home from school to find a pile of ducks that needed cleaning.
That dude just liked to kill and used us to wash his hands of the moral issue of wasting meat- but his actions resulted in a lot of waste regardless. If you're giving away meat to people who you know want it and will take care of it though I have no issues with killing more than you can eat.

But then with wild pigs I have no issue shooting as many as possible, taking what meat I want and leaving the rest. I'm sure there are some people who would take issue with that.

100% agree. Reality is that the personal connection to game isn't there when some gets stuff killed by someone else, and the chance of it sitting in a freezer til it gets thrown away is way higher.

The reality is also that we'd have much better hunting and fishing if people didn't kill stuff just to find places to give it away.

 

[Michael54]

I had a similar experience with a neighbor who loved to duck hunt but hated the meat. When he found out we liked duck he started leaving his ducks on our woodpile. Sounds like a happy arrangement except he would do it even when we were out of town or the weather was warm, so we lost a lot of meat that way. He also would shoot ducks we didn't want to eat, like mergansers and shovelers, and pile them on there. Often times we had plenty of duck meat and groaned when we got home from school to find a pile of ducks that needed cleaning.
That dude just liked to kill and used us to wash his hands of the moral issue of wasting meat- but his actions resulted in a lot of waste regardless. If you're giving away meat to people who you know want it and will take care of it though I have no issues with killing more than you can eat.

But then with wild pigs I have no issue shooting as many as possible, taking what meat I want and leaving the rest. I'm sure there are some people who would take issue with that.

I could see that guy driving you insane lol. If we fill a tag and plan on giving it away we make sure they want it and then we process and package it as well. Its nice when you know the specific individual and give them the cuts and grind that they want and its freezer ready when it gets to them. My father in law has been teaching me a ton when it comes to butchering and due to covid we cant get a cow processed until july at the earliest so it looks like we will be butchering our own cows this year as well.

 

[Michael54]

Also i've volunteered at the local soup kitchen quite a bit as one of my friends from high school is a pastor at the church that runs it here. The shot placement is usually horrible, the gut jobs are piss poor to abismal, and usually the meat has sat for quite a bit of time in the bed of a pickup truck in warm temperatures before it ever got dropped off. Although its not always the case it is most certainly the majority of the animals that get dropped off.